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CLARION
Sunny 43/20 More weather on Page A-2
P E N I N S U L A
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2014 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 45, Issue 38
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
Sullivan wins Senate seat
Question Are you ready for some snow? n Yes, winter is no fun without it. n No, I’m enjoying this mild weather. 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 BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU — Republican Dan Sullivan spent Tuesday night checking in on election returns, hanging out with his family and watching the movie “Patton.” On Wednesday, he was on his way to Washington, D.C., as senator-elect, after defeating Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Mark Begich. While thousands of absentee and questioned ballots remain to be counted in Alaska, results from Tuesday’s count of about 20,000 ballots indicated that Begich could not overcome Sullivan’s lead, which stood at about 7,900. Begich refused to concede the race. His campaign manager reiterated what the campaign has been saying since election night last week — that Alaskans deserve to have every vote counted. More ballots will be counted starting Friday. Begich was not available for an interview Wednesday, said his spokesman, Max Croes. Sullivan said he was humbled by the support he received and ready to start his work. Organizational meetings are planned for Thursday, which is Sullivan’s 50th birthday.
In the news Troopers warn of underwear bandit in Kodiak
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KODIAK (AP) — An underwear bandit is actively stealing women’s undergarments in Kodiak. Alaska State Troopers say there’s been a rash of burglaries reported lately. People have returned to their homes to find items — mostly women’s underwear — missing. Fisherman Hannah Clark tells Kodiak radio station KMXT that she began noticing items had been moved around in her home when she returned from fishing trips last summer. But she didn’t connect those incidents to her missing underwear until she heard the news Wednesday. Clark says she can’t believe “there’s an actual underwear bandit.” Clark jokes at least the thief has good taste after taking her recent $150 shipment from Victoria’s Secret. Troopers refuse to release details since it’s an ongoing investigation. But they remind people to lock their homes.
Inside ‘When you start panicking, it makes things worse.You have to say your prayers. You have to use your experience.’ ... See page A-5
Learning process
Above: Carl Hatten, a Kenai Peninsula College-Kenai River Campus student, calibrates a pneumatic control valve for a conference in Anchorage on Wednesday in the Career and Technical Education Center in Soldotna. Photo by Kelly Sullivan/Peninsula Clarion
Right: Cat Walsh, an instrumentation student, builds a database Wednesday in the Career and Technical Education Center. Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion
See SENATE, page A-10
Safety committee suggested for inlet Cook Inlet RCAC presents findings in risk assessment report By BEN BOETTGER Peninsula Clarion
On Wednesday, Coast Guard Capt. Paul Mehler began his speech at the Cook Inlet Harbor Safety Committee Informational meeting by saying “Let’s be up front — we don’t have a Harbor Safety Committee yet. You might ask: if it’s not broke, what do we have to fix? But there is a point to trying to work smarter, trying to be efficient as
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the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, and the U.S. Coast Guard. A draft of the report was presented at Wednesday’s meeting, preceding a Coast Guard presentation advocating for a Harbor Safety Committee. The meeting was attended by nearly 50 people, including harbor operators, oil-spill responders, and representatives from fishing, conservation, transportation, and oil and gas
concerns. According to its executive director, Mike Munger, the Cook Inlet Regional Citizen’s Advisory Council is one of two advisory groups formed under the federal Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to represent citizen’s interest in policy-making related to crude oil transportation. The council commissioned the Cook Inlet Risk Assessment report in order to answer two questions: what is the risk of an oil spill in
the Cook Inlet? And what can be done to minimize the risk or impact of an oil spill? The council selected the consulting group Nuka Research to carry out the report, in part because Nuka had previously created a similar report for the Aleutian Islands. Tim Robertson, project manager for Nuka Research and one of the report’s authors, presented the findings. See REPORT, page A-10
CH2M Hill to sell Soldotna officials go paperless Alaska, Russia units Move intended to reduce paper use, staff time By RASHAH McCHESNEY Peninsula Clarion
Index
we can, trying to open communications.” Mehler was speaking of the possibility of a formal, dedicated group to reduce the risk of marine accidents — specifically, of oil spills — in Cook Inlet. Although such a group doesn’t presently exist, its creation is one measure recommended by the Cook Inlet Risk Assessment, a report commissioned in 2011 by the Cook Inlet Regional Citizen’s Advisory Council,
Colorado-based CH2M Hill on Wednesday announced that it would “explore strategic alternatives” for its business unit which covers Alaska and Sakhalin Island, in Russia. The company employs about 2,400 employees within that unit, according to its announcement. “The Alaska and Sakhalin oil and gas business, and its dedicated and experienced workforce, have made significant contributions to the growth and value of our company,” said CH2M Hill Energy President Rob Berra, according to the release. “It is a high-quality, well-run business with longstanding client relationships that we believe has strong future prospects. We intend to explore ‘win-
win’ options for our employees and clients.” Last year, the compnay closed its Kenai business unit because it did not have the volume of work to justify keeping the unit open. At that time, Director of Operations and Maintenance Denis LeBlanc said the company had about 1,300 people on its North Slope operations and 65 in Kenai. The Kenai assets did not sell in 2013 and LeBlanc said that property would be included in the 2014 sale. “We actually took it off the market,” he said. “It’s all part of the Alaska oil and gas and chemicals organization that’s being considered for sale.” The company has enlisted the help of Bank of America Merrill Lynch to assist in the transition, according to the release.
By KELLY SULLIVAN Peninsula Clarion
The city of Soldotna is expediting the move to paperless politics. For a recent Planning and Zoning Commission special meeting, each commissioner was handed a behemoth packet containing property plans, signatures and letters and the applicant’s filing and appeal for a daycare. “Our copier ran last Friday for just about eight hours straight printing out paper for that meeting,” said City Manager Mark Dixson. “There were probably just over 200 pages for each packet.” For that reason, Dixson instructed the City Clerk Shellie Saner to purchase the planning department a set of iPads ahead of the original C
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‘Our copier ran last Friday for just about eight hours straight printing out paper for that meeting.’ — Mark Dixson, Soldotna city manager schedule. The allocation for the devices was included in the Planning and Zoning department budget for the 2015 Fiscal Year, reported City Planner Stephanie Queen in a March 3, 2014 commission meeting packet. “Packets for Planning and Zoning are getting to the point
where, not only for the copier, but for he staff time putting those packets together it takes us a lot of time and money,” Dixson said. “It would be more efficient just to put them on an iPad.” The city council is also budgeted to receive iPads, and the commission was scheduled to get their devices after the council, Dixson said. Soldotna is not the only local governing body going paperless. The Kenai Peninsula Borough listed their iPad purchase as one of the largest sources of savings in the 2014 fiscal year Efficiencies Report. Last year the Kenai Peninsula Borough gave Assembly members iPads for meetings, according to the 2014 fiscal year Efficiencies Report. See PAPER, page A-10