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P E N I N S U L A
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2014 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 45, Issue 12
Votes go to Navarre
Question Do you agree with a federal judge’s decision to overturn Alaska’s ban on same-sex marriage? n Yes n No
Election lead grows with absentee ballot count
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 RASHAH McCHESNEY Peninsula Clarion
With all of the absentee and questioned ballots counted, Mike Navarre has emerged as the winner of the race for Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor, according to the borough’s unofficial results. The KPB Canvass Board on Monday announced that it had worked through the weekend to review the remaining 1,832 absentee and questioned ballots. Navarre garnered 1,055 of the votes, or just over 57 percent of the total, challenger Tom Bearup got nearly 34 percent of the votes and the remaining 8 percent went to Carrol Martin. After Tuesday’s election, Navarre emerged as the frontrunner 53 percent of the vote. However, to avoid a run-off, Navarre needed a minimum of 629 of the remaining ballots to
In the news Wildlife groups sue for wolverine protections
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BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A coalition of advocacy groups on Monday challenged the government’s denial of federal protections for the snow-loving wolverine, arguing in a lawsuit that officials disregarded evidence a warming climate will eliminate denning areas for the socalled “mountain devil.” An estimated 250 to 300 wolverines survive in the Lower 48 states. The elusive but ferocious members of the weasel family give birth to their young in deep mountain snowfields that scientists say could be at risk of disappearing as the climate changes. After proposing protections for the species last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in August abruptly reversed course. Fish and Wildlife Director Dan Ashe said at the time there was too much uncertainty in computer climate change models to justify protections, an issue first raised by two members of a scientific peer-review panel. Monday’s lawsuit argues the agency acted illegally by ignoring the best available science on wolverines after some of its own scientists said protections were needed. Wolverines are currently found in portions of Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Oregon. Individual wolverines have been documented in Colorado and California, but there has no evidence of breeding populations in those states. Larger populations of wolverines live in Alaska and Canada. Those animals were never proposed for federal protection.
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maintain a majority of the ballots cast. To push Navarre’s percentage below the required majority, Bearup and Martin would have needed to capture 1,204 absentee votes. Absentee voters also swayed the results of an advisory vote on an animal rescue program in the unincorporated parts of the borough. Voters were asked if they’d like to see animal control in unincorporated parts of the borough and, additionally, if they’d like to see a raise in the mill rate to pay for the program. Election day voters declined both, however when the absentee votes were tallied, the “yes” votes outnumbered the “no” votes by five, bringing the total to 50.04 percent yes and 49.96 percent no. Voters still did not want to See VOTES, page A-6
Gay couples apply for Alaska marriage licenses Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion
By MARK THIESSEN Associated Press
A flower lies in a muddy rut in the City of Kenai’s wildflower meadow Monday in Kenai. The grounds of the meadow were damaged extensively after a pickup truck was driven through the area. Police arrested a Kasilof man in connection to the case.
ANCHORAGE — Gay couples began applying for marriage licenses in Anchorage on Monday, 15 years after Alaska helped touch off a national debate with a ban on same-sex unions. “It feels very surreal,” Ann Marie Garber said. Garber and her partner, Koy Field, were among the first gay couples seeking a license to wed in Alaska. “I had no idea this would happen in my lifetime,” she said. They decided to apply immediately after the ban was overturned by a federal judge Sunday. “This is historical,” Garber said. “It’s exciting.” U.S. District Court Judge
Flower meadow vandalized By RASHAH McCHESNEY Peninsula Clarion
At the height of its bloom in August, the wildflower field between the Kenai Spur Highway and Lawton Drive in Kenai was covered in hundreds of brilliantly colored blossoms. Now, it is covered in deep grooves and muddy ruts — the aftermath of an early morning encounter with an intoxicated pickup truck driver. At least, that’s why Kenai
police arrested Josiah McElwain, 19, when they found him in a nearby ditch at 3:30 Monday morning. “The Kenai Police Department received a report of a truck that was driving back and forth in the field where the city had planted the flowers,” said Kenai Police Sgt. Ben Langham. When officers arrived on scene, they found McElwain, of Kasilof, who then drove his truck into a nearby ditch and got stuck. He was arrested for
driving under the influence, a class A misdemeanor which carries a mandatory sentence of at least 72 hours in jail, use of an ignition interlock device for at least six months and a fine of at least $1,500. “The way I understand it is, he was actually driving in the field when officers (arrived),” Langham said. Police are still investigating the incident and trying to determine the extent of the damage. See FLOWER, page A-6
Timothy Burgess ruled that the gay marriage ban violated the due process and equal protection guarantees of the U.S. Constitution. His ruling came over the objection of gay marriage opponents who say states should decide the issue, not courts. The ruling in favor of five couples who sued the state in May overturns a constitutional amendment approved by Alaska voters in 1998, defining marriage in the state as between one man and one woman. It bars enforcement of any state law that keeps gay couples from marrying or refuses to recognize same-sex unions performed elsewhere. Gay couples married outside of Alaska or in ceremonies within the state that didn’t carry legal standing were among those See MARRY, page A-6
Despite lingering questions, LNG project progresses By RASHAH McCHESNEY Peninsula Clarion
Several reporters, industry representatives from ExxonMobil and the Alaska LNG project visited the Kenai Peninsula last week during a showcase of the research projects currently underway to determine whether Nikiski is a viable site for the terminus of a massive energy project. On Thursday, Alaska LNG, a group with representatives from the state, oil companies and pipeline builders, flew several reporters to Nikiski where the group has been purchasing land and conducting geotechnical surveys near a site that could house a liquefaction plant for the project. The Alaska LNG project concept would take natural gas from the North Slop near Prudhoe Bay and pipe it 800 miles to a plant site near Nikiski. Along
the way, at least five domestic gas off-takes would be built on the pipeline. It is unclear exactly where the plant would be located, and ExxonMobil’s Alaska LNG Senior Manager Steve Butt said it would take time to find the right spot. Still, the consortium has been purchasing land in Nikiski, and several trees in area near Autumn Road, where reporters were taken to see a team perform core sampling work, were labeled with large red and white “No Trespassing” signs. The area, located just east of the Agrium facility on the Kenai Spur Highway, is part of a several hundred acre land-buy the consortium has been carrying out for months. “We’ve been dealing with more than 100 landowners,” Butt said. “We have contracts with several of them.” He said it the land currently
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion
A crew works to obtain a soil sample near Autumn Road on October 9 in Nikiski. Teams have been doing geotechnical work in the Nikiski were the Alaska LNG Project has proposed locating an LNG facility to cool natural gas into a liquid form for export.
being acquired was “in excess of 300 acres.” Ultimately, the group will need about 600 acres to build the plant, he said. C
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The plant would include three 42.3 million-gallon LNG storage tanks and be staffed by about 200 people during the day, according to the project
overview. For local landowners, the possibility of being forced to sell has loomed in recent weeks. According to the Jan. 14 Heads of Agreement between the state, the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation, TransCanada Alaska Development, and three oil companies, the state is willing to use its eminent domain rights “to facilitate implementation of the Alaska LNG project.” Butt said it was early in the process to be talking about the state using eminent domain and, there are other options available if the consortium cannot acquire the land it needs in the Nikiski . “If it doesn’t work here, there are other sites where we’ll have to go,” he said. “We want to work with the owners here and say ‘OK, does that work See LNG, page A-6