Bolstered
Rivals
Crews tackle erosion problems at beaches
Brown Bears, Ice Dogs start 3-game series
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Sports / A8
42/30 More weather, Page A2
W of 1 inner Awa0* 201 Exc rds fo 8 e r Rep llence i o n rt * Ala ska P i n g ! res
CLARION P E N I N S U L A
Vol. 50, Issue 44
Typical
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Friday-Saturday, November 22-23, 2019 • Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
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$1 newsstands daily/$1.50 Sunday
Agency to consider expanded drilling in reserve By Dan Joling Associated Press
ANCHORAGE — The Trump administration will consider a new management plan and expanded oil drilling for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, an Indiana-size area that former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar characterized as an “iconic place on our Earth.” The Bureau of Land Management announced Thursday it will take
public comment through Jan. 21 on four alternatives for the reserve in northern Alaska. Two alternatives could allow lease sales on lands previously designated as special conservation areas under the Obama administration. The goal of a new management plan is increased energy production and greater energy security for the nation, BLM Alaska director Chad Padgett said.
“With advancements in technology and increased knowledge of the area, it was prudent to develop a new plan that provides greater economic development of our resources while still providing protections for important resources and subsistence access,” Padgett said. The reserve is home to two caribou herds and provides ecologically significant wetlands used for breeding by migratory waterfowl
from around the world. Its entire coastline is habitat for threatened polar bears. In 2013, Salazar signed off on the current plan that split the reserve roughly in half between land for petroleum development and conservation areas. Kristen Miller, conservation director at Alaska Wilderness League, said the Interior Department spent years working on the plan with tribal and local
In the news
Seaman charged with murder freed from brig ANCHORAGE — A U.S. Coast Guard seaman charged with murder in the death of a fellow seaman during a night of drinking in Alaska has been released from custody. Ethan Tucker was released from a San Diego brig Monday after the admiral overseeing his prosecution ordered a new hearing in the case. Tucker, 21, from Lu d i ng t o n , Mi c h i gan, is charged with murder and involuntary manslaughter. Military prosecutors allege he beat 19-yearold Seaman Ethan Kelch See news, Page A3
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See drill, Page A3
APOC case issues could go national
2 dead, 2 injured in car accident
JUNEAU — Two people are dead after police say a vehicle appeared to have hit a utility pole in Juneau. The Juneau Empire reports two men also are in critical condition following the accident, which police say was initially reported around 7 a.m. Thursday. Police say a woman who reported the crash tried, with a dispatcher’s help, to resuscitate a female found outside the vehicle. Passers-by also stopped at the scene. Police say the female and a male found outside the vehicle were dead. They say it appeared the vehicle had struck a power pole. The Empire initially reported two women died, but police later said the victims were a male and female. Katie Bausler, a spokeswoman for Bartlett Regional Hospital, says the injured were being taken to Seattle for further care. An investigation continues.
governments, conservation organizations, the state of Alaska and others. “Abandoning this science-based, common sense approach in favor of oil and gas interests is recklessly short-sighted and will place at risk local indigenous communities and the region’s diverse wildlife that rely on this vital piece of our nation’s public lands,” she said.
By Peter Segall Juneau Empire
the snowfall helped to downgrade the level one drought in the northwestern portion of the peninsula. The Kenai Peninsula was first categorized by the U.S. Drought Monitor as abnormally dry on July 9. By July 16, the entire peninsula was placed in a level one drought. By the Aug. 13
A national debate about campaign donations is taking shape in Alaska. An Anchorage Superior Court ruled Nov. 4, the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) had failed to enforce contribution limits to political campaigns. APOC has until Monday, Nov. 25 to appeal the decision. APOC Executive Director Heather Hebdon said the Commission is currently not taking a position on the matter and is consulting with the Department of Law. DOL could not immediately be reached for comment. Complaints were filed in January 2018 by three individuals who alleged two groups — Interior Voters for John Coghill and Working Families of Alaska — exceeded state limits on campaign contributions. Alaska limits individual campaign contributions to $500 per year to a single candidate and $1,000 per year to a political group. Those individuals, Donna Patrick, James Barnett and John Lambert alleged Interior Voters accepted $4,500 from three different individuals and $47,000 from one group and Working Families accepted $150,000 from three different groups. APOC initially dismissed those complaints, but Patrick and the others sued, and those dismissals were reversed on Nov. 4. The Commission abused its discretion by not revising an advisory opinion in regards to a series of court decisions that followed the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case, the Nov. 4, decision says. Citizens United said that corporations and unions could not be
See drought, Page A3
See apoc, Page A3
Brian Mazurek / Peninsula Clarion
Local business owners Aaron Swanson, Darcy Swanson and Alex Douthit discuss their experiences as entrepreneurs in the community during the Kenai and Soldotna Chambers of Commerce Luncheon at the Kenai Visitor and Cultural Center on Thursday.
Starting on the path to success By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
When a panel of local business owners was asked if there’s anything they regretted about starting their businesses, all three had the same answer: not doing it sooner. On Wednesday, the Kenai and Soldotna Chambers of Commerce hosted a panel discussion during their weekly luncheon about the rewards and challenges of running a small business — featuring three local entrepreneurs. The panel was part of a series of events on the peninsula connected to Alaska Startup Week,
which highlights entrepreneurship and small businesses around the community. The panel was comprised of Aaron and Darcy Swanson, who are a husband and wife team that own Residential Mortgage, Forever Dance Alaska and Pita Pit in Soldotna, and Alex Douthit, who is the owner of Kenai Peninsula Driving Instruction. Merrill Sikorski, founder of Caring for the Kenai, moderated the event. Over the course of the panel discussion, Sikorski asked the entrepreneurs a variety of questions ranging from the biggest challenges they’ve faced to the advice they would have
for any would-be business owners. Every potential business faces different hurdles on the path to success, but the three panelists did share some common experiences despite working in unrelated industries. All three, for example, said that they wished they had taken the risk sooner. “I wish that when we were 20, 25 years old that we had started our businesses,” Aaron Swanson said. “You’ve gotta have caution in what you do, but you’ve also gotta get out of your own way sometimes.” See start, Page A3
Peninsula emerges from drought By Victoria Petersen Peninsula Clarion
The Kenai Peninsula is no longer in a drought, according to Thursday’s updated U.S. Drought Monitor Map. Last week’s map showed the area around the Swan Lake Fire was in a level one drought, also known as a moderate drought. That drought was
downgraded Thursday, showing the northern half of the Kenai Peninsula is “abnormally dry,” which indicates the area is recovering from drought and there are “some lingering water deficits.” Southcentral Alaska saw “significant” snowfall last week, Thursday’s drought monitor’s summary said. Earlier precipitation, combined with
Ex-Trump adviser undercuts GOP defenses By Lisa Mascaro, Mary Clare Jalonick and Eric Tucker Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A former White House official said Thursday that President Donald Trump’s top European envoy was sent on a “domestic political errand” seeking investigations of Democrats, stunning testimony that dismantled a main line of the president’s defense in the impeachment inquiry. In a riveting appearance on Capitol Hill, Fiona Hill also implored Republican lawmakers — and implicitly Trump himself — to stop peddling a “fictional narrative” at the center of the impeachment probe. She said
baseless suggestions that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election bolster Russia as it seeks to sow political divisions in the United States. Testimony from Hill and David Holmes, a State Department adviser in Kyiv, capped an intense week in the historic inquiry and reinforced the central complaint: that Trump used his leverage over Ukraine, a young Eastern European democracy facing Russian aggression, to pursue political investigations. His alleged actions set off alarms across the U.S. national security and foreign policy apparatus. Hill had a front row seat to some of Trump’s pursuits with Ukraine during her tenure at the White House. See adviser, Page A14
Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press
Former White House national security aide Fiona Hill and David Holmes, a U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, testified Thursday before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill.