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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 64
Clouds encroach
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Friday-Saturday, December 20-21, 2019 • Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
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$1 newsstands daily/$1.50 Sunday
Dunleavy seeks diversification, investors By Becky Bohrer Associated Press
JUNEAU — Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said his recent interviews with national news outlets were intended to “put Alaska on the map” in an effort to draw investor interest and further diversify the oil-reliant economy. Dunleavy spoke with reporters in
Alaska by teleconference Thursday from Washington, D.C., following a meeting this week with President Donald Trump and officials from other states, as well as talks with members of the administration. He did interviews with news outlets such as Bloomberg and on CNBC and Fox Business programs. He also met with the Wall Street Journal editorial board, he said.
Dunleavy said he wants to highlight Alaska as a viable option for potential investors or those who might want to bring a new business to the state. “It really takes a state, an administration to really push their state,” he said, adding later: “We haven’t done that in a while in Alaska, again, because we’ve ridden the oil horse for some time, and I think
we may have missed out on some opportunities.” He said he is pleased with investments being made in producing oil in the state but said Alaska has more to offer, citing other resources, such as rare earth minerals, and the state’s geographic location — including its relative proximity to Asia — as opportunities and advantages.
See hilcorp, Page A3
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See dunleavy, Page A2
Aquatic plant uses covered in meetings
BP Alaska: About half of employees offered Hilcorp jobs JUNEAU — BP Alaska said Thursday about half of its employees have been offered jobs with Hilcorp Alaska, which plans to take over BP’s interests on the North Slope in a sale worth $5.6 billion. In a letter to the state labor department, BP Alaska reported so far 806 of its 1,567 employees affected by the deal have gotten job offers from Hilcorp, and 749 have accepted. Another 342 have volunteered for severance, 153 have jobs planned with BP elsewhere and 29 have resigned. The letter said 294 employees are seeking jobs. Meg Baldino, a spokeswoman for BP Alaska, said that number takes into account people who did not accept an offer from Hilcorp. She said the BP is “actively working” with those still seeking employment and expects that number to go down. She stressed all the numbers reported represent a snapshot in time and could change. State labor department Commissioner Tamika Ledbetter, in a statement, said department representatives are working with BP “to ensure that the affected employees have the tools and information needed to transition to reemployment with as little disruption as possible.” Hilcorp Alaska, in a statement, said it plans to nearly triple its workforce as it prepares for the planned acquisition, growing from about 500 employees to about 1,500 and plans to post more than 150 positions in the coming months as part of that push. Hilcorp Alaska is an affiliate of Texas-based Hilcorp Energy Co. The planned sale,
The trip, which included a speech to the conservative Heritage Foundation on Monday, followed last week’s rollout of Dunleavy’s budget proposal for the next fiscal year that would rely heavily on savings, which the administration billed as a starting point for talks. Dunleavy, who faced public backlash for cuts he
By Kat Sorensen For the Peninsula Clarion
Photo provided by Sheilah-Margaret Pothast
Salli Sterrett receives race bibs from her daughter, Sheilah-Margaret Pothast, in Arizona in late October. Pothast is doing 50 races in her 50th year for her mother.
Inspired to run Driven by her ‘Miracle Mom,’ Sheilah-Margaret Pothast nears goal of 50 races in 50th year By Jeff Helminiak Peninsula Clarion
A year ago, the mother of Soldotna’s SheilahMargaret Pothast, Salli Sterrett, had her left leg amputated from the knee down due to a severe bone infection. Pothast, 50, said that due to a laundry list of medical issues, there wasn’t a time when she could remember her mother, now 70, being healthy. Watching Sterrett try to rehab from the amputation was particularly poignant, though. “When I watched her try to learn to stand up without a leg, even when she could walk it had been so hard, but when I watched her simply try to stand, she looked so scared because she felt like she could fall,” Pothast said. “She kept at it. She was so determined.
“I thought about how lucky I am to have her as a mom to look to for inspiration.” Sterrett had always been a big supporter of Pothast being active. Pothast, who turned 50 on Jan. 30, had been toying with the idea of doing 50 races in her 50th year for her mother. Watching the rehab of the lady Pothast calls her “Miracle Mom” clinched it. The race was on. Sunday, Pothast plans to complete that 50-race race in a Kringle Kross fat bike race at Tsalteshi Trails.
M-D doesn’t mean G-O-D Pothast constantly watched her mother battling ailments. When Pothast was in middle school See run, Page A11
The Board of Fisheries took a look at the aquatic plant industries at their meetings last week in Seward. Two proposals were on the docket, one pertaining to the commercial use of plants that wash up on shore and another on the personal use harvest of aquatic plants in non-subsistence areas. Al Poindexter of Anchor Point Greenhouse currently has a special permit to forage washed up seaweed commercially in his potting soil mix. His proposal to the board asked to establish regulations for the commercial harvest of aquatic plants, under conditions established by a commissioner’s permit. “I guess the bottom line is I’ve developed a business using seaweed and we’ve been in business for over 40 years. I didn’t realize I was doing it illegally, so as soon as I found out we got a commissioner’s permit to continue,” Poindexter told the board at their meetings on Wednesday. “All I want to do is continue doing what I’ve been doing and make it as simple as possible … It is a work in progress, too. This gives us a chance to develop criteria for anyone else that wants to commercially harvest beach seaweed. It will give us a chance to harvest data too.” The proposal was unanimously delegated to the Department of Fish and Game by the Board of Fisheries to establish regulations for the commercial industry. “They are a really interesting creature,” said Nancy Hillstrand of Homer during the meeting. “Even though it’s dead on the beach, it’s a habitat. It seems to be up and coming, the whole kelp thing, so we need to be ahead of this.” A second proposal submitted See plants, Page A2
Trump impeachment trial plans in disarray By Mary Clare Jalonick, Laurie Kellman and Zeke Miller Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Congress has headed home for the holidays leaving plans and a possible timeline for President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial in disarray. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted Thursday that Senate Republicans must provide details on witnesses and testimony before she would send over the charges for Trump’s trial. No deal, replied Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell after meeting with his Senate Democratic counterpart. “We remain at an impasse,” he said. As darkness fell and lawmakers prepared to depart for the year, McConnell wondered from the
Senate floor why in the world the Republicans should give ground to persuade House Democrats “to send us something we do not want.” McConnell and the Democrats’ Senate leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, met for about 20 minutes in their first attempt to negotiate the contours of an agreement on running the rare Senate impeachment trial that was expected to start in January. McConnell favors a swift trial, without the new witnesses Democrats want, and he holds a clear tactical advantage if he can keep his 53-member Senate majority united. Schumer, who also met privately with Pelosi, has to bet that GOP senators won’t hold the line and Republicans will peel away as public pressure mounts for a fuller trial.
For the record, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said he had met with Trump and “he is demanding his day in court.” McConnell, who has drawn criticism for saying he won’t be an impartial juror, said the Democrats were “too afraid” to send the charges to the Senate, where Trump would be expected to be acquitted by the Republican majority. We’ll see, he said, “whether the House Democrats ever work up the courage to take their accusations to trial.” Pelosi said that McConnell “says it’s OK for the foreman of the jury to be in cahoots with the lawyers of the accused. That doesn’t sound right to us.” Dismissing the idea that Democrats would hold off the proceeding
indefinitely to prevent Trump from being acquitted, Schumer said there will almost certainly be a trial. “There’s an obligation under the Constitution to have a trial,” Schumer told The Associated Press. He noted that even the Democratic senators campaigning for the party’s presidential nomination, with early state voting starting in February, are prepared to return to Washington to sit for the days-long proceedings. “The Constitution requires it,” he said. Wednesday night’s House vote, almost entirely along party lines, made the president just the third in U.S. history to be impeached. The House impeached Trump on two charges — abusing his presidential See impeach, Page A11