Why Your Well-Intended Comments Won’t Work
Editor’s Note: The deadline looms for submitting comments to the EPA about the proposed Pebble Mine. You may be thinking that you’ve already done that. But your comments may be off the mark. It’s not too late to save your opinion from the scrap heap. Here’s what you can do. And do it BEFORE SUNDAY! In the upcoming days, you will see a frantic flurry of e-blasts, Tweets and Facebook posts urging you to tell the EPA to stop the Pebble Mine, to “help save jobs” in the commercial fishing industry. But these calls for action are not what the…
Shills Get Physical
If you wait long enough you’ll have agreed and disagreed with just about everyone. I’m no different. I’ve found myself defending people I wouldn’t walk across the street to slap on a good day when it came to certain issues. It’s just what happens. This time, I’m walking across the street. The same Alaska GOP that subverted the will of Alaskans through an illegal gerrymandering of the state Legislature and brazen attempts to prevent Alaska Natives from voting apparently now has a new tack for undermining the public will: paid hacks are verbally and physically interfering with Alaskans who are…
Pebble Mine – Got Plans?
What’s for dinner? “No plans.” Really? You sure have been looking at that menu a long time. “NO plans.” Um. Alright. “Stop asking me questions.” So no plans for dinner? “No. Absolutely not. But we’ll be feeding 2500 people dinner for five years. The tax and tip will be ballparked between $136 million and $180 million – and that would be on top of the $1.2 billion per year for groceries.” How do you know all the particulars with no plans for dinner? “Shut up. I said we don’t have a plan.” Really. That’s what the Pebble Partnership is telling…
6/1 FBX BBQ to Repeal SB21
SATURDAY, JUNE 1 Myrtle Thomas Park – 12th & Noble Street 1:00-3:00pm Come to sign the SB21 petition, and enjoy burgers, and conversation about Alaska’s future! With the summer sunshine heating up in the Fairbanks area, so is the movement against our oil wealth giveaway. Saturday, June 1 will mark the half-way point of the 90-day petition drive designed to put Senate Bill 21 to a vote of the Alaskan people via the referendum process. Fairbanks friends and families who support the repeal of the oil wealth giveaway will meet for burgers, sunshine and a dialogue about Alaska’s future. The…
Parnell Signs SB21 While Protesters Gather
Inside, former ConocoPhillips lobbyist and current Gov. Sean Parnell was signing away billions of dollars of Alaska’s oil wealth to BP, Exxon, and ConocoPhillips. He was handing them new roads and road improvements, he handed them schools, he handed them public safety officers, and bridges. And in return, we get nothing. Outside, a crowd gathered during their lunch hour to protest the action. The Republicans who backed the Governor’s giveaway either tried to rush through the crowd without making eye contact , or they entered the lobby of the Dena’ina Center from the other side. It was a parade –…
Murky Weighs In, We’ve Moved On
You’d think that a former governor who presided over the most corrupt government in Alaska since statehood would stay home and write his memoirs or something. You’d think a former Governor whose own Chief of Staff served a prison sentence for illegal campaign contributions would thank his lucky stars that Chief of Staff didn’t tell the Feds everything he knew and would keep discretely quiet. You’d think a failed candidate who helped give us Sarah Palin would have the simple decency to maintain an embarrassed silence. You’d think the man who single-handedly killed a national bank and seriously wounded a regional Native corporation would…
Repeal SB21 and Take Back Alaska
Here is everything you need to know about the ongoing effort to honor Alaska as an owner state. The time is now to be active, and take our state back from the undue influence of Outside corporations, and the legislators who do their bidding. Complaining is easy. Fortunately, so is acting in a positive way to take control of our future. Gov. Parnell will sign SB 21 on Tuesday, May 21st at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage between 11:30am and 1pm. Be there with a sign to protest the giveaway! Alaska is an owner state. We deserve a fair share of…
Alaska vs. Outside Corporations, the Choice is Ours
By Sen. Hollis French Two recent news items out of Norway caught my attention. The first happened April 30 when Gov. Parnell went there to discuss tax policy. The second was the announcement on May 6 that Norway had decided to make a change to its oil tax laws. Now, I don’t know whether the governor was responsible for the May 6 tax change. But I like to imagine that the Norwegians listened very carefully to the governor’s reasons for lowering taxes here. Being the sober and meticulous people they are, they ran a complex cost-benefit economic analysis on his…
French, Gara Collect Signatures for SB21 Repeal
Senator Hollis French, and Rep. Les Gara will be gathering signatures on the “Repeal the Oil Wealth Giveaway” referendum Friday, May 10th from 12-1pm at the Barnes and Noble on Northern Lights Blvd in Anchorage. “Reversing the $1-2 billion giveaway will give us the chance to write a better law. Alaskans want a law that encourages production and does not take Alaska off the fiscal cliff,” said Representative Gara. Democratic Legislators offered a tax solution that would have required investment in Alaska, and increased production from companies to qualify for tax breaks. The Republicans’ idea, SB 21, gives billions…