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Pelicans snap Hawks win streak
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CLARION
Clear, cold 17/-3 More weather on Page A-2
P E N I N S U L A
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 45, Issue 106
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
City polls open today
Question Would you like to see Sarah Palin run for president in 2016? n Yes n No 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.
Soldotna votes on home rule charter commission
In the news Panel postpones hearing for fish board nominee
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JUNEAU (AP) — The House Resources Committee has delayed a confirmation hearing for Roland Maw’s appointment to the state Board of Fisheries. Committee co-chair Dave Talerico, a Republican from Healy, said the hearing was cancelled Monday after there was a lot of contact about the appointment over the weekend. An aide later clarified that the office had received calls and emails. Talerico said he planned to follow up on some of those contacts Monday. He did not know when the hearing would be rescheduled. Talerico said other items on the committee’s agenda Monday, resolutions related to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, were important. Gov. Bill Walker nominated Maw in January to replace former board chair Karl Johnstone, who resigned after being told he would not be reappointed when his term expired.
Inside ‘Today President Obama laid out a plan for more taxes, more spending, and more of the Washington gridlock that has failed middle class families.’ ... See page A-6
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Business................ A-5 Nation.................... A-6 World..................... A-7 Sports.....................A-8 Classifieds........... A-12 Comics................. A-14 Pet Tails............... A-15 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
Photo by Kelly Sullivan/ Peninsula Clarion
Close knit group
work environment, wages, benefits and personal leave, staff assignments, and health care, Erkeneff said. Education association spokesperson Matt Fischer said the initial offer from the school district this year may be interesting. The school district’s administrative staff has changed and for the first time a spokesperson, Saul Friedman, an attorney, has been hired for the district negotiating team, he
Today, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Soldotna voters have the opportunity to vote on whether a charter commission shall be elected. The election will determine if Soldotna takes one of the first steps toward becoming a home rule law city. Voting takes place at Soldotna City Hall. While voters are not explicitly voting on whether Soldotna becomes home rule, if the “No” vote prevails in Tuesday’s election, it would essentially kill the home rule debate for the foreseeable future. Should the “Yes” votes win, a charter commission consisting of seven members will be elected to draft a charter. There are only seven charter commission candidates on the ballot, but it is possible to write-in
See SCHOOL, page A-10
See CITY, page A-10
Amy Lou Pascucci leads the Knit 2 Read 2 group for teens Monday at the Kenai Community Library. The group has been meeting since October. Melita Efta, Juliana Hamilton and Amelia Johnson use different styles.
School district begins negotiations By KELLY SULLIVAN Peninsula Clarion
Next week the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District will enter the 2015 collective bargain negotiations with school district teachers and support staff. The opening meeting between negotiating teams from the district administration, Kenai Peninsula Education Association and the Kenai Peninsula Education Support Association
will be Feb. 9 at 11:00 a.m. in the 4D Professional Building conference room in Soldotna. It will be the first of a series of discussions that will determine contracts for school district support staff and educators for the next three years starting July 1, said school district spokeswoman Pegge Erkeneff. At the initial meeting, the three groups will decide the “ground rules” for this round of negotiations including professionalism and expectations,
Erkeneff said. Initial offers will also be exchanged, she said. The education association and the support association may request to conduct meetings with the school district separately, Erkeneff said. Recently the two organizations have been asking to hold joint discussions, because they are negotiating similar topics, she said. There are several subjects that may come up for discussion including compensation,
By IAN FOLEY Peninsula Clarion
Senate majority eyes October for gas line session By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU — Members of the Alaska Senate’s Republican-led majority on Monday said they are targeting October for a special session on issues related to the liquefied natural gas project that the state is pursuing. No special session, however, has been called. Deputy Natural Resources Commissioner Marty Rutherford said the state is “fully engaged” in negotiations on commercial agreements with the
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project participants and making every effort to maintain timelines. But she said negotiations can only occur as quickly as all parties come to agreement and that it is premature to predict when all project-enabling contracts will be ready for legislative approval. “In order for this Administration to make the historic de-
Lawmakers discuss Arctic projects By MOLLY DISCHNER Associated Press
JUNEAU — The Alaska Arctic Policy Commission has recommended the state take several steps to enhance Arctic communities, but finding the money for the improvements could be a challenge. The report’s recommendations center around four areas of focus: economic and resource development, infrastructure, healthy communities, and science and research. The report details several projects that would advance those goals. During a news conference Monday, Rep. Bob Herron, DBethel, said a lot of the projects may be postponed for a while until funding is available, but
that it was important to start planning for them. Sen. Lesil McGuire, RAnchorage, identified private investors and the state’s Arctic Infrastructure Fund as other possible sources of money. The legislature created the fund last session, enabling the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority to make loans or loan guarantees for Arctic projects such as ports, roads, telecommunications, emergency services and fisheries infrastructure. The legislature did not put any money into that fund, but the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority can use its own money for it. Federal revenue sharing See ARCTIC, page A-10
cisions and recommendations associated with royalties, equity interest, and fiscal terms, the State’s interests must be protected and the risks quantified,” she said by email. “Therefore ensuring the correct commercial agreements are in place is critical to making informed decisions.” The Senate majority press secretary said setting a target date now, roughly two weeks into the scheduled 90-day legislative session, is meant to serve as a reminder of issues that need to be resolved to keep the
project moving forward. Much of the focus of this session so far has been on the state’s projected multibillion-dollar budget deficit and frustration with the federal government after a proposal to designate much of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, including its potentially oil-rich coastal plain, as wilderness. Gov. Bill Walker has said he will not start over on the gas project and will continue the work started during the prior administration. In a statement Monday, he said his adminis-
tration looks forward to working with the Legislature to do “whatever is necessary” to advance the gas line. Some lawmakers remain uncertain about Walker’s plans. As a candidate last year, he raised concerns with the structure of the project being pursued by the state, BP, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp., TransCanada Corp. and the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. “It frustrates me, because I still don’t know that we’re seeing all his cards on that,” Senate See GAS, page A-10
Pipeline coordinator’s office in budget, but still closing By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU — President Barack Obama has proposed $1 million in funding and a change in scope for the office of federal coordinator of Alaska natural gas projects. But the proposal, for the budget year starting Oct. 1, doesn’t change plans for the office to close around the end of this month, federal coordinator Larry Persily said Monday. The office wasn’t included in a budget bill passed by Congress in December, and Persily said that without funding for the current year, the office has no choice but to close. The C
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office is giving away furniture and equipment to other federal agencies in Alaska and will preserve its records at the National Archives, he said by email. The office’s digital library of gas-line project documents going back 40 years will be maintained at the Alaska Resources Library and Information Services, Persily said. Persily plans to resign after the office closes. If Congress restores the agency, a new federal coordinator would have to be appointed by the president, subject to Senate confirmation, he said. The office was created in a 2004 law aimed at helping advance an Alaska gas pipeline
project that would serve North America. That project was set aside amid a change in markets in favor of a large-scale liquefied natural gas project that would allow for overseas exports. But Congress did not change the scope of the office to include a liquefied natural gas export project. Persily has said that the lack of clear authority for the office to be involved with the new project was becoming more of an issue as the project progressed. The budget proposal calls for a change in the authorization to allow the office to work on a liquefied natural gas project.