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CLARION
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P E N I N S U L A
Friday-Saturday, August 29-30 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 284
Question Do you, or does someone in your family, hunt?
Bear closure draws fire Hunters speak against proposed refuge brown bear closure
n Yes n No
By DAN BALMER 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.
In the news Fill the Boot is back
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After a year hiatus, Central Emergency Services responders have brought back the Fill the Boot campaign to raise funds to help find a cure for Muscular Dystrophy Association. Firefighters will be at the Soldotna Fred Meyer parking lot Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. to accept donations to help local Alaskan families affected by the neuromuscular disease, said Brad Nelson, CES Health and Safety Officer. The annual MDA fundraiser had previously been held at the Soldotna “Y” during the for the last 20 years on Labor Day weekend, but decided to move away from the intersection for safety reasons, Nelson said. A ladder truck will be on display and kids can take photos on the fire truck. Firefighters will be on hand to accept donations collected in fire boots. — Staff report
Inside ‘Destabilization of the situation and panic, this is as much of a weapon of the enemy as tanks.’ ... See page A-5
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Nation/World.......... A-5 Religion...................A-8 Sports.....................B-1 Recreation............. C-1 Classifieds............ C-3 Comics.................. C-8 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
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Photo by Dan Balmer/Peninsula Clarion
Soldotna resident Floyd Frost testifies against the proposed closure of sport hunting of brown bears on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge at a public hearing Wednesday night at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex. More than 60 people attended the hearing. A final decision by the refuge is expected to be made today.
Funny River Road resident Jim Harpring said his property at mile 31 is the first place where brown bears encounter humans. With his home at the confluence of the Funny River and Kenai River backed up against the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, he said bear sightings are frequent as they come down from the mountains to fish in the river. From his front porch he counts an average of nine bears in the summer evenings while the number of moose he has seen in the area has gone down the last few years. “I’m not a hunter but the number of bear encounters are unacceptable,” he said. “There has to be a balance.” Harpring was one of 15 people who testified Wednesday about the proposed closure of brown bear hunting on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge when the season opens Sept. 1. About 60 people attended the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service public hearing at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex. Three people, two representing Alaska wilderness groups, supported the proposed hunting closure on the refuge. Using Alaska Department of Fish and Game data from the last two decades, refuge manager Andy Loranger said the brown bear population has declined 18 percent on the Kenai Peninsula, due to human-caused mortalities. The service proposed a temporary closure effective Sept. 1 to May 31, 2015 as a “protective measure to ensure consistency with refuge mandates.” See HUNT, page A-10
Planning ahead Residents can place headstones early at Memorial Park By KELLY SULLIVAN Peninsula Clarion
The Soldotna Parks and Recreation Department reviewed and made a number of changes to the Memorial Park administrative policy and fee schedule, including an amendment allowing for more ways residents can plan for their future. Residents will now be able to reserve and mark a plot at the Soldotna Community Memorial Park prior to interment. The department has received a number of requests from residents interested in placing markers on a plot beside a spouse they are interring, said City Clerk Shellie Saner in a memo to the City Council. “Current practice we do not allow plots to be marked with headstones prior to an internment,” Saner said. “We are going to a new policy that would allow that, as long as they understand that if they have not used the plot and we cannot contact them to renew the reservation, within 30 years that we will also dispose of the marker when we take back the plot.” The department went on to See PARK, page A-9
ASAP Project redesigns pipeline plans Officials take public comment, talk supplemental environmental impact statement By KAYLEE OSOWSKI Peninsula Clarion
While the Alaska LNG Project has taken the spotlight lately, the Alaska Stand Alone Pipeline Project, another proposed natural gas project, is still in the works. Due to some changes made after the 2012 ASAP Project design, a supplemental environmental impact statement is necessary to move forward. A 2012 environmental impact statement that was previously completed based on the origi-
nal design will be used as the foundation for the supplemental statement, which will focus on project changes. Project officials are hosting public meetings throughout the state about the project and the supplemental statement. Ann Southam, program director with third-party contractor Environmental Resources Management of Alaska, gave a presentation about the project and the design changes to a room populated primarily by other project officials at the Quality Inn in Kenai on Wednesday.
“Some of the benefits that have come from the redesign of … components of the project is it is reducing costs and risks somewhat for the overall environmental and social and economic impacts,” Southam said. Changes to the project include: shortening the length of the pipeline, widening the diameter of the pipe, lowering the operating pressure, changing gas composition from enriched gas to lean gas, reducing support facilities and making modifications to the West Dock Causeway at Prudhoe Bay.
Southam said work to West Dock was included to be able to bring in pre-built modules for the gas conditioning facility. Dredging will be done along with some widening of the dock and installing of a temporary bridge and valves and barges. “West Dock is new,” said Kalb Stevenson, environmental leader for the ASAP Project. “There will be some dredging and disposing of material but one of the things we do to mitigate against that is to have … almost all of that activity occur in the winter so we’ll be com-
ing through the ice which gives us a longer time period and a little more stability to dig all of that out.” Miles Baker, vice president of external affairs and government relations for the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., said shortening and straightening the line as well as reducing the number of compressor stations and removing the straddle plant and extraction facility reduces the environmental footprint of the project. The Development Corp. is See ASAP, page A-9
Shell files revised Officials amend disclosures in Arctic drilling plan response to APOC complaint By DAN JOLING Associated Press
ANCHORAGE — Royal Dutch Shell PLC has filed a revised Arctic offshore drilling plan with federal regulators but says the company hasn’t decided whether to return to waters off the coast of northwest Alaska in 2015. The revised exploration plan submitted to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in Anchorage calls for two drilling vessels to operate simultaneously in the Chukchi Sea rather than one in the Chukchi and one in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska’s north Coast. The presence of two vessels is required so one can drill a relief well in the event of damage from a blowout.
Shell Gulf of Mexico Inc.’s revised plan calls for the return of the Noble Discoverer, which performed top hole work at the company’s Burger prospect in 2012. The second drilling vessel planned for the Chukchi is the Polar Pioneer, owned by Transocean Ltd., said Shell Alaska spokesman Curtis Smith. “Today’s filing is not a final decision to drill next summer, but it does preserve the option,” he said by email. In 2012, Shell drilled pilot holes and dug mudline cellars in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. The company was not allowed to drill into oil-bearing deposits because required response equipment was not on hand. The company experienced See SHELL, page A-10
By MOLLY DISCHNER Morris News Service-Alaska Alaska Journal of Commerce
The Alaska Public Offices Commission will hear three out of more than 200 complaints that in some way relate to an annual Kenai River Fishing event, but two officials have already amended their filings to correct the issue, they said. APOC accepted three complaints, and rejected another 198, that in some way relate to the Kenai River Classic. The commission will likely hear the three accepted complaints within 90 days of Aug. 27, according to APOC Executive Director Paul Dauphinais. C
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For APOC to accept a complaint for consideration, it must meet technical standards, and must be something that, if the allegation is true it would be a violation, according to Dauphinais. The technical component requires that the complaint is signed, notarized, and accompanied by proof that the appropriate parties were served. The complaints filed against Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources Ed Fogels and Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Cora Campbell assert that they did not declare their participation in the Kenai River Classic, nor the gifts they received at the event, on public
disclosure forms. A similar complaint was filed against Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell for not declaring his daughter’s participation or gifts. Both Campell and Fogels have since amended their APOC reports to reflect their participation in the event, they said Aug. 28. Treadwell said his daughter did not participate. The Kenai River Classic is an annual invitational fishing event held to raise money for the Kenai River Sportfishing Association’s work in habitat restoration, and fisheries education, management and research. According to KRSA’s website, the event has raised more than $14 million during the past 20 See APOC, page A-9