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P E N I N S U L A
TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 2014 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 155
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
Mayors unsure of LNG board role
Question Do you think the Legislature will complete its work by Easter Sunday? n Yes; n No, they’ll need to extend the regular session; n No, they’ll need to call a special session.
By KAYLEE OSOWSKI Peninsula Clarion
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.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has turned away an appeal by the state of Alaska in a longrunning fight over the control of rivers and the fishing and hunting rights of Alaska Natives. The court on Monday declined to review a federal appeals court ruling that upheld U.S. Interior Department rules enforcing the fishing and hunting rights on some rivers that otherwise would be under state control. The state urged the high court to step in to address claims that the federal government has improperly asserted control over rivers in more than half of Alaska. Alaska Native groups and the Obama administration supported the appellate ruling.
Correction In Monday’s edition of the Peninsula Clarion, Justin Hanson of Hanson Contruction, was misidentified in the photo caption. The Clarion regrets the error.
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Nation/World.......... A-6 Sports.....................A-8 Classifieds........... A-10 Comics................. A-14 Pet Tails............... A-15
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before adjourning, did not expressly permit out-of-state residents to serve on that board. Minority Senate Democrats called on Parnell to withdraw Rabinow’s name, citing a state law requiring appointees to boards or commissions of state government to be and have been before the last general election registered to vote in the state. Chenault and Rep. Mike Hawker, the lead sponsors of the bill that established the AGDC, have said the legislative record “clearly reflects” the intent that See CHANGE, page A-5
See BOARD, page A-5
Photo by Kaylee Osowski/Peninsula Clarion
Open swim In the news
Municipal leaders throughout the state say they are pleased with the development of the Municipal Advisory Gas Project Review Board, but participation concerns remain. The concerns were expressed in a Monday press release. Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Mike Navarre said while establishing the board is an attempt at giving the local government leaders some involvement questions about what the board will have access to and how its recommendations will be incorporated remain. “It’s not really well-defined at this point,” he said. According to the release, negotiations regarding the Alaska Pipeline Project to run an 800-mile liquefied natural gas pipeline through the state to an LNG plant and terminal currently lack a mechanism for the board to participate or offer suggestions in negotiations. “One of the things that the mayors … have been raising is that there’s a lot of potential impacts here that really … they’re not available for analyzing at this point and we won’t have a chance to do that until after (the state and producers) reached their agreement,” Navarre said. In the release, the mayors advise that potential changes to the existing tax structure
At its monthly free swim on Monday, the Central Peninsula Change Club saw the Skyview High School Pool nearly at capacity at one point, Linda Tannehill with the Kenai Peninsula Cooperative Extension Service office, said. The club hosts a free swim night from 3-6 p.m. the last Monday of every month. Each month has a different sponsor. Sweeney’s Clothing of Soldotna sponsored Monday night’s swim.
Change for appointee considered By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU — House Speaker Mike Chenault on Monday said he plans to propose allowing out-of-state residents to serve on the board of directors of a corporation that could play a key role in a major liquefied natural gas project in Alaska. In a memo to lawmakers, Chenault, R-Nikiski, said he will offer the amendment to SB124, a bill to extend the sunset date of the Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual
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Assault, during a House Rules Committee hearing Thursday. Chenault said he would have preferred to find another bill or to attach the amendment to SB138, which is aimed at advancing the gas project. But with lawmakers scheduled to take up the confirmation of board appointees next week, he said that precluded use of
SB138, which is still working its way through the committee process. Richard Rabinow, a pipeline industry consultant and former president of ExxonMobil Pipeline Co., is among the appointees whose confirmation lawmakers are scheduled to vote on April 11. Rabinow, from Houston, Texas, is among the members Gov. Sean Parnell appointed to the board of directors of the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., or AGDC. Rabinow told Parnell he would resign if the Legislature,
Central peninsula housing market picking up By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
In his 20 years in real estate, Redoubt Realty owner Dale Bagley has never seen a more active winter. Bagley, the President of the Kenai Peninsula Association of Realtors, said based on the rising number of homebuyers during the usually slow winter months, he expects a busy spring and summer for the central peninsula market. After a dismal start to 2013, home sales
from October to December rose and that momentum has carried through the winter into March, he said. “New people coming into the market have generated sales,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what sector they work in. When the economic engine is doing good, money spreads through the community and has a big-time ripple effect.” Bagley, who also sits on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly, said the three main drivers of the peninsula econo-
‘It doesn’t matter what sector they work in. When the economic engine is doing good, money spreads through the community and has a big-time ripple effect.’ — Dale Bagley, Realtor my are oil and gas, commercial fishing and tourism. One big factor in the residential market is the recreational component — people want homes on the
Kenai River. Overall the entire central peninsula market is doing well and it cannot be attributed to the Alaska Pipeline Project only,
he said. New jobs with Hilcorp Energy and Cook Inlet Energy along with the expansion of the Central Peninsula Hospital are reasons why more people are moving into the area. A new Alaska homeowners study produced by NerdWallet, a San Francisco based consumer advocacy group, listed Nikiski and Kalifornsky in the top 10 best conditions to buy homes in the state. The article used three factors to determine which places have the most to See HOMES, page A-5
2,300 Alaskans sign Senate panel considers up for insurance ANCHORAGE (AP) — Heavy Web traffic and software glitches prevented some Alaskans from obtaining health insurance from the online federal marketplace Monday, the last day to sign up for coverage under President Barack Obama’s health care law. Enroll Alaska, a broker created to help enroll individuals in private health insurance, had signed up more than 2,300 Alaskans as of Monday, said Tyann Boling, the chief operating officer. That’s well short of the goal of signing up 8,000 Alaskans by the midnight deadline. People who don’t enroll in time may face a penalty from the Internal Revenue Service.
“It has been an incredible struggle to get the information and education out to individuals across the state,” Boling said. Alaska decided not to create its own marketplace and instead allowed the federal government to run it. Boling said that was the correct choice, given the small population of Alaska, but the federal government didn’t help communicate the message of the Affordable Care Act and its impact. “There was no campaign from the federal government,” Boling said. That left Enroll Alaska and two other organizations, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and United Way, to educate Alaskans.
dual track tenure system By MIKE COPPOCK Associated Press
JUNEAU — The Senate Education Committee on Monday took testimony on a bill that would increase the number of years a teacher would have to be in the classroom to reach tenure. HB162 would keep the tenure track for rural educators at three years but would increase that requirement to five years for a teacher in an urban school. The sponsor, Rep. Tammie Wilson, R-North Pole, C
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said this will entice teachers to move to rural Alaska, while allowing for urban districts to weed out marginal teachers who have built up seniority in favor of better teachers who haven’t been on the job as long. “Too often when the budget gets tight, it is first in and first out for new teachers even if some of them have proven they are rock stars,” Wilson said. Committee Chairman Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, said teacher tenure is a means of protection for many teachers.
“One teacher at the high end of a salary scale may be fired so a district can hire two teachers on the low end of the salary scale if tenure did not exist,” Stevens said. Bill Ernst, with the teacher’s union at Fairbanks North Star Borough School District, said the length of a tenure track should stay at the current three years for the entire state. He said the proposed change would hurt recruiting efforts. Currently, 42 states, including Alaska, offer teachers See TENURE, page A-5