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P E N I N S U L A
Monday, April 8, 2019 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 49, Issue 161
In the news 3D technology used to locate new oil pockets PRUDHOE BAY — New technology is being used to search for untapped oil in an Alaska bay that is already an established source of fossil fuel. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported Saturday that oil and gas company BP is employing “3D seismic” technology to locate small pockets of previously undiscovered oil in Prudhoe Bay in northern Alaska. The newspaper reports the area has been an oil source for more than four decades, but in recent years its flow has slowed. Company officials say the technology involves metal platforms mounted to trucks, which send sonic energy into the ground that returns as three-dimensional data about the geology below, including hidden pockets of oil. The company says the 3D seismic survey from January through April will sweep over 450 square miles.
Businesses remain closed 4 months after earthquake ANCHORAGE — Companies and organizations in Anchorage remain shuttered or temporarily relocated following a Nov. 30 earthquake in Southcentral Alaska, the Anchorage Daily News reported Sunday. The newspaper reports that the 7.1-magnitude quake caused structural damage to numerous buildings that have slowed or interrupted operations for varying lengths of time. City officials say that as of March 26, 10 commercial properties in Anchorage still carried red tags marking them as unsafe to occupy, while about 60 more commercial properties have yellow tags meaning their occupancy and use are restricted. The newspaper reports that affected businesses and organizations include the Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Salvation Army, television station KTVA, and the Westmark Hotel. — Associated Press
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District considers SoHi, SoPrep consolidation By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District is requesting community input on the possibility of consolidating Soldotna Prep School and Soldotna
High School, a press release from the district says. The consolidation would move Soldotna Prep ninth grade students into Soldotna High School and relocate River City Academy, closing down the building that houses Soldotna Prep
and River City Academy. The press release says this closure would result in an annual savings of around $630,000 in reduced building operations and personnel costs to operate the building, which houses two schools.
“I’ve discussed with our students and parents the possible closure of the Soldotna Prep building, and the potential need for RCA to move,” River City Academy Principal Dawn Edwards-Smith said in the release. “The district
is working to find us a location, should we need it. In the eleven years, I have been at RCA, we have moved a number of times. In each of those new spaces, we have built positive partnerships and used the See SOHI, page A2
New Age destination: Happy Buddha Imports By BRIAN MAZUREK Peninsula Clarion
Tom and Glenna Hudson are business owners in Kenai who provide peninsula residents with New Age products from all over the world. Their retail store, Happy Buddha Imports, sells everything from incense made in India to South African mango jam. The Clarion sat down with the Hudsons on Saturday to learn more about their business. Clarion Reporter Brian Mazurek: So when did your store open? Tom: We opened it last October, on the first of the month. Mazurek: And what made you want to start your business and open up shop here? Tom: So this would be Tom and Glenna Hudson, owners of Happy Buddha Imports, are photographed in Kenai on Saturday. (Photo by our fourth store. We had Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion) three down in the Lower 48. I worked for the forest ser- move around a lot. Glenna the first one in Missouri. We ferred to Colorado, opened we sold them and moved vice putting out forest fires loved retail, so it seemed were there for seven years a store there, then opened up to Northern California See NEW, page A2 for 35 years and we had to like a good mix. We opened and did great with it. Trans- another one. Eventually
Assessment finds state report cards need work By BEN HOHENSTATT Juneau Empire
A recent nationwide assessment found the annual reports released by Alaska Department of Education & Early Development could
use some work. However, a department spokesperson says internal discussions of improvements are constant and some of the criticisms in an assessment done and shared by the Data Quality Campaign, a non-
profit that advocates for better public education data, are outdated or wrong. “I do feel that their report has several inaccuracies,” said Erin Hardin, information officer for the department.
Every year, “state report cards” for public schools and districts are released by states per federal requirements. The reports include information about attendance, demographics, graduation rates and standardized
testing performances. The national assessment found Alaska’s report cards were out of date, weren’t offered in any language except for English and lacked data on academic growth. See CARD, page A12
Beached whale offers scientific opportunity By ALEX MCCARTHY Juneau Empire
As soon as she walked up to the whale, Kate Savage could tell how it died. There were three deep, long parallel slices just in front of the sperm whale’s dorsal fin. Savage, a veterinarian for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, knew that meant a propeller had sliced into the great mammal. What was tragic for the whale ended up being advantageous for Savage and other Alaska scientists. The 48-foot long male sperm whale ended up washing up on a beach
A team of marine mammal experts performs a necropsy on a male sperm whale. (Courtesy photo/Johanna Vollenweider, NOAA)
near Berners Bay in midMarch. On March 20, Savage and her colleagues began just the third sperm
whale necropsy ever to be done in Alaska, and the first to ever be done in Southeast.
“It was pretty unexpected, and very exciting,” Savage said in a phone interview Friday. Only two other sperm whales have been necropsied in Alaska since 1990, according to a NOAA article published this week. The first was a partial necropsy of a whale in Resurrection Bay in 2006, the second was a calf near Homer in 2009. Sperm whales are rare in the Inside Passage, but Savage said there were reports in November and early March of sperm whales in the Inside Passage. It’s not clear if this whale was one of the ones sighted earlier, she said.
Savage led a team of 13 people from NOAA, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the University of Alaska and Stranding Network (a nonprofit that focuses on marine mammals who have washed ashore). When they started the necropsy March 20, the researchers and volunteers wanted to collect as many samples and as much tissue as they could. They knew they only had so much time to collect valuable samples, Savage said, as the whale was already fairly well decomposed. She said that whales have so much insulation that after they die, See WHALE, page A12
Senators look at PFD’s future 2 lakes closed to fishing due to contamination
By ALEX MCCARTHY Juneau Empire
The Senate Finance Committee introduced two bills Friday that would cap government spending and establish a 50-50 split between dividends and state expenses from the earnings reserve of the Permanent Fund. Senate Bill 103 splits revenue from the state’s annual draw of the Permanent Fund’s earnings reserve equally between
See PFD, page A12
Sen. Natasha Von Imhof, R-Anchorage, is pictured on Feb. 18. (Michael Penn/Juneau Empire File)
FAIRBANKS (AP) — State wildlife officials have closed two lakes to fishing near North Pole due to water contamination. The state Department of Fish and Game announced last week the closures of Kimberly Lake northwest of North Pole High School and Polaris Lake on Eielson Air Force Base, the Fairbanks Daily NewsMiner reported . The department also has suspended the stocking of
hatchery fish in all lakes on the base southeast of North Pole, said Tim Viavant, the department’s regional management co-ordinator. The chemical compound known as PFAS was found in concentrations above the Environmental Protection Agency’s advisory levels. The substance is found in foam used to suppress oil fires. Viavant said these fishing closures are the first
See FISH, page A12