Supreme Court Allows “No Pebble Mine” Initiative on Ballot
The Alaska Supreme Court yesterday delivered some much needed good news. Yesterday in a 3-1 ruling, the court upheld a previous court’s ruling that the residents of the Lake and Peninsula Borough, should be allowed to vote on a ballot initiative in October. The initiative would restrict permitting of any large extraction project that could potentially harm salmon runs. Pebble Partnership sued to keep the measure from making it on to the ballot, arguing that the law would be unenforceable, and is inappropriate for a ballot measure. They even named the clerk who certified the measure in the lawsuit. Governor…
Parnell and Pebble Try to Silence Alaskans
I will argue with people about voting. More vehemently if they don’t vote than if they vote for someone different than me. No, candidates aren’t all the same, and it’s a form of freeloading if you don’t vote. If democracy were a religion, voting would be the sacrament. Alaskans have an amazing record of being forward-thinking on who could vote. In 1912, a Tlingit, Charlie Jones, voted in Wrangell. He was assisted by Tillie Paul Tamarre, and they were both arrested. A federal court granted Alaska Natives the right to vote in territorial elections and the charges were dropped. It…
State of Alaska Supports Pebble Partnership’s Attempt to Silence Alaskans
~The original Captain Zero Before I go off on some rant about how my forefathers fought the British to birth a country that could VOTE, and how siding with the British to take away the right of Americans to vote should be called treason, I’ll take a deep breath and explain a few things. Since one has been filed on your behalf, Alaska, you may want to know what an amicus brief is. Commonly known as a “friend of the court” brief. An amicus brief provides individuals or organizations (such as government agencies or disability organizations) without a direct stake…
The King (Salmon) is Dead. Long Live the Mine.
[Photo by Nick Hall] Five million viewers (I’m choosing not to think of allof them as fans) tuned in to watch “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” on The Learning Channel this month. But as we know, there’s more to Alaska than harassing bears, and clubbing halibut between the eyes. Many, I’m sure, were taken with Alaska’s spectacular landscapes, pristine waters, and wide open spaces. The real Alaska, in Bristol Bay, is something she hasn’t talked about yet. She’s planning to talk about it on November 28, but I don’t know if she’ll mention The Pebble Mine. I remember when Palin “took off…