THE
Alert NKorea tests weapons, puts troops on alert World/A6
d Rea er v by o
0 5 2 , 6 le a p peo y! da
Vol. 49, Issue 184
Sunday
Track Soldotna sweeps Kenai Invitational Sports/B1
CLARION P E N I N S U L A
Sunday, May 5, 2019 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
$1 newsstands daily/$1.50 Sunday
Kenai OKs funding for river bacteria testing
In the news Corps extends comment period on draft Pebble Mine review JUNEAU — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it will extend from 90 to 120 days the comment period for a draft environmental review of a proposed copper and gold mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region. The corps had received comments arguing against an extension and comments urging more time. Notably, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski last month requested extending the comment period to 120 days. Murkowski cited the draft’s length and complexity and need to ensure Alaskans can provide “meaningful feedback” on it. The comment period is now set to run through June 29. A corps spokesman said the agency would answer questions related to the draft next week. The proposed Pebble Mine has been a source of contention for years.
Second Ravn Alaska employee sentenced for stealing mail ANCHORAGE — A second former employee of Ravn Alaska has been sentenced for stealing air mail cargo, including computers intended for rural schools. The Anchorage Daily News reported Friday that 30-year-old Congress Lepou was sentenced to 12 months in prison. Authorities say Lepou and Breadoflife Faiupu, his co-worker at the regional airline, organized a theft conspiracy between 2015 and 2017. Prosecutors say the men recruited four other employees they supervised to steal and sell 60 Apple computers and more than $100,000 in phones and tobacco products meant for retail stores. Lepou pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy, mail theft and possession of stolen mail. He was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release and pay $199,143 in restitution. Faiupu was sentenced in February to six months in a halfway house. —Associated Press
Index Local................A3 Opinion........... A4 Nation..............A5 World.............. A6 Weather.......... A8 Sports..............B1 Homes............ C1 Community..... C3 Crossword....... C5 Classified........ C6 TV Guide........ C8 Mini Page........ C9 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
By KAT SORENSEN Peninsula Clarion
A student from Redoubt Elementary holds up a discarded fishing line and lure during the 6th Annual Kids Kenai River Spring Cleanup at Swiftwater Park in Soldotna. (Photo by Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion)
Spring cleaning Students remove trash from Kenai River shoreline By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
For the sixth year in a row, elementary school students from the central peninsula took a field trip to the Kenai River for the annual Kids Kenai River
Spring Cleanup. Nearly 650 students from seven schools in Sterling, Kenai and Soldotna participated in this year’s event, collecting hundreds of pounds of trash from five different parks along the Ke-
nai River on Thursday and Friday, according to a press release from the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District. In addition to providing a service to the community and the environment, the schools compete to
see which one can collect the most trash by weight, which means the kids were searching fervently for the biggest, heaviest piece of scrap metal to add to their collection. The event is organized See RIVER page A2
The Kenai City Council appropriated grant funds for summer water quality testing in the Kenai River at their meeting Wednesday. Kenai received about $56,000 from the State of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation for the Kenai Watershed Forum to monitor bacteria levels during the 2019 to 2020 Personal Use Fishery. The grant supports funding for coliform and enterocci bacteria testing in the Kenai River. In the past, according to the ordinance, bacteria levels have risen to levels that could pose a health risk to beachgoers and fishery participants. The city hires Kenai Watershed Forum as a contractor to collect the water samples. The forum has monitored water quality for over a decade, but the council was apprehensive to approve the grant money again after a case of “word salad” last year, according to Council member Jim Glendening. “Last year, one of the See TEST, page A3
GOP lawmaker leaves Alaska House majority By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU — The bipartisan Alaska House majority lost one of its Republican members Friday, ahead of what are expected to be difficult negotiations
over the budget and size of the check to pay residents from the state’s oil-wealth fund. Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux was the only House member Friday to vote to accept the Senate’s version of the budget, saying she
saw it as perhaps her only opportunity to vote for a full dividend payout from Alaska Permanent Fund earnings. The Senate budget follows the calculation that has been ignored the last three years amid an on-
going budget deficit and would produce checks estimated around $3,000 each. However, Senate leaders have said that figure could still change. With a full dividend, the Senate budget has a $1.2 billion
hole that would still need to be filled. The budget that passed the House did not include a dividend amount, with leadership on that side saying the dividend would be debated separately latSee GOP, page A2
Juneau students strike against climate change By Ben Hohenstatt Juneau Empire
Juneau high school students hope policy changes faster than the climate does. About 100 students — many of them excused from class — walked out of Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Friday morning and made their way to the Alaska State Capitol to champion the cause of prioritizing a fight against climate change. “We’re here to raise awareness about the dire condition of our environment and to put pressure on leaders everywhere, including in this building behind us,” said Katie McKenna, event co-organizer and a JDHS junior. The walkout was part of a global wave of Youth Climate Strikes inspired by Greta Thunberg, a Swedish climate activist and teen
Students march from Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé to a climate change rally at the Alaska State Capitol, Friday. (Ben Hohenstatt/Juneau Empire)
who has been on a school strike every Friday for the past 37 weeks. “Today, we join Greta
and students from every corner of the globe to let the world know that we are fed up of carrying the bur-
den that generations before us have created,” McKenna said. Griffin Plush, a senior at
University of Alaska Southeast, and Linnea Lentfer, a JDHS sophomore, also spoke during a short rally on the capitol’s steps. “Here in Alaska we know climate change is not some abstract concept,” Plush said. He, McKenna and Lentfer said the effects of climate change are particularly evident in Southeast Alaska and cited receding glaciers and ocean acidification as examples. Lentfer said it was important for these public conversations to be taking place, and strongly advocated for moving the state economy away from dependence on fossil fuels. The climate activists also said it was entirely appropriate for young people to lead climate change discussions and wade into politics despite many being See STRIKE, page A2
Refuge receives land donation Assembly seeks to lift from conservation group borough hiring freeze By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
The Nature Conservancy has gifted the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 293 acres of natural habitat land for salmon. The land comprises an
area around the Killey River, which is known as the source for more than half of the Kenai River’s early-run salmon, according to a press release from The Nature Conservancy and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services.
Before deciding to donate, The Nature Conservancy had been working with willing sellers over the last few years, in hopes of conserving the land and waters serving bears and salmon in that See LAND, page A2
By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
A resolution encouraging the Kenai Peninsula Borough’s efforts to fill vacant positions will be discussed at the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meeting Tuesday.
The resolution, introduced by assembly member Dale Bagley, notes 11 vacancies at the borough that are “increasingly impacting remaining personnel.” “If the vacant positions are not filled, productivity See LIFT, page A2