Peninsula Clarion, February 07, 2014

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Soon?

Battle

Drones could help wildlife biologists

Brown Bears take on Bruins

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Sports/B-1

CLARION

Windy 29/14 More weather on Page A-2

P E N I N S U L A

Friday-Saturday, february 7-8 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska

Vol. 44, Issue 110

50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday

Kenai council weighs in on state issues

Question Do you think the minimum wage should be raised? n Yes; or n No. To place your vote and comment, visit our Web site at www. peninsulaclarion. com. Results and selected comments will be posted each Tuesday in the Clarion, and a new question will be asked. Suggested questions may be submitted online or e-mailed to news@peninsulaclarion.com.

By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion

In the news GCI, KTUU reach carriage agreement

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ANCHORAGE (AP) — An NBC affiliate says it has reached an agreement with Alaska’s largest telecommunications company that will return its programming to rural communities just in time for the Winter Olympics. Anchorage station KTUU says its rural programming was resuming Thursday after it reached a multiyear contract with General Communication Inc. GCI dropped KTUU from its rural broadcasts in November following a breakdown in contract negotiations. KTUU announced the contract agreement in a statement Thursday. It says KTUU and GCI had earlier agreed on rates, but disagreed on “final contract language that affected future partnerships and purchases of television stations in Alaska.” KTUU was among companies that unsuccessfully challenged GCI’s purchase of three television stations in Anchorage, Juneau and Sitka.

Inside ‘When the record books are written, let it be said that there was at least one heir who tried to further the legacy.’ ... See page A-6

Index Opinion.................. A-4 Police, Courts........ A-5 Nation.................... A-6 World..................... A-8 Religion................ A-10 Sports.................... B-1 Recreation............ C-1 Classifieds............ C-3 Comics................. C-11 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.

Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion

The Alaska Board of Fisheries broke into committees Thursday to discuss fishery regulatory changes that could affect fisheries in the Upper Cook Inlet.

More protection for early run

Fish board expands slot limit, Slikok Creek sanctuary area By RASHAH McCHESNEY Peninsula Clarion

The Alaska Board of Fisheries passed three measures Thursday, each restricting sportfishing on the Kenai River with the aim of conserving the early run of Kenai king salmon.

Slot limits The first measrue passed increases the slot limit size requirement on early run kings by four inches, expanding it to include fish from 42-55 inches long. The move will keep anglers from harvesting a larger part of the early run of king salmon. A slot limit was introduced on the Kenai River in 2002 to protect a certain size of fish from being harvested.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game managers break the early run of king salmon into five “age classes,” and further segregate those fish into percentages of the run — generating an estimate of how many fish of a certain age enter the river each year. When the slot limit was introduced to the Kenai river in 2002, ADFG managers and the public had noticed a steep decline in the number of older-aged, larger king salmon returning to the river in the early run, according to the proposal submitted by sportfishing guide Greg Brush. The slot limit was introduced to keep anglers from harvesting 5-ocean kings, or 7-year-old fish that spent two years in freshwater and five in the ocean, while still allowing harvest on other age-classes of the fish that were not in decline. While ADFG took a neutral position

on the proposal, the current slot limits have allowed the Fish and Game staff to conserve the large-size early run king salmon by eliminating the sport harvest of those fish, according to ADFG staff comments on the proposal. The new slot limit is expected to protect 92 percent of 5-ocean king salmon in the early run and 49 percent of the 4-ocean female king salmon, according to ADFG data. Monte Roberts, a sportfishing guide who primarily fishes the Kenai River, said he was opposed to the expanded slot limit. “It takes a section of the population out of play that’s not — according to the department — in jeopardy,” he said. “This has changed from a conservation concern for five-ocean kings into a management tool to take a section of the fish out of the See FISH, page A-12

The Kenai City Council voted to approve City Manager Rick Koch draft a letter, signed by mayor Pat Porter, in support of House Bill 141 regarding workers’ compensation medical fees. The letter shows the city is in favor of three provisions made to the bill sponsored by the Legislature’s Labor and Commerce Committee, lead by Rep. Kurt Olson R-Soldotna. The bill would require providers of workers compensation medical treatment to submit bills to employers within 180 days. It would also require health care providers to charge the workers’ compensation rates established in the state the work is provided. Koch said reform is needed because Alaska’s workers’ compensation rate is the highest in the nation. “On a number of occasions, Alaskans went outside for workers’ compensation issue and rates are substantially lower than here,” he said. “Because of the way the law is presently written, they are able to bill for Alaska rates even though it is billed someplace else.” Koch said another provision is that if a provider’s billing is denied by an employer, an appeal can by filed to the workers’ compensation board within 60 See KENAI, page A-12

Borough plans study of Nikiski water supply By KAYLEE OSOWSKI Peninsula Clarion

After receiving $150,000 last session for an environmental investigation in Nikiski, the Kenai Peninsula Borough is working to make sure its plan for the project falls under what the grant allows. “(We’re) figuring out where the gaps of information are, so the public has some reasonable assurance that their water is safe to drink,” Borough Mayor

Mike Navarre said. “And that we’re doing what we can to provide them with information about that.” The investigation stems from resident concerns about water contamination from Arness Septage, a site that saw at least 4,200 gallons of oil waste and other pollutants in the early 1980s. Last summer the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation issued a permit to AIMM Technologies Inc. to

build a drilling waste monofill storage site to the southwest and adjoining the Arness Septage property. AIMM installed six monitoring wells to satisfy the permit applications, according to DEC. Phase one of the plan includes gathering all available well logs as well as surveying static water levels in existing wells. That data will then be used to determine the water table, the level below ground

saturated with water, as well as various aquifers, bodies of saturated rock that can transmit water. From there the phases calls for geologic maps to be drawn and the groundwater flow directions to be determined. “Trying to determine which way groundwater is flowing, which aquifer goes where so that if you have wells that test clean, which way the water’s moving and if there are wells that are contaminated, where it’s going to, so that part is just

figuring out what’s happening,” Navarre said. Along with a report summarizing the study’s findings, the borough will also make recommendations for the second phase of the investigation. Navarre said phase one will help to determine what the next steps will be and what the cost will be. Joe Arness worked with his brother Jim Arness and DEC to come up with a plan to assess See NIKISKI, page A-12

Amendment to protect dividend checks proposed By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press

JUNEAU — A proposal by House Democrats to provide constitutional protection for the annual checks Alaskans receive for their share of state’s oil wealth got a cool response Thursday from some majority members, who worried it could limit lawmakers’ options if the state falls on tough financial times. House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, said the Legislature has shown restraint

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since the Alaska Permanent Fund was created, but protecting dividends would provide fewer choices if state government exceeds its available revenue. “When we talk about that type of long-term planning, it means one thing, taxes, and do you want to institute a state income tax?” he said. “And that’s

exactly one thing that I believe that that leads to, if you ever get to that point, is instituting a state income tax or a state sales tax.” Rep. Alan Austerman, cochair of the House Finance Committee, said at some point, if the state’s revenue stream remains the same, dividends might need to be on the table for discussion. AP Photo/Becky Bohrer Both said, at this point, they do not support HJR17, which Rep. Alan Austerman, R-Kodiak, left, House Speaker Mike would protect the dividends in Chenault, R-Nikiski, and Rep. Pete Higgins, R-Fairbanks, adthe state constitution. Auster- dress reporters during the House majority’s regular legislative See CHECKS, page A-12 news conference on Thursday in Juneau. C

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