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CLARION P E N I N S U L A
FEBRUARY 15, 2015 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 45, Issue 116
School districts responsive to rankings
Bill would provide tax credit for ammonia producers
By MOLLY DISCHNER Associated Press
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JUNEAU — Education officials said the state’s school rating system, now in its third year, is an improvement compared to the former system. State education department offi- ‘I see engagecials briefed the House and Senate ment and imeducation commit- provement that I tees this week on the Alaska School didn’t see before Performance In- and I didn’t expedex. That’s the new index used to rience before.’ rank schools. — Mike Hanley, The rankings state education incorporate stucommissioner dent proficiency, growth on schoolspecific performance objectives and attendance for schools that teach kindergarten through eighth grade. High school rankings also include graduation rates and college and career readiness. Alaska implemented the new system under a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind Act. That act required different pass-fail rankings. The new system has been well-received by school districts, state education commissioner Mike Hanley said. “I see engagement and improvement that I didn’t see before and I didn’t experience before,” he said during Tuesday’s Senate Education Committee hearing. Susan McCauley, director of the division of See SCHOOL, page A-2
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Agrium keeping an eye on legislation By BEN BOETTGER Peninsula Clarion
On Monday, House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, introduced a bill to the state House of Representatives that would create a tax credit for ammonia producers. According to its text, House Bill 100 would entitle 29th LEGISLATURE 1st SESSION “a taxpayer that owns an in-state processing facility whose primary function is the manufacture or sale of ammonia or urea” to receive a tax credit equal to the royalty paid by that manufacturer’s gas suppliers on their state leases. Chenault’s staff said the bill was created with the consultation of Agrium Inc., a Canada-based manufacturer of ammonia fertilizer, represented by lobbyist Jeff Logan. In 2007 Agrium ceased the operation of its Nikiski ammonia and urea manufacturing plant due to what it said was an Clarion file photo insufficient supply of natural gas from Cook Agrium’s Nikiski plant is pictured in this Clarion file photo. A bill in the Alaska Legislature Inlet sources. The plant created urea and anhyto create tax credits for ammonia producers will be a factor in the company’s decision on drous ammonia by combining atmospheric niwhether to restart the facility. See CREDIT, page A-2
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Kenai seniors celebrate long-lasting love By IAN FOLEY Peninsula Clarion
More than a hundred people gathered on Friday night to celebrate marriage during a special Valentine’s party at the Kenai Senior Center. The event included a special dinner, video projection and vintage gown dress show. Carol Bannock, activities/volunteer coordinator for the Kenai Senior Center, said the facility has a different Valentine’s party each year, but this year’s focused on lasting marriages. “We are focusing on celebrating unions that have been together for 50plus years,” Bannock said. Photo by Ian Foley/Peninsula Clarion Photos of couples who have been Vintage wedding fashions are modeled during the Kenai Senior Center’s together since as far back as 1944 were Valentine’s Day dinner Friday. displayed on the center’s walls and in
BLM clears way for NPR-A development By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management issued a final decision Friday that it said will open the way for the first oil and gas production from federal lands in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The decision is a shift from the alternative that BLM had earlier selected as its preferred option. But it aligns with the alternative chosen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. BLM-Alaska spokeswoman Lesli Ellis-Wouters said BLM had indicated it would take into account the Corps’ decision in making its final determination. If the two agencies were not on the same page,
ConocoPhillips Alaska would not have been able to go forward, she said. The two alternatives are similar, she said, but the selected alternative provides for a smaller gravel footprint. There also is a “robust” mitigation package that will provide for monitoring and developing a plan for future development in the reserve, she said. As part of that, ConocoPhillips Alaska is to provide $8 million for a mitigation fund that would be used to offset impacts to habitat and subsistence resources and develop a regional plan. A coalition of conservation groups expressed disappointment with the decision, saying See NPR-A, page A-2
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its newsletter, while a video with couples’ interviews was played. After dinner and dessert, which was served by the members of the Boys and Girls Club Keystone group, a wedding gown fashion show took place. “It’s the crown jewel of the night,” Bannock said. “(It’s) a mostly vintage wedding dress style show.” Bannock said several people lent their wedding dresses to the center, which were then modeled by community members during the show. “Some of (the dresses) we borrowed, some of them are not so vintage, but they’re still beautiful, of course,” Bannock said. “A few of them are from a while back.” Bannock credited the night’s success to The First Baptist Church of Kenai, who helped sponsored the event.
“The staff over there has worked very hard to do the decorations and pull the style show together and get a program together,” Bannock said. “It’s been fun.” Howard Hill, who attends many of the center’s parties with his wife, Kit, said many people don’t understand how important the center’s events are to seniors in the community. “There are a lot of senior individuals here without families and I found out what this was like a couple of years ago when (my wife) was visiting down south,” Hill said. “I was here alone for Thanksgiving and (the senior center) just makes a lot of difference in the way you feel. It’s really easy to get depressed when you’re by yourself for the holidays.” See HEARTS, page A-2
Homer man dies in Patagonia By MICHAEL ARMSTRONG Morris News Service-Alaska/ Homer News
A longtime Homer man known for his infectious laughter and sense of adventure died Feb. 7 in a hiking accident in Patagonia, Argentina. According to reports from the Argentine newspaper, Chaltén Today, Michael Feraudo Jr., 60, apparently fell sometime after 12:30 p.m. local time while hiking on the Rio Piedras Blancas trail in Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, or Glacier National Park, near El Chaltén, Argentina. Feraudo landed in a creek and was caught by a current, where he drowned. A friend hiking with him could not save him, the paper reported. Rescuers arrived several hours later and recovered his body. C
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Homer friends will hold a remembrance gathering to honor Feraudo at 4 p.m. today at Alice’s Champagne Palace. An email about Feraudo’s death from a longtime friend, author and photographer Tom Reed, spread quickly throughout Homer and Alaska. Reed wrote “The Granite Avatars of Patagonia,” a series of photos and essays about the area based on a trip Reed took in 2007, and advised Feraudo on his trek. People who wrote Reed back almost all said “how thoughtful and kind and caring and gentle Mike was,” Reed said. Feraudo had taken a copy of “The Granite Avatars” to Fernando Garcia, a friend of Reed’s featured in the book, and pieced together some of Feraudo’s last days from correspondence with Garcia. A photo taken by Garcia
shows Feraudo standing in front of Cerro Torre, one of the mountains Reed calls “the granite avatars.” Reed said he thinks Feraudo then hiked on a path he suggested to the base of Monte Fitz, another spectacular mountain, and north to Rio Electrico. Feraudo made a side trip along Rio Piedras Blancas to see Laguna Piedras Blancas, or the lake of the white mountains, and died along the trail. “He died in a spectacular place, and he had to have had those emotions of wonder that I had,” Reed said. “That must have been his mindset, his dominant emotion during the last two or three days of his life. He must have been totally aweinspired and filled with wonder and amazement.” “We do find some peace in the fact that some of the last See HOMER, page A-2