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Vol. 49, Issue 271
Clarion offices closed Labor Day The Peninsula Clarion offices will be closed Monday, Sept. 2, so our employees and families can enjoy Labor Day weekend. We wish the community a happy holiday.
Possible strike date set by educators
Changes
Nonprofits may suffer with BP exit
Prep sports schedule shuffles
News / A6
Sports / A7
CLARION P E N I N S U L A
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Thursday, August 29, 2019 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
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New alcohol rules deemed overreach Clarified regulations could put an end to fundraisers, community events in local breweries. By Victoria Petersen Peninsula Clarion
Proposed changes from the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board could halt state breweries and distilleries from hosting First Friday events,
fundraisers, beer dinners and other community gatherings. Under current state statute, local breweries and distilleries with manufacturing licenses are barred from allowing onsite live entertainment, TVs, pool tables, darts, dancing, video games, game table or “other recreational or gaming opportunities.” The board is now seeking to clarify what “entertainment” and “other recreational opportunities” mean, according to a July 9 memo from
Director of the state Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office Erika McConnell. “The board directed staff to strengthen the language to better reflect the legislative intent that these licenses are manufacturers, not retailers,” the memo read. A revised proposal from the board aims to define entertainment and other recreational opportunities as festivals, games and competitions, classes, public parties, presentations or performances and other types of
organized social gatherings that are advertised to the general public. Bill Howell, author of “Alaska Beer: Liquid Gold in the Land of the Midnight Sun” and a professor at the Kenai Peninsula College, said he sees the proposed regulations as more government overreach. Howell said other states, like Maine, find ways to promote their local breweries and distilleries. He said in Alaska the state See rules, Page A2
Fire delays deliveries across the peninsula
Peninsula Clarion
See strike, Page A3
65/43 More weather, Page A2
W of 1 inner Awa0* 201 Exc rds fo 8 e r Rep llence i o n rt * Ala ska P i n g ! res
By Victoria Petersen
Teachers and school district staff could strike as soon as mid-September after Tuesday’s negotiating session ended without a contract deal. The Kenai Peninsula Education Association and the Kenai Peninsula Education Support Association announced Wednesday a potential strike date of Sept. 16. The associations slated Sept. 16 as the earliest a strike may take place, but the announcement is not a notification that a strike will happen, President of the Kenai Peninsula Education Association David Brighton said. Employees in the district have been without a new contract for 559 days and collective bargaining meetings between the district and two employee associations have hit a standstill. Tuesday night, the associations sat down with the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District in hopes of reaching an agreement. After about two hours, the groups left the table with requests for more information, but no contract. For over a year, contract negotiations between the school district and the associations have stalled on the rising cost of health care. On May 22, more than 75% of peninsula educators and staff voted to support a walkout. “This step represents just how serious of an issue health care is to our educators and their families,” Brighton said in the associations’ announcement. “Until the district comes to the table with a realistic proposal that won’t bankrupt families for using their own health
Clouds, sun
By Victoria Petersen Peninsula Clarion
and Michael Armstrong Homer News
during Fiscal Year 2020. Moriarty said that the oil and gas industry operates primarily in the Cook Inlet and the North Slope. There are also three refineries in the state: The Marathon refinery in Nikiski and two refineries owned by Petro Star in Valdez and the North Pole. Looking to the future, Moriarty said that the North Slope is set to experience a “renaissance” in terms of renewed growth in production within the next decade. Moriarty said that this past year was the most successful season in terms of exploration that the state has seen in over 15 years. As part of the presentation, Moriarty shared a map of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA) that illustrated the various projects being proposed in the area. Companies like Oil Search and
The Swan Lake Fire has been growing for over a week now, causing delays and closures on the Sterling Highway between Cooper Landing and Sterling. The traffic stops, some of which have been nearly 24 hours long, have delayed delivery trucks carrying grocery store necessities. Dusty Steinbeck, the owner of Country Foods IGA, said the road closures have caused delays of delivery trucks on both sides of the highway. He said the longest delay the store had was Sunday, Aug. 18 when the road was closed for over 20 hours. The delivery was supposed to come in Sunday, but shelves didn’t get stocked until Monday night. Last week, at Fred Meyer, five trucks were held up in the Sterling Highway Road closure, Jeffery Temple, director of corporate affairs for Fred Meyer, said. He said the company is monitoring the road closures. Road closures are continuing to impact deliveries into this week. The Kenai Peninsula College apologized to students over Facebook, Tuesday afternoon, because a delivery truck carrying required textbooks hadn’t made it to the college. In Homer at Save-U-More grocery store, on Friday, manager Mark Hemstreet said the Sterling Highway road closures and delays affected deliveries from Anchorage, especially of perishable items like bread and eggs and soft drinks and alcohol. “We received no delivery Monday (Aug. 19),” he said. “The Monday delivery showed up Tuesday night. We’re almost two days behind. We’re just getting caught up now.” When news got out of road closures on Monday, sales spiked, Hemstreet said. “We had a really good day Monday. We probably had about 10-15% higher sales. Some of it was back to school and some of it was panic buying, I think,” he said. “… That added to the problem. We didn’t get deliveries and then we sold out. It was like a hurricane.” Save-U-More also gets a weekly delivery from the Lower 48 that arrives in Anchorage on Sunday and is delivered to Homer on Tuesday. That shipment didn’t arrive until Thursday morning, Aug. 22. The delayed shipments also threw a wrench into SaveU-More work schedules. Stockers did other tasks when shipments didn’t come in and then when shipments came they had to unload two trucks instead of one. “They just had to work longer hours, a little bit of overtime,” Hemstreet said. “… It’s interesting for them. They pulled it off. … As of today we’re back on schedule until further notice.”
See oil, Page A6
See deliver, Page A3
Erin Thompson / Peninsula Clarion
Haze from Swan Lake Fire smoke can be seen over Kenai National Wildlife Refuge near the corner of the Sterling Highway and Funny River Road on Wednesday in Soldotna.
Dense smoke blankets area By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
A wind shift to the southeast sent dense smoke to communities on the western side of the peninsula Wednesday, including Kenai, Soldotna, Nikiski and Sterling. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation issued an air quality advisory in the morning for the peninsula that anticipated “unhealthy” with periods of “very unhealthy” air quality for Soldotna Wednesday, with “unhealthy” conditions forecast for Thursday. Wednesday afternoon the winds shifted to the west, bringing heavy smoke back to Cooper Landing — which was projected to have “unhealthy” to “hazardous” air quality due to proximity to the fire
Wednesday and Thursday, according to the advisory. People should avoid prolonged outdoor activities, especially children, the elderly and those with existing health conditions when air quality reaches “unhealthy.” Everyone should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion when conditions reach “very unhealthy,” and avoid any outdoor activities when conditions become “hazardous.” As wind patterns shifted on the peninsula, fire crews from the Great Basin Incident Management Team began addressing additional areas along the Swan Lake Fire’s perimeter. In a 9 a.m. live update Wednesday morning, Operations Section Chief Jeff Surber laid out the plans for the day and the areas of the fire’s perimeter that will be the focus of the day’s
operations. The latest mapping of the fire puts it at 160,033 acres. Surber said that crews have begun monitoring the northwestern perimeter of the fire by air to keep an eye out for any fire growth in that area. Crews stationed along the western perimeter of the fire are continuing to reinforce the western control line, and the fire has not grown any closer to Sterling since the control line was established. Surber said that crews in the area and infrared flights are reporting less and less heat in the area every day. A large column of smoke originating near the Hidden Lake Campground was visible from the Sterling Highway Tuesday. In response to this activity, crews conducted aerial See smoke, Page A6
Alaska could see decades of increased oil production, says industry rep By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
Soldotna Chamber of Commerce members last week got an update on the future of oil and gas in the state at their first joint luncheon since July. At the Wednesday, Aug. 21 luncheon, Kara Moriarty, President and CEO of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, broke down the industry’s outlook for the next couple of decades and addressed the renewed conversation around tax credits for oil companies. Moriarty started the presentation by speaking about a new initiative from the oil and gas association that highlights the individuals working in the industry. A Facebook Page for Alaska Oil and Gas features videos and testimonials that “celebrate the people and the pride and the petroleum industry.” “It may seem funny to you in Kenai that we need to do something like
this, but you’re an unusual community compared to the rest of the state because the industry really is right in your backyard,” Moriarty said. “We’re trying to provide an opportunity for the rest of Alaska to see what life is really like for those of us who live and work in the industry.” Moriarty also highlighted the statewide economic impact of the oil and gas industry. According to data from the McDowell group, the industry provides over 103,000 direct jobs and more than $6 billion in wages each year. When including indirect jobs, the McDowell study showed that the oil and gas industry represents about one-third of all jobs in Alaska. In addition, information compiled by oil and gas association and presented to the Alaska House Resources Committee in May showed that the industry provided $3 billion dollars in total revenue to the state and local governments