No one wants to admit that the Dunleavy administration screwed this up big time. No one wants to admit how easy it would have been to fix this problem in state regulation months or years ago by amending the language to legalize the Kinross trucks on Peger Road and the Johansen Expressway.
Read MoreWith Vic’s passing at 99, the key players are all gone now, though we are left with a priceless record that will allow future generations to hear directly from those who helped create the state.
Read MoreFar-reaching changes about future operations of the Alaska Permanent Fund—aimed at turning the $75 billion fund into a $100 billion fund—are on the table for the Oct. 30 special meeting planned by the six-member board of trustees.
Read MoreThe latest draft report from the Dunleavy energy task force makes a stronger pitch for subsidizing our old friend—the gas pipeline—and injects the phrase “regret cost” into the debate about importing LNG to Alaska.
Critics will say that this has become a bullet line task force, which is no surprise. Enstar needs natural gas to survive as a utility and will be the bullet line champion.
Read MoreThe Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation trustees plan to meet Oct. 30 to decide on a future strategy to accelerate the process of turning the $75 billion fund into a $100 billion fund.
Just about every step the six trustees are talking about, however, should not be taken without support from the Legislature and a great deal more public involvement.
Read MoreThe trustees of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation approved a proposed $900,000 travel budget for the next fiscal year, but it turns out that some travel is not in the budget at all—with business class travel paid for by private investment managers the fund has contracted to do business with.
Read MoreThe Kinross ore hauling operation has landed in court, as expected.
A new nonprofit, Alaska Committee for Safe Communities, filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking a court order to force the state to follow a variety of laws and regulations the group says have been ignored by the Dunleavy administration.
The state should be “enjoined from permitting the ore haul operation to proceed,” the lawsuit claims.
Read MoreThe Transportation Advisory Committee examining the Kinross ore hauling plan voted 5-4 Thursday to ask the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities to pause the ore haul until the state has implemented safety recommendations.
In another motion, the committee voted 7-2 to ask the transportation department who approved having Kinross start its ore haul work before the advisory committee work is completed
Read MoreMunicipal elections in Fairbanks will remain in October.
The lame duck assembly did the sensible thing Thursday, killing Tammie Wilson’s plan to move the municipal elections to November Thursday on a 4-4 vote.
Read MoreThe editorial “we” of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner concludes that it’s a great idea to end the tradition of holding municipal elections for local government in October and move them to November.
It’s a bad idea for many reasons, as I wrote here last week.
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