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Oil and water don’t mix. We learned that in high school. And we learned it again when water got into a heating fuel line. In Alaska, oil and salmon don’t mix either, unless the oil is brushed on the grill before cooking a fillet. However, oil and salmon are in the same boat — economically speaking in Alaska. They both respond to supply and demand. When global oil supplies can’t keep up with demand, the price of a barrel of crude climbs higher. A shortage — or even a fear, a hint or speculation of shortage — drives up prices for the commodity....
Early in the season, one of my deckhands started the joke, “Pay to Bay,” dreaming of people paying money to fish on a drift boat in Bristol Bay, like people pay to climb Mt. Everest. That joke came around to bite us. We had a breakdown during the peak of the run, then the day we got fishing again Trident posted the 50-cents/lb base price (before quality incentives amounting to another 30 cents or more). The processor we sell to, Silver Bay, seemed sure to follow Trident’s lead. I sent my deckhands home with checks for $5,000 each—not much fo... Full story
Let’s think long-term about the Petersburg emergency services To the Editor: Let’s think long-term about the Petersburg emergency services. Structure fires grow larger before PVFD can assemble enough trained firefighters to deal with the danger. Likewise, frequently the ambulance must wait to respond until a full crew of EMTs can assemble to answer the patient’s distress. These delays are absolutely not the fault of our volunteer fire and EMS department. The trained volunteers who do respond must work the emergencies short-staffed. Peter...
This week the Pilot bids a bittersweet farewell to our top-notch full-time news reporter Chris Basinger. We wish him well as he leaves on Sunday’s ferry, headed for his old Texas stomping grounds. Sometimes uprooting to Alaska, leaving one’s community of friends and family on the far side of the continent, just ain’t meant to last. We get it. We hope he thinks fondly of us when he isn’t too busy savoring a bucket of chick-fil-a with his dad and brother, cheering for their favorite teams in person finally, rather than on facetime too many ti...
Nine years ago on Aug. 4, the mine waste dam at Mount Polley mine in British Columbia’s Fraser River watershed failed, releasing 6.6 billion gallons of wastewater into a once-famed sockeye salmon nursery just as the salmon were returning. It scared me. Nine years later, Fraser River sockeye runs have tanked. The mine has re-opened and has been allowed for years now to spew its wastewater directly into one of the Fraser River’s key sockeye salmon nurseries, Quesnel Lake. And British Columbia corporations have doubled down on digging up and lay... Full story
Volunteers needed for a worthy cause To the Editor: I’d like to share a little about our new bike park and its progress. As you may know the City has granted use of borough land for a new bike park. This bike park is the property of the city and will be managed by Petersburg Parks and Recreation. The construction and maintenance of the park will be all volunteer. No city resources (other than the land) will be required. The park will consist of a series of jumps, bumps, turns, and berms built so that they are linked together into a fun trail l...
Elected officials who say the proposed Alaska North Slope natural gas project is closer than ever to putting steel pipe in the ground and money in the pockets of construction workers should take a break from their political grandstanding and pay attention to the facts. Not a single analyst tracking gas projects around the world ever mentions Alaska when they list developments with the best potential of getting built. The talk about multiple liquefied natural gas export projects going to construction along the U.S. Gulf Coast, in Qatar,...
Thank you To the Editor: Special Thanks to our police officers for giving our brother Myron Lyons Jr. an escort to his place of rest. And to the staff at PMC for their wonderful care and kindness. To Pastor Lloyd Thynes, God bless you all. Colyn, Carleen, and Lyons Families...
We are blessed and have much work to do To the Editor: Saint Catherine of Siena church would like to thank the fire department, emergency responders and outreach of fellow church leaders, citizens and sympathizers for your support during the tragic burning of our church. The initial blaze was battled courageously by Petersburg’s volunteer fire department to curtail its spread, damage and consumption of the property. This effort undertook hours of focus and attention by the entire fire fighting team. Amazingly, even as the fire continued, a f...
The Alaska Permanent Fund has prospered for almost half a century, growing ever more important for the state’s future. What started as a source of pride and prudence — showing the naysayers going back to statehood that Alaska can manage its money and save for when oil revenues go into decline — the fund has matured into the single-largest consistent source of income for public services. It has profited from good investments through a diversified portfolio. It has prospered from strong public support, protecting it from dumb ideas like writi...
Join the Volunteer Fire Department To the Editor: Now that we have seen the ugly damage to the church that a structure fire does so quickly, it should be obvious why Petersburg needs a fire department. But a fire department is not just big red trucks, air packs, hoses, and axes. It needs volunteers — people who have the skills to deal with the serious problems that lesser mortals run away from. PVFD always needs more volunteers to learn to serve as firefighters, emergency medical technicians, search team members, and non-tactical supporting w...
Opponents of ranked-choice voting in Alaska want to put an initiative on the ballot so that voters can overturn the law in the 2024 election. To do that, they need to collect signatures from about 26,000 registered voters to win a spot on the statewide ballot. To do that, and then run a statewide campaign to convince a majority of voters to dump the new voting system, they will need money. Six-figure money. Which means fundraising. But the laws around soliciting and accepting campaign donations are a problem for people who want to remain...
The fog was thick and freezing. Ice crystallized on every spruce branch and ocean-sprayed rocky cleft. Akusha Island was wrapped up tight in an icy cloud. The Croman family must have huddled close for warmth in their rustic cabin, isolated forty miles north of Petersburg on the island they used as a fox farm. The foxes depended on them for food and water but otherwise the critters ran free since it was too far to swim to another shore. Eventually the family would round them up and harvest their soft silver-blue pelts. By the next morning the...
Unexpected meetings - After a week of grey rain the sun danced on the water today. It seemed the perfect day for a boat ride. The sea was glassy and still, disturbed by neither wind nor wave. Only ripples of light played across its mirror surface. So we got an early start on projects so as to finish by mid day's high tide. The tide must be high for us to use the crane to lower the boat down the cliff into water below. A guest at the Lighthouse had been reading "Trouble on Blue Fox Island", a...
More than two months ago, Gov. Mike Dunleavy told legislators he would introduce a state sales tax as part of a long-term, budget-balancing fiscal plan. Something is needed to end the annual budget battles that have dominated Alaska politics for the past three decades. A sales tax is not the best option, but at least the governor appeared ready to participate. However, he never introduced the bill, nor did he ever say why he failed to do what he said he would do. Later that same month, the governor said he would likely call lawmakers into...
I congratulate the Permanent Fund trustees for adopting Resolution 23-01 at their April 12 meeting to limit additional investment in the in-state investment program in which Barings and McKinley Capital Management have each been given $100 million to place in Alaska investments. The decision appears to have been made in part because of the dismal rate of return received from the in-state investments by the two managers. The decision was also made to see whether the poor performance improves over time. I fully support the trustees’ decisions not...
Trail nix To the Editor: The site preparation work for the expansion of the Hammer & Wikan grocery store is eating the wildly popular crushed rock trail between the store and the U.S. Post Office. I hope the construction plans include replacing that trail. Sam Bunge...
People are growing increasingly cynical about government: How money is spent, how hiring decisions are made, and how it seems there are few consequences for actions that hurt the public. Yet too many elected leaders continue making bad decisions that add to the cynicism. Such as Gov. Mike Dunleavy appointing to the University of Alaska Board of Regents his former chief of staff whose poor judgment — and illegal actions, according to a judge — cost the state at least half-a-million dollars. Tuckerman Babcock, a longtime political adviser to the...
For 41 years, Alaskans’ bank accounts have been refilled with dividends – usually more than $1,000 – from the $76.6 billion Alaska Permanent Fund. More recently, the fund also has been the biggest source of money paying for state government. But what if there was no money available for either dividends or the state budget? Permanent Fund managers have long known the fund could one day have less available to spend than is needed. They now say that day could be coming uncomfortably soon, in perhaps just three years. Since last July, it’s been a... Full story
Dear Friends and Neighbors: It has been an honor to serve as your representative for the first session of the 33rd Alaska State Legislature. Some good things are happening. A Budget Deal is Reached —The final budget is balanced, provides a $1300 PFD, and includes additional funding to support childcare and Head Start programs across the state. These early childhood education additions are a great way to help build Alaska’s economy, improve education outcomes, and support working families. The Senate budget that was eventually adopted didn...
The Alaska Legislature is no different than a typical American household — torn between spending every last dollar from their paycheck on immediate wants or saving some for the inevitable future needs. When the wants win out, money often is short for the needs that come later. That pretty much sums up this year’s political battle over the amount of the Permanent Fund dividend. The bipartisan Senate favored an affordable PFD that would not require drawing from savings; the House Republican-led majority wanted to take hundreds of millions of dol...
Elected officials, ballot initiative supporters and opponents, campaign managers and anyone else who writes, texts or tweets outlandish claims and promises should be required to stay after the election and write on the blackboard (remember those) 100 times: “I will not make stuff up.” After they have a chance to rest their arm, they need to go back to the board — OK, a whiteboard and a Sharpie works, too — and write 100 more times: “I am sorry for promising too much.” It’s gotten way too easy for anyone trying to win over the public to pro...
Dear Friends and Neighbors: Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! Thriving public schools are the foundation of our economy and the heart of our communities. The statute establishing Alaska's schools reads "All students will succeed in their education and work, shape worthwhile and satisfying lives for themselves, exemplify the best values of society, and be effective in improving the character and quality of the world about them." Please take a moment to thank the educators you know, and the...
The great debate in Alaska over taxes sounds similar to the age-old question of whether it is less painful to yank off the bandage quickly or peel it off slowly and gently. I have found that it just doesn’t matter all that much how I pull off the bandage. Neither way is pleasant, especially when there is scab underneath. It’s the same for taxes in tax-free Alaska: None of the options are pleasant; all will hurt at first; there are a lot of political scars and scabs that will break open no matter what tax is adopted, an income tax or a sal...
Most Alaska state budget watchers follow oil prices, fully realizing that they can bounce around like a small plane on a windy day, creating that same stomach-churning queasiness when they drop. The estimated difference between Alaska North Slope crude averaging $70 per barrel over the next fiscal year is $650 million less in state general fund revenue than at $80. That’s close to 10% of the general fund budget and enough to either leave a gaping hole in the spending plan or add some extra money to savings. Oil down at $60 per barrel means an a...
