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On blast: Sen. Sullivan takes Park Service to task for banning American flags on construction trucks in Denali National Park

Suzanne Downing
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On blast: Sen. Sullivan takes Park Service to task for banning American flags on construction trucks in Denali National Park

Construction workers blasting and building a bridge at the Pretty Rocks landslide area inside Denali National Park say the park’s superintendent has banned them from flying American flags on their vehicles because it degrades the ambiance of the park experience for visitors.

Workers from Granite Construction said Denali National Park Superintendent Brooke Merrell contacted a company foreman through an employee of the Federal Highway Administration, saying the Park Service had received complaints from someone driving through the park who reported that the 3×5 flags were detracting from their enjoyment.

Sen. Dan Sullivan sent letter to the director of the National Park Service Charles “Chuck” Sams III, expressing his strong disapproval to the demand that workers take the American flags off their trucks and heavy equipment. Sullivan also spoke about it on the Mike Porcaro Show on Friday, saying Sullivan’s State Director Adam Trombley was on the phone trying to reach Park Superintendent Merrell.

Sullivan said that the matter was especially concerning in that it came on the eve of Memorial Day weekend.

“As you know, a major construction project is underway in the Denali National Park and Preserve to build a bridge at mile 45 of the Park Road, an area known as Pretty Rocks. One of the vehicles involved in the construction had a 3 x 5 foot American flag affixed to it while working on this project. For reasons that remain unclear, someone at the National Park Service (NPS) caused the construction crew to remove the American flag from the vehicle,” Sullivan wrote to Sam’s.

“This is an outrage—particularly in the lead-up to our most solemn national holiday, Memorial Day, a time when Americans come together to honor those that gave their lives in service to our nation, while wearing our country’s flag. The American flag, especially on Memorial Day weekend, should be celebrated, not censored by federal government employees,” the letter said.

“There is no federal regulation or law that I can conceive of that would ban the flying of the American flag on public land – particularly in a national park the principal purpose of which is the enjoyment of American citizens,” Sullivan’s letter said.

Sullivan asked NPS Director Sams to investigate the incident and determine what transpired, including whether there was some kind of requirement in the contract with Granite Construction that would prohibit the display of an American flag, and the circumstances in which this incident was handled and by whom. “I also request you outline what concrete steps—be they increased training, clearer guidelines, updating policies—the NPS will take to ensure an incident like this does not happen again in American national parks.”

In the Stampede area of the Denali Borough, a man who owns property next to Merrell’s homesite and who shares a driveway with her told Must Read Alaska that he lined the driveway with American flags on Friday, so that she can enjoy them when she comes and goes.

Reaction: A Stampede-area man in the Denali Borough who shares a driveway with the Denali National Park superintendent lined it with American flags on Friday so she can enjoy them as she goes to work.

Merrell took over management of the park in 2022, and was celebrated as the first woman to serve at the park’s superintendent. According to the National Park Service, Merrell grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and received a Master of Urban Planning degree from the University of Utah and a law degree from Lewis and Clark Law School. Prior to moving to Alaska, she worked for DNA People’s Legal Services on the Navajo Nation, the City of Portland, Columbia Riverkeeper, and Gulf Islands National Seashore.

Summer access to facilities and services in Denali are limited due to the Pretty Rocks Landslide and the associated closure of the Park Road at Mile 43; the landslide occurred on and off between 2021 and 2022. Transit buses and tour buses travel only as far as the East Fork Bridge (Mile 43 of the Denali Park Road). Eielson Visitor Center and Wonder Lake Campground are closed.

Seattle’s Wing Luke Museum closes after staff walks off job to protest pro-Israel tone in new ‘confronting hate’ exhibit

Suzanne Downing
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Seattle’s Wing Luke Museum closes after staff walks off job to protest pro-Israel tone in new ‘confronting hate’ exhibit

It will be several days or even weeks before the Wing Luke Museum can reopen, after 26 staff member walked off the job on Wednesday, protesting an exhibit because it was too pro-Israel and anti-Hamas for their taste. The exhibit, “Confronting Hate Together,” promotes the concept that anti-Zionism is the same as antisemitism, according to the group’s post on Instagram.

“A collective of Wing Luke Museum workers participated in a walkout on Wednesday, May 22, and have been withholding labor in protest of Zionist language in the new exhibit ‘Confronting Hate Together,'” the walk-out workers wrote.

“We love the Wing Luke Museum and are consistently honored to steward the stories of our community members, many of whom have experienced the destructive harm of white supremacy, genocide, and violence that parallels the experience of Palestinians today. Our solidarity with Palestine should be reflected in our AA/NHPI institutions. It sets a dangerous precedent of platforming colonial, white supremacist perspectives and goes against the Museum’s mission as a community-based museum advancing racial and social equity,” the group wrote, inviting people to send emails to the museum’s executives to “show support for our cause, to emphasize the significant negative impact that platforming Zionist ideology has on our communities, and the Wing Luke Museum’s credibility as a museum representing marginalized communities,” the group wrote.

The group’s Instagram account is called “wlm4palestine,” an indication that it is opposed to the security of Israel and is instead supportive of the Hamas terrorists who attacked Israel on Oct. 7 in the worst attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust.

The Nazi Holocaust ended the lives of millions of Jews in Europe and led to the international decision to allow the creation of a Jewish state where all Jews could feel safe. Today, anti-Israel sentiments have arisen among those who don’t believe the nation has a right to defend itself against terrorists.

Since half of the museum staff has walked out and said they won’t return until their demands are met, it is unclear when the public will be able to see the exhibit and judge for themselves if it is too pro-Israel.

WLM4Palestine demands.

“Staff saw the panel with Zionist language during the May 14 media preview for the exhibit … Despite making a revision after learning of staff’s concerns, the edits made still conveyed Zionist perspectives. On May 19, 26 staff members signed a letter to Executive leadership asking for the removal at the text panel as well as other demands,” the group wrote.

“What is happening in Palestine directly reflects violent colonization and imperialism that has and continues to impact Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AA/NHPI) diaspora for generations. Our Museum’s exhibits, education, and programs have brought together communities, shared hard histories and conversations, and helped create joy and light among
the darkness of what AA/NHPI diaspora often feel and experience. Zionism has no place in our communities and being anti-Zionist goes hand in hand with our own liberation as AA/NHPI. Our solidarity with Palestine should be reflected in our AA/NHPI institutions,” the employees said.

“White supremacy, colonialism, and imperialism are wide, interconnected systems of power that each ot us‘ either uphold or actively work to dismant|e. Every day we aim for the work we do at the Museum to be a space to provide tools, conversations, and inspiration in fostering connected learning in our collective struggles and solidarity with AA/NHPI and beyond, and our mission in doing so shouldn’t stop with just our immediate communities.”

The group was especially offended by a portion of the exhibit provided by the Jewish Historical Society, which states, “Today, antisemitism is often disguised as anti-Zionism.” One photo shows the Mercer Island synagogue spray painted with the words, “Stop the killing.”

The Wing Luke 26 have four demands: Remove language that frames Palestinian liberation and anti-Zionism as antisemitism, have a “community review” before the exhibit goes live, confess the sin of having a limited perspective presented in the exhibit (not enough Palestinian, Arab, or Muslim perspectives, and put in the center of the exhibit “voices that align with the museum’s mission & values.”

The museum posted a note on its website that said it hoped to open soon:

“The Wing Luke Museum is and will continue to be committed to addressing challenging issues in our work. We expected Confronting Hate Together, an exhibit that explores anti-Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander hate, Black hate and anti-Jewish hate, to be a learning opportunity that invites us to seek out and understand others’ perspectives. As an organization rooted in dialogue, we acknowledge and support the right of our staff to express their beliefs and personal truths and to this end, we are holding space for a careful and thoughtful process of listening with intent to hear multiple perspectives in pursuit of a mutual way forward,” the museum wrote.

“After closing the Museum this week to listen and earnestly engage in dialog with our staff, the Museum looks forward to opening our doors at a future date so that we can continue serving our community in other needed capacities during this time. Please look for updates from us,” the note from the museum continued.

“We welcome the public to come and engage with the exhibit for themselves, when we do open, and we will offer free admission for the community to experience this powerful exhibition. We look forward to continuing to serve our mission to advance racial and social equity together with our staff and welcome them to join us as the dialogue around this important exhibit continues,” the management of the museum wrote, an indication that it may concede to the demands of the Wing Luke 26.

The Wing Luke Museum is an art and history museum founded in 1967, which focuses on the culture, art and history of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. Located in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District, it is Smithsonian Institution affiliate and the only pan-Asian Pacific American community-based museum in the United States.

The exhibit was to run through June 30.

Alexander Dolitsky: It’s pretty simple — Hamas must surrender, get out of the tunnels, return hostages

California Senate passes ban on parental notification for children’s gender switching

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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California Senate passes ban on parental notification for children’s gender switching

By KENNETH SCHRUPP | THE CENTER SQUARE

The California Senate passed a bill that would ban parental notification for gender changes in public TK-12 and provide more resources to increase parental support of LGBTQ pupils. TK means “transitional kindergarten, a two-year kindergarten program.

While parents broadly support disclosure rules and have approved them in many school districts, state leaders, including the attorney general — who has supported lawsuits against districts with disclosure rules — say these efforts harm transgender children.

In the past year, school districts across California have adopted measures requiring parents to be notified if their children request to officially change their pronouns, go by a different name, or use facilities or school programs for children of the opposite gender. 

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has responded by supporting lawsuits against these school districts, with California State Superintendent Tony Thurmond supporting Assembly Bill 1955, a bill just passed by the California Senate and heading to the Assembly that would ban these parental notification requirements. 

Anchorage School District has secret forms for children’s gender identity that parents will never see due to interpretation of HIPAA laws

“AB 1955 protects our LGBTQ+ youth from increased risk of bullying and harassment, and it affirms families’ ability to handle family matters at home without school employees being forced to intervene,” said Thurmond in a statement. “The SAFETY Act will allow our teachers to focus on teaching academic skills – not on policing gender identity.” 

Parental rights advocates maintain that this bill would likely be found unconstitutional and undermines children’s health and the trust between schools and parents. 

“Notifying and involving parents for something as paramount as socially transitioning a child at school is critical for the well-being of children and for maintaining trust between schools and parents,” Jonathan Zachreson, whose Protect Kids California organization is collecting signatures for a November statewide ballot initiative requiring parental notification, told to The Center Square. 

Liberty Justice Center, a legal nonprofit representing two California school districts and Protect Kids California in various cases against the state, reiterated their support for parental rights and said it would fight AB 1955 in court when it likely passes. 

“Parents have a right to know what their own minor children are doing at school – and school officials have no right to keep secrets from parents,” said Liberty Justice Center President Jacob Huebert in a statement. “We will continue to stand with parents and the school districts that want to respect their rights – and we’ll continue to represent them free of charge, at no cost to taxpayers.”

While parental rights advocates focus on the trust between parents and the schools, LGBTQ advocates focus on trust between students and schools.

“Teachers should not be the gender police and violate the trust and safety of the students in their classrooms,” Assemblymember Christopher Ward, D-San Diego, who authored the bill, said. “Parents should be talking to their children, and the decision for a student to come out to their family members should be on their own terms. The SAFETY Act simply ensures that conversations about gender identity and sexuality happen at home without interference from others outside of the family unit.” 

Earlier this year, the United Kingdom’s National Health Service stopped administering puberty blocking hormones to transgender minors, saying there is “not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness” of such procedures. The United States Supreme Court has recently supported the constitutionality of state laws banning gender hormone therapy and gender reassignment surgery for transgender minors, suggesting parental rights advocates may have the upper hand if AB 1955 passes and a legal challenge goes to trial.

Schools vs. parents: Anchorage public schools secretly affirmed a student’s transgender leanings

Resegregation: University of Washington will have ‘affinity housing’ just for black students this fall

Suzanne Downing
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Resegregation: University of Washington will have ‘affinity housing’ just for black students this fall

University of Washington in Seattle offers a special resident hall exclusively for black students starting this fall. The University insists that this is not segregation.

“Black Affinity Housing provides a unique living experience for students seeking connection through celebrating Black culture and scholarship,” the university says.

The segregated housing is in partnership with the publicly funded Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity, Black Student Union, and ASUW Black Student Commission. Washington and U.S. taxpayers underwrite this resegregation project.

The housing will provide space to “promote personal wellness, social connectedness, and academic success centering the Black student experience.”

The goals of the housing segregation experience, according to the university are also to:

  • Build a community to enhance the sense of belonging and affinity to UW
  • Champion respect for Black culture, identity, and history  
  • Cultivate open and honest conversations surrounding individual and shared experiences 
  • Celebrate the rich and vibrant Black culture worldwide 
  • Promote self-growth and potential through opportunities for academic achievement, civic engagement and career preparedness both in and outside the university community 
  • Create lifelong friendships and a meaningful network of likeminded individuals 

Black Affinity Housing will be located on the 8th floor of Lander Hall on West Campus. The floor accommodates 125 students through single, double, and triple rooms.

Alaska students attend medical school at UW through the WWAMI program, a multi-state medical education program for Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. Some 20 Alaska students are accepted each year.

Sen. Sullivan bill would end U.S. cooperation with International Criminal Court, after I.C.C. moves to issue arrest warrant for Israel’s Netanyahu

Suzanne Downing
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Sen. Sullivan bill would end U.S. cooperation with International Criminal Court, after I.C.C. moves to issue arrest warrant for Israel’s Netanyahu

On Monday, the International Criminal Court chief prosecutor announced he is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders to charge them with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan has responded with a Senate resolution to remove the United States from the I.C.C., which is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands.

His bill is titled, “Stop the ICC Act.” It calls for a prohibition against cooperating with the ICC and prohibits funding for the Palestinian Authority, a supporter of Hamas, as well as prohibits funding for the I.C.C.

I.C.C. Chief Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan announced that he was “filing applications for the warrants of arrests” for Netanyahu, and other senior Israeli and Hamas figures who have played key roles in the ongoing war in Gaza.

A panel of three judges will decide whether to issue the arrest warrants. The process could take several weeks. If the judges agree, then Benjamin Netanyahu, other Israeli leaders, and Hamas leaders could be arrested if they left their own borders.

Earlier this month, 12 Republican senators threatened the ICC with sanctions if it moves forward with an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, who has been drawn into a war to defend Israel from Hamas terrorists after an Oct. 7, 2023 raid conducted by the terrorist organization that killed several hundred Israeli citizens and kidnapped over 200. About 100 have been released. Israel says another 100 hostages are still being held captive in Gaza. There are another 39 bodies of hostages that were killed but not released by Hamas. Israel has only been able to recover 17 bodies of hostages.

“The ICC’s false moral equivalency between Israel and Hamas is reprehensible and dangerous,” said Sen. Sullivan. “Israel is facing a threat to its very existence from a barbaric enemy that actually uses civilians as human shields and welcomes civilian casualties as part of its strategy. Republicans and Democrats have rightly condemned the ICC’s outrageous arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, but now we need to back up those words with action. We must end American cooperation with this rogue organization and stand firmly with our strongest ally in the Middle East—the only democracy in the region.”

The legislation can be read at this link.

Sullivan has said multiple times that Israel has a right to defend itself.

“America stands with the people of @Israel, our greatest ally in the Middle East, as they repel a widespread assault launched by Hamas terrorists today at the conclusion of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot,” Sullivan noted on X/Twitter on Oct. 7.

“Israel has a right to defend itself and its existence against any terrorist group or its backers, including the largest state sponsor of terrorism—Iran. We must support this right of our close ally during this horrendous attack on innocent Israelis,” Sullivan said in October, a sentiment he has repeated. “The terrorist regime in Iran must know that the United States is watching its actions very closely.”

‘We are at war’ says Israel, after attack by Hamas terrorists; U.S. Embassy pleads for nonretaliation

Tim Barto: Why the Alaska House vote to save girls’ sports matters

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Tim Barto: Why the Alaska House vote to save girls’ sports matters

By TIM BARTO

At the very end of the 2024 Alaska legislative session, the House brought HB183 to a floor vote. This bill, introduced by Rep. Jamie Allard of Eagle River, is a piece of social legislation that provides protection for female athletes from intrusion by male athletes who identify as females.

Doubts existed that a majority of the House, Republican or not, was going to vote in favor of it. Concerns about it taking up time and energy from more pressing issues, such as energy and budgetary bills, frustrated lawmakers, especially conservatives who expected an onslaught of amendments by their leftist colleagues intended to drag out the process in the hopes of tiring the majority. 

Republican representatives from liberal and moderate districts worried that a vote in favor would cost them support, putting their November re-election runs in jeopardy. 

Besides, if the House mustered enough votes to pass the bill, it was a foregone conclusion that the liberal Senate majority would not pick up the bill, especially with only three days left in the session. 

The pragmatic solution, it seemed, was to not hear the bill on the floor. Deal with the simmering pots of boring yet important fiscal and energy matters, and play it safe on the controversial social stuff. But that is not what happened.

Allard, with encouragement from fellow staunch conservatives, pushed for the bill to be heard on the floor and for the representatives’ votes to be a matter of record. HB183 made it to the floor where it received that expected – and ridiculous – flurry of obfuscating amendments from the left side of the aisle. The Republicans suffered the long hours, stayed the course, and passed it by a vote of 22 to 18. The only Republican voting against keeping girls’ sports for girls was Kodiak Representative Louise Stute. No Democrats voted for it, but Independent Dan Ortiz of Ketchikan sided with the majority.

So,  was it worth it? Yes, absolutely yes, because truth, decency, and common sense are important; and so is fighting against the increasingly angry and absurd voices that continually introduce new categories of oppressed people.

It’s way past time to stand up to the unceasing attacks on traditional family values and the promotion of bizarre lifestyles, the latter of which are seemingly intended to drag the majority of human beings into a delusional world where biology is ignored and virtue lies in offending people . . . and, in turn, being offended because they were successful in their goal to offend.

Since the Senate did not hear the bill before the end of the 2024 session, it will be up to the 34th Alaska Legislature to introduce a new bill to save girls’ sports when they convene next January. Hopefully, the November elections will show that saving girls’ sports for girls is an idea supported by the majority of voters, and the matter will be taken up early in the new session.

For now, the Alaska House of Representatives scores a win for passing HB183.

Tim Barto is a regular contributor to Must Read Alaska and vice president at Alaska Family Council, which led the fight to keep girls’ sports for girls.

Video: House passes bill to protect girl athletes, after Democrats continue false ‘genital exam’ strategy
Democrats melt down over bill that protects girl athletes, House minority leader threatens speaker
House Bill 183, protecting girls in sports, passes out of Education Committee, 4-3
Protection of girls in sports scrimmaged in House, as Democrats fight for boys’ right to beat girl athletes

War between the states over climate change laws? 19 GOP attorneys general file complaint with Supreme Court against five anti-oil states

Suzanne Downing
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War between the states over climate change laws? 19 GOP attorneys general file complaint with Supreme Court against five anti-oil states

Nineteen Republican attorneys general, including Alaska’s Attorney General Treg Taylor, filed a complaint on Wednesday with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the high court to block five Democrat-led states from continuing to wage climate change-related litigation wars against major oil and gas companies in their state courts.

Plaintiffs include the states of Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

The states being sued are California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.

The complaint says, in part, that the five states “assert the power to dictate the future of the American energy industry. They hope to do so not by influencing federal legislation or by petitioning federal agencies, but by imposing ruinous liabilities and coercive remedies on energy companies though state tort actions governed by state law in state court.”

The five Democratic-led states have sued oil companies and demanded various payment for allegedly causing tides to rise and storms to intensify, and other disasters the Democrats say are caused by man-made climate change, and not simply because more people live in areas impacted by weather events.

“In essence, Defendant States Want a global carbon tax on the traditional energy industry. Citing fears of a climate catastrophe, they seek massive penalties, disgorgement, and injunctive relief against energy producers based on out-of-state conduct with out-of-state effects. On their view, a small gas station in rural Alabama could owe damages to the people of Minnesota simply for selling a gallon of gas. If Defendant States are right about the substance and reach of state law, their actions imperil access to affordable energy everywhere and inculpate every State and indeed every person on the planet. Consequently, Defendant States threaten not only our system of federalism and equal sovereignty among States, but our basic way of life,” the complaint reads.

This type of war between states can only be decided by the Supreme Court, because no other court in the land is equipped to handle state vs. state litigation. A similar complaint, filed by traditional energy companies themselves, was turned away by the Supreme Court in late April.

Exxon Mobil, Suncor Energy, Chevron and other companies sued the states of Rhode Island, California, Colorado, Hawaii, and Maryland, over their anti-oil policies. Those were heard in lower courts but the Supreme Court turned away those complaints, saying they should be heard in state courts. 

“In the past when States have used state law to dictate interstate energy policy, other States have sued and this Court has acted,” the 19 attorneys general argued. When West Virginia, then the leading producer of natural gas, required gas producers in the state to meet the needs of all local customers before shipping any gas interstate, the Supreme Court allowed the lawsuit brought by Ohio and Pennsylvania against West Virginia.

“And in 1981, this Court considered a ‘functionally indistinguishable’ challenge brought by Maryland and other States against Louisiana. Louisiana’s taxation scheme for natural gas threatened the ‘health, comfort and Welfare’ of ‘private consumers in each’ plaintiff State through ‘the threatened withdrawal of the gas from the interstate stream’ — ‘a matter of grave public concern,” the attorney wrote, quoting a case from four decades ago.

Those cases involved the same kinds of questions that the high court is intended to resolve, they argued, because “Defendant States are not independent nations with unrestrained sovereignty to do as they please. In our federal system, no state ‘can legislate for or impose its policy upon the other.'”

When controversies arise among sovereigns, the options are either “diplomacy or war,” the attorneys explained, citing supporting cases. “The Constitution changed that. When controversies arise among the States of our Union, their options are to seek a resolution from Congress or from this Court.”

Gabrielle Rubenstein’s Permanent Fund turf-war makes the news at Financial Times

Suzanne Downing
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Gabrielle Rubenstein’s Permanent Fund turf-war makes the news at Financial Times

The dust-up over perceived fiduciary improprieties by one of the members of the Alaska Permanent Fund’s Board of Trustees has made it to one of the most influential publications in the financial world: The Financial Times.

In a news article that appeared Friday, reporter Sun Yu used information provided in the initial story by the Alaska Landmine to analyze and expand on information about the troubles that Gabrielle “Ellie” Rubenstein has found herself in over the past few weeks, revealing staff perceptions that she used undue influence to steer the fund’s investment analysts toward her father’s private equity firm the Carlyle Group.

Yu’s story describes how the professional managers of the fund suspected Rubenstein of trying to steer state investments to friends and family members “while seeking the dismissal of a junior employee who left her father ‘unimpressed,’ according to leaked internal emails seen by the Financial Times and interviews with people with direct knowledge of the fund’s operations.”

Yu describes Ellie Rusenstein as “The daughter of one of the most powerful figures in US finance,” due to her relationship with her father, billionaire David Rubenstein.

Chris Ullman, a spokesman for Ellie Rubenstein, acknowledged to Yu that the trustee had made about 20 referrals of external asset managers to Alaska Permanent Fund staff, but he said she followed established protocols and had not exerted improper pressure. Through Ullman, she denied setting up a meeting between employees and her father, or seeking to have anyone fired.

“She played no role in investment decisions and no capital was deployed to those investment firms,” Ullman said to Financial Times.

That is not how the staff relayed the interactions, however, according to Yu’s reporting, which reinforces the initial documents divulged by the Alaska Landmine, although it appears true that the staff didn’t act on Rubenstein’s advice.

Yu reported that Rep. Cliff Groh, a Democrat from Anchorage, has called for a hearing into the “disturbing conflicts of interest” at the fund.

“The legislature must provide oversight to the Permanent Fund to protect it from the apparent threats it faces, including the risk that investments will be influenced by cronyism instead of what’s best for the fund,” Groh said in a letter to the Legislature.

Yu also reports that since the email messages were leaked to the Alaska Landmine, Rubenstein has sought to ban employees from forwarding internal emails.

The Governance Committee of the Board of Trustees did hold a hastily arranged meeting last week to discuss how to repair the damage done to the reputation of the board by the leaked emails.

After that meeting, the Permanent Fund issued a statement that said, in part, “The Governance Committee affirmed that APFC’s processes and systems are in place to ensure efficient internal operations that support our work on behalf of Alaskans. The Committee and Investment Advisory Group (IAG) members emphasized the importance of defined roles and responsibilities for Trustees and Staff in collaborative processes.” The complete statement is at this link.

After document leak reveals concerns about trustee behavior, Permanent Fund board sets special meeting to review records security

“The leaked emails portray Rubenstein as eager to arrange meetings between staff and her business partners in private funds, though these rarely produced concrete results,” Yu reports.

“The unfolding drama at the US’s largest state sovereign wealth fund underscores the governance challenge facing a six-person board comprised mainly of financial laymen. As fortunes have cooled for Alaska’s oil industry, the fund has come under pressure to generate greater returns to meet its obligations,” Yu reports. That might lead to riskier plays.

Since taking a seat on the board, Rubenstein has been focused in increasing the Permanent Fund’s exposure to alternative investments.

Allen Waldrop, director of private equity investments at APFC, said in a February email to colleagues that Rubenstein had arranged a meeting last November in London between her father and a junior analyst, Yu reports.

“This was not something we discussed in advance nor did we plan when we arranged the trip,” wrote Waldrop in the email. After the meeting, Marcus Frampton, the chief investment officer for the Alaska Permanent Fund, said in a separate email that Ellie Rubenstin told him the analyst should be fired because David Rubenstein had been “unimpressed” with her.

This reported action is denied by Chris Ullman, who is Ellie Rubenstein’s personal spokesman and who worked for her father for many years.

Yu reports that the Carlyle Group told him that it had arranged the meeting, which contradicts the version of events demonstrated in the leaked emails.

“In another email in January, Frampton told colleagues that he considered Ellie Rubenstein’s efforts to make connections to private credit managers a ‘conflict of interest,’ deeming it a ‘more serious topic and perhaps more uncomfortable to address.'” According to that email, Ellie Rubenstein had made “dozens upon dozens” of investment managers recommendations. The investment team took a pass on all of them, but among those referrals was TCW, which is a Carlyle-backed asset manager whose principles had invested in Ellie Rubenstein’s equity fund, “Manna Tree,” which invests in food quality and security.

The next quarterly meeting of the Board of Trustees for the Alaska Permanent Fund is May 29 in Utqiagvik. Alaskans may observe the meeting via WebEx. Meeting information can be found here.

APFC was created by the Alaska State Legislature in 1980 as an independent state entity to manage the oil-royalty assets of the Alaska Permanent Fund on behalf of current and future generations of Alaskans and other funds designated by law.

The Alaska Permanent Fund itself is now an $80 billion sovereign wealth fund first established in 1976 by Alaska voters to preserve and convert the State’s non-renewable mineral and oil wealth into a renewable financial resource for generations of Alaskans. Alaskans receive a dividend from the fund annually, through an appropriation by the Alaska State Legislature, which determines the amount that lawmakers think they can give to “shareholders,” after skimming from the statutorily established dividend formula to pay for state government employees.

Other news stories about this developing issue are linked below.

Testy trustees: Permanent Board directors show signs of strained relationships over Rubenstein revelations
Troubles widen for Permanent Fund board, as executive session was breached
Alaska Permanent Fund committee tries to figure out how to stay out of media limelight
Mystery meeting: Permanent Fund’s Governance Committee convenes Monday

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NOAA starts review process to list Alaska Chinooks as threatened or endangered

Suzanne Downing
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NOAA starts review process to list Alaska Chinooks as threatened or endangered

NOAA Fisheries on Thursday announced a 90-day finding on a petition to list Gulf of Alaska Chinook salmon “or any evolutionarily significant unit that may exist in the petitioned area, as a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act and to designate critical habitat concurrent with the listing.”

The listing proposal comes after pressure from the Wild Fish Conservancy in Seattle, which filed a petition in January calling for federal protection of Alaska Chinook.

“For decades, scientists have been sounding the alarm that Alaska’s Chinook are in dire trouble,” said Emma Helverson, executive director of the Wild Fish Conservancy. “Despite existing management plans and years of efforts by the state of Alaska, Chinook salmon continue to decline in abundance, size, diversity, and spatial structure throughout the state. Through this action, we are asking the federal government to undertake a formal status review and implement protections warranted under the Endangered Species Act, including designating critical habitat protections, to ensure the survival of these iconic fish.”

The proposed safeguards would increase protection for imperiled Chinook populations from the Canadian border north to the Aleutian Islands, including watersheds of Southeast, Cook Inlet, and Southcentral Alaska. In other words, most of the Alaska Chinook salmon.

NOAA said, “We find that the petition, viewed in the context of information readily available in our files, presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted. Therefore, we are commencing a review of the status of Gulf of Alaska Chinook salmon to determine whether listing under the ESA is warranted. To ensure that the status review is comprehensive, we are soliciting scientific and commercial information regarding this species from any interested party.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski released a statement in response:

“Alaska’s king salmon need help, but an ESA listing based on a flawed petition from a Seattle-based environmental activist group is the wrong way to go. Should NMFS determine that Alaska’s Chinook be listed after conducting their 12-month review, it would be nearly impossible for king salmon from the Gulf of Alaska to be caught for commercial and recreational purposes, and perhaps even subsistence. Even this action on the 90-day finding will have a dangerous chilling effect on investment in our fishing industry at a time when they can least afford it.”

“Incredibly, NOAA is moving ahead even after finding that the Wild Fish Conservancy’s petition ‘contained numerous factual errors, omissions, incomplete references, and unsupported assertions and conclusions.’ As we fight to save our salmon and salmon fisheries alike, we need to rely on the best available science, instead of half-baked petitions intended to get conservation groups a foot in the door to attack our fisheries and resource development.”

In response to a petition to list Gulf of Alaska Chinook salmon as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act, NOAA Fisheries has found that listing may be warranted. We filed a positive 90-day finding in the Federal Register, which is a threshold determination based mainly on the contents of the petition itself. It triggers a more in-depth review to determine whether listing is warranted.

The full statement from NOAA reads:

On January 11, 2024, we received a petition from the Wild Fish Conservancy to delineate and list one or more evolutionarily significant units of Chinook salmon in southern Alaska as threatened or endangered. It also requested that we designate critical habitat concurrently with the listing.

According to the Conservancy, the petition “encompasses all Chinook populations that enter the marine environment of the Gulf of Alaska.” It “includes all populations on the southern side of the Aleutian Peninsula, Cook Inlet, and the coast of Alaska south of Cook Inlet to the southern end of the Alaska/British Columbia border.”

We interpret the request as asking us to consider populations of Chinook salmon on:

  • Southern side of the Alaska Peninsula, including Kodiak Island, Cook Inlet, Prince William Sound
  • Gulf of Alaska coastline
  • Inside waters of Southeast Alaska to the United States/Canada border

The Endangered Species Act requires the Secretary of Commerce make a finding within 90 days on whether a petition presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating the petitioned action may be warranted.

The 90-Day Finding

To make a 90-day finding on a petition to list a species, we evaluate whether it presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating the species may be either threatened or endangered. At this stage, we do not conduct additional research, and we do not solicit information from outside parties to help us evaluate the petition.

We have reviewed the petition, the literature cited in the petition, and other literature and information available in our files prior to receipt of the petition. We found that the information present in the petition contained numerous factual errors, omissions, incomplete references, and unsupported assertions and conclusions. Still, we considered missed escapement goals in recent years for many stocks in the petitioned area, and evidence of decreasing size and age at maturity. We concluded that the petition contained enough information for a reasonable person to conclude that the petitioned action may be warranted.

With the positive 90-day finding, we are commencing a review of the status of Gulf of Alaska Chinook salmon to determine whether listing is warranted. We will convene a status review team of federal scientists to begin an in-depth review of the species’ current status and extinction risk. We will include input from non-federal experts by inviting them to participate as guest consultants to the team as part of a broad-based gathering of information.

“The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has tremendous expertise in salmon biology and management in Alaska,” said NOAA Fisheries Alaska Regional Administrator Jon Kurland. “In particular, we will seek technical assistance from our state partners on Chinook biology, genetics, and relevant risk factors.”

The status review team will collect and analyze the best available scientific and commercial information on the species to evaluate its current status and extinction risk, including:

  • Biology
  • Ecology
  • Abundance and population trends
  • Traditional Knowledge
  • Threats to the species 

The team will develop a status review report that will undergo peer review, and peer reviewer comments will be made publicly available.

Once the status review is complete, we must publish a finding as to whether the petitioned action is warranted within 12 months of receipt of the petition. The finding at the 12-month stage is based on a more thorough review of the available information; a positive 90-day finding does not prejudge the outcome of the status review.

We are dedicating personnel and resources towards a timely completion. We expect significant challenges given the vast geographical extent of the petitioned area. There is also potential for numerous distinct populations within that area that will each require a separate analysis of its status and trends. 

After completing the status review and considering ongoing conservation efforts, we will determine whether a listing is warranted and publish the finding in the Federal Register. 

If we determine that a listing of one or more evolutionarily significant units is warranted, we will seek public comments on the proposed listing. We will host public hearings and engage with Tribes to provide multiple opportunities for public engagement and input to inform our final listing decision.

How to Comment

To ensure that our status review is informed by the best available scientific and commercial data, we are opening a 60-day public comment period to solicit information on Gulf of Alaska Chinook salmon. Submit relevant data and information, identified by “Gulf of Alaska Chinook salmon petition” or by the docket number, NOAA-NMFS-2024-0042, by one of the following methods: 

  • Electronic submissions: via the Federal eRulemaking Portal
  • Mail to: Anne Marie Eich, Assistant Regional Administrator, Protected Resources Division, Alaska Region NOAA Fisheries. Attn. Susan Meyer, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802

Comments must be received on or before July 23, 2024. 

NOAA Fisheries will post all information received on http://www.regulations.gov. This generally means that we will post any personal information that is provided.

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