Meet Your Republican Candidates, & Bring the Popcorn
It’s hard to know where to begin these days, but let’s start with something nasty that’s brewing which will directly affect the policy positions of Republican candidates, and tells us exactly what to expect if Republicans manage to take back the majority in the State House this November. HINT: It’s going to look a lot like the horrific beginning of last session only there won’t be anyone to stop it. WHAT AR THEY DUIN? A strained pun is about the best you can get out of the absolute fiscal disaster the Republican Party is cooking up. Remember when Tuckerman Babcock,…
Alaska Politicians Exposed – Stooges, Shills & Shenanigans
TALL TALES from Juneau and the DC Debacle AND IT’S ALLLL ON TAPE Sometimes you know things, but it’s nice to have them proven right out loud, through dramatic and surreptitious means. Such is the case with the immediately infamous “Pebble tapes.” If you haven’t heard them, make yourself a beverage and get ready to be a fly on the wall as your beautiful state and all its salmon get sold down the river (not the beautiful blue Nushagak of today – the contaminated, cyanide-filled Nushagak of tomorrow). We now know what our elected Republican leadership thinks of us,…
The ‘Law & Order’ Party Cheers AK Law Breakers
OH REEEEALLLLY… So, it seems that Don “I call it the beer virus” Young is perfectly happy to wear a mask in the White House for a photo op, just not in his own state to protect his constituents. Here he is at the elbow of the Maskless One, at the now famous bill signing where the President referred to Yosemite National Park as “Yo Semites.” The bill was signed in the hope that it might help the beleaguered candidacies of Republican Senators Cory Gardner of Colorado and Steve Daines of Montana. No Democrats were invited to the signing of…
Hey… Where’s this thing going?
Hey… Where is this thing going? As several journalists have pointed out – August is supposed to be a slow news month. But like many other things in Alaska, that’s been turned on its head. The Dunleavy steamroller is juiced up and going full speed. And so is the recall effort. Almost 40,000 signatures have been gathered so far in the first phase of the recall which will draw to a close on September 2. Phase 2 will come after the application is approved, and will require over 70,000 signatures (which looks extremely do-able at this point), and then after…
Public comment deadline looms; Pebble opponents vow to fight illegal permit application
As people prepare to submit their public comments on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the proposed Pebble Mine, before the final deadline this Monday, July first, Bristol Bay defenders are dissecting permitting documents and past statements in search of legal grounds and legislative options to derail the Trump administration’s rush to ram through permits for the proposed mine. Describing the Pebble Partnership’s current application for federal permits, Joel Reynolds said, “To avoid public focus on the scale of the harm that they are going to cause to the world’s greatest wild salmon ecosystem, they…
Alaska Mining Project Threatens Salmon, Water, and Native Communities
Trump Administration officials have fast-tracked permits for the largest open-pit mine in North America. The proposed Pebble Mine had previously seemed paralyzed, after more than a decade of relentless opposition by Alaska Native elders and youth. Now, plans for the mine are being rushed forward. The final public comment period for the proposed U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) permits ends on June 29, 2019. Under the Obama administration, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wrote that it would result in a “complete loss of fish habitat” (PDF) in a proposed determination to block Pebble Mine. The mine is planned to…
Governor’s Appointments – Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down
TALL TALES from Juneau Eyes on the Dunleavy/Babcock administration The Governor’s appointments and how they went down THUMBS UP/THUMBS DOWN Well, that was a whopper. The governor’s appointees to commissioner positions and to boards and commissions were up for confirmation yesterday, and the joint floor session with members of the House and Senate took 7 hours and 48 minutes to wind up. At the end, all of the governor’s picks for Commissioner positions (even the most controversial) were passed with a majority of votes, but 6 appointees to the many boards and commissions in the state were rejected. And…
Environmental Skulduggery is Afoot in Alaska
TALL TALES from Juneau… and BEYOND! PANTS ON FIRE! Reports are coming from far and wide that the new Senate Majority response to Alaskans who suggest revamping our oil tax credit structure is more or less this: “Oh, we got rid of oil tax credits. They’re gone. They don’t exist anymore. So… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Don’t know what you’re talking about!” Sorry, we call moose nuggets on that one. If anyone tries to flim-flam you with the “we don’t do that anymore” nonsense, here’s the deal. Cathy Giessel, Lora Reinbold, Shelley Hughes and others are regurgitating a bizarre talking point, and…
The Commies did it!
TALL TALES from Juneau Eyes on the Babcock/Dunleavy administration The Commies did it edition (Re-posted with permission by the Alaska Democratic Party) I DIDN’T THINK ANYONE WOULD SEE ME ON THE INTERNET Well, the latest float in the parade of caustic, hyper-partisan, and ill-advised appointments by Governor Babcock has already come and gone. Tammy Randolph, we hardly knew ye. Yes, she has removed her name from consideration to be appointed to the University of Alaska Board of Regents. She said she was shocked and surprised that anyone would see her “private” (not private) Twitter account. We need…
Walker or Begich? The Moderate’s Dilemma.
Alaska voters, we need to have a conversation. And I know this may hurt a little. It’s about Bill Walker and Mark Begich, the two “moderates” in the 3-way race for Alaska governor – the first, a former Republican and incumbent, the second, a Democrat and former US Senator. The third player in our little melodrama is Mike Dunleavy, a former Republican right-wing conservative state senator from Wasilla who quit in the middle of his term. In the end, your vote is your choice and yours alone, but I can’t let you step behind the red, white, and blue curtain…