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March 29, 2024

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No Time for Tuckerman -

Thursday, August 3, 2023

The Quitter Returns! -

Monday, March 21, 2022

Putting the goober in gubernatorial -

Friday, January 28, 2022

Voices from the Flats – How Many Votes Will Lisa Murkowski Get in Kivalina?

By Elstun Lauesen William Takak from Shaktoolik understands the impact of climate change. The Alaska Native Science Commission quotes him in a survey of the impact of climate change[1]. “Last Spring we only got six walrus because of the weather and the ice moving out to quick. A long time ago it used to be real nice for weeks and even sometimes for months. Now we have a day or two of good weather and this impacts our hunting. The hunters talk about the ice getting a lot thinner. It is going out too quick.” Hannah Miller of Nome: “The…

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An Open Letter from Rural Alaska to the Parnell Administration

~~CC Strongheart happily plays in a late summer puddle in the Village of Ugashik, while her mother Ann seeks answers about her future from the State of Alaska.~~   Dear Governor Parnell, Mr. Moller, Ms. Jollie, Mr. Black and others; After reading the article in the Dispatch I am gravely concerned and worried even more so than before about what this winter will bring to rural Alaska . Not only is the lack of both subsistence and commercial fishing, greatly diminishing our ability to put away fish for the winter but also the lack of funds brought in from commercial…

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CRUDE. Another Example of Why You Should Never Ever Trust Chevron.

As if we needed another reason to remind us what big trans-national oil companies will do when they can. Right here in Alaska, Chevron allowed six million gallons of oil to sit unchecked on the shores of Cook Inlet in the path of an erupting volcano. Bob Shavelson of Cook Inletkeeper described it on Mudflats. Despite months of warning, there was no actionable plan in place to address a catastrophic spill from the facility. The spill contingency plan required by laws passed after the Exxon Spill didn’t address a 6 million gallon spill, and it didn’t even envision oil from…

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Voices from the Flats – Oil Lust & Dodging Bullets

Bob Shavelson is a reformed attorney with backgrounds in biology, chemistry, and environmental sampling and compliance.  He was Editor-in-Chief of the University of Oregon’s Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation, and has considerable experience in toxics, the Clean Water Act, and Right-to-Know issues.  Prior to joining Inletkeeper in 1996, Bob worked in the United States Senate, Oregon’s Senate Majority Office, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium, and the University of Oregon’s Ocean & Coastal Law Center.  He currently serves on the Boards of Directors of the National Waterkeeper Alliance and the Cook Inlet…

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Odds and Ends

Getting Those Damn Rats Out of Alaska No, not those kind of rats.  And not really the whole state…but still, it’s a victory.  I’m talking about actual four-legged, snaggle-toothed, beady-eyed, bird-killin’ varmints.  The ignominiously named “Rat Island” appears to now be completely rat free.  I’ve been following this story for a while, so I was glad to hear that the latest news was good.  The down side to the rat eradication is that the poisoned pellets used to kill them also killed gulls and bald eagles in the process. Since Rat Island has been infested with rats for 230 years,…

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Attention Bethel! Senator Mark Begich Brings Top Officials on Rural Tour of Alaska

Four cabinet secretaries from the Obama administration will be coming to visit rural Alaska this week. They’ll be stopping off in Bethel and in Hooper Bay. One of the events in Bethel is free and open to the public. If you are in Bethel, or know anyone in that area, please tell them to attend. This is an unprecedented opportunity to make your voices heard. Top administration officials are coming to Bethel to listen to you.  Please be there and be a strong clear voice for all of rural Alaska.  Bethel Rural Tour Forum Wednesday, August 12  9:00-10:30am  at the Yupiit…

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Senator Mark Begich’s Arctic 7-Pack

Recognizing that the Arctic will play a major role in the nation’s commerce, foreign policy, and energy independence over the next 50 years, U.S. Sen. Mark Begich today introduced a legislative package of seven bills designed to plan and prepare for the changes and challenges in the region. Begich devoted his “maiden” speech on the Senate floor to the issue because of its importance to Alaska. Called the Inuvikput legislation after the Inupiaq expression meaning “the place where we live,” Begich’s package of bills deal with oil exploration, climate change, shipping, health, and diplomacy in America’s arctic. Begich said the…

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Pebble Mine, Dirty Gold, and the Corporate War on Alaska’s Salmon.

[This article is cross-posted at The Huffington Post] A lawsuit was filed today claiming that all Pebble Mine’s state permits violate the Alaska constitution.  Skulduggery surrounding Pebble Mine?  Imagine that. On the receiving end of these legal accusations is the State Department of Natural Resources.  The suit was filed today on behalf of eight communities in the Bristol Bay area by plaintiffs including Vic Fischer, one of the drafters of the Alaska Constitution, and Bella Hammond widow of the revered Governor Jay Hammond who had previously said “I think Jay would first and foremost think of protecting that area, mainly the fish and…

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Palin’s Farewell Address – Full Transcript

Sunday July 26, at 3pm Alaska time, Governor Sarah Palin stepped down from her position as governor.  This is the transcript of her farewell address. Yup, I took one for the team. It took three hours, but I made it. I’d been meaning to transcribe her rambling crazy “I’m not quitting, I’m just leading in another direction” lakeside babble-fest, but I never seemed to get around to it. And as crazy and rambling as that one was, I think this one is even better. Boots on the ground from Fairbanks coming soon! *************************** What an absolutely beautiful day it is,…

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Wasilla’s Toxic Cloud and Why We Need ‘the Feds.’

To listen to Sarah Palin talk about “the feds” and how Alaskans don’t need them mucking around in our business, you’d think she’d have a pretty clean back yard.  If you don’t need the feds, it must mean that your state and local government are doing a bang-up job, right?  Any additional meddling from the government is just going to mess up the good thing we have going on a state and local level. We can handle things just fine, thank you very much. In the case of Alaska, not so, and a case in point is Sarah Palin’s own…

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