Page 758 – Must Read Alaska

Electric ferry to be powered by federal infrastructure funds

Suzanne Downing

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January 26, 2023

Electric ferry to be powered by federal infrastructure funds

U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan announced the Federal Transit Administration is awarding more than $285 million to Alaska’s ferry system from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which serves more than 30 communities across 3,500 miles of coastline.

The funding, all awarded to the Alaska Marine Highway System, is designated to replacing the Tustemena, upgrading ferry dock infrastructure in rural communities, modernizing four vessels, procuring an electric ferry, designing a new mainliner vessel, and for generating sustainable operations.

Last year, an electric ferry set a new record by traveling 50 miles on a charge. The Finnish company Danfoss Editron reported that the ferry Ellen set a distance record with the trip, which may become included in the Guinness Book of World Records.

The price for building that ferry was 40 percent higher than than a conventional vessel, but operating costs are reported to be 75 percent lower, according to reports. It is estimated that the electric ferry will save the release of 2,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year.

The distance between Juneau and Haines is about 80 nautical miles, which exceeds the current world record. The distance between Skagway and Haines is about 16 miles, and thus the ferry is more suited for that short hop, which is now served by a private ferry in the summer.

Some $46 million was awarded for the Alaska electric ferry project, and the state will put in more than $11 million as its part of the match.

Another $68 million was awarded to the state to replace the aging Tustemena. The cost of that build is estimated to be more than $85 million, requiring a state match. Because it’s federal money, the Ketchikan Shipyard, where Vigor Alaska built the Tazlina and Hubbard, will have to compete for the work with shipyards in Washington and Mississippi.

The funding was made possible by H.R. 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that both Alaska senators voted for and in which Senator Murkowski played a lead role writing and negotiating for Alaska. On Nov. 5, 2021, Congress passed the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, driving the national debt to historic levels.

A list of the ferry grants for Alaska is at this link.

Funding Details: (Over $285 Million is being awarded to six Alaska Marine Highway System projects.)

$72 Million for the Modernization of Four Critical AMHS Vessels Necessary for Service and Environmental Benefits.

Total Project Cost: $90,081,932
Federal Request: $72,065,546
State Funded Match: $18,016,386

Announced Award: $72,065,545

$68 Million to Replace the M/V Tustumena Vessel Serving Rural Southwest Alaska.

Total Project Cost: $85,610,480
Federal Request: $68,488,384
State Funded Match: $17,122,096

Announced Award: $68,488,384.00

$45 Million for Critical Upgrades to Ferry Dock Infrastructure in Five Rural Alaska Communities.

Total Project Cost: $56,848,018
Federal Request: $45,478,414
State Funded Match: $11,369,604

Announced Award: $45,483,214.00

$46 Million to Cultivate a Systems Approach to Sustainable Transportation by Implementing Climate Responsive Ferry Vessel Options.

Total Project Cost: $57,767,509
Federal Request: $46,214,008
State Funded Match: $11,553,502

Announced Award: $46,214,008

$8 Million for Anticipating Future Service & Replacement Needs by Designing a New Alaska Mainliner.

Total Project Cost: $10,739,520
Federal Request: $8,591,616
State Funded Match: $2,147,904

Announced Award: $8,591,616

$44 Million to Restore the Health of the AMHS for Sustainable Operations to Rural Communities.

Total Project Cost: $89,647,600
Federal Request: $44,823,800
State Funded Match: $44,823,800

Announced Award: $44,823,800

School principal who was detained and injected with psychotropic drugs has lawyered up

Suzanne Downing

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January 26, 2023

66

School principal who was detained and injected with psychotropic drugs has lawyered up

The high school principal in the Mat-Su who was taken away by Alaska State Troopers for a forced psychological evaluation has now retained legal representation.

Mary Fulp, principal at Colony High School, will not be speaking directly to the media, her lawyers said.

Fulp retained the Thompson Law Group to help her through her recent wrongful involuntary commitment, the group reported in a press release.

“She has been contacted by various press agencies to provide a statement, and respectfully, at this time, she asks that all inquires stop, and all communications be directed to her attorney, Darryl L. Thompson, Esq.,” the press release says. “Principal Fulp will not be availing herself to any interviews at this time. Frankly, she needs time to heal. She was forced into a mental health facility without a court order, by those with whom she and the community place their trust, the Department of Public Safety (DPS).”

The law group gave a nod of appreciation to the Department of Public Safety for being transparent about the incident: “DPS has candidly acknowledge their officers should have never forced her into a 72-hour mental health commitment. To DPS’ credit, they have already conceded that their officers did not follow proper procedures to assure that a judge had actually made a determination that she was a risk of harm to herself or others, to justify the deprivation of her freedom.”

Thompson said, “At no time did she pose a risk of harm to herself or others, and she should have never been forcibly placed into a mental health facility. It is clear there was no court order and no judicial finding. Yet she was forced by law enforcement, who carry the badge of trust and the authority of a weapon on their side, into a mental health facility, a horrible nightmare in and of itself. To compound matters, the mental health facility knew it had no valid court order to hold her, yet they allowed the DPS to place her in the facility and kept her there without her consent for days, during which time she was traumatized by inhumane treatment.”

The law group also corroborated what has been reported — that Fulp was strapped to a gurney, held down by several staff members, and was injected with a psychotropic medication without her consent and without a court order authorizing the administration of the medications.

Watch the video that Fulp took of the incident.

“She spent days in a cold dark mental health hospital room, during which time staff breached her federally protected HIPPA rights by disclosing their ‘opinions’ as to her circumstances to individuals who did not possess any authorization to receive her federally protected HIPPA private mental health information,” the law group said.

“This traumatic experience is a free citizen’s worst nightmare, and this broken system has caused her, and her children, inexcusable and immeasurable harm. Respectfully, she needs time to heal, but she does appreciate the outpouring of support for this difficult time,” Thompson said.

Earlier in January, Fulp had recorded a religious message on Facebook. This led to her family confronting her, and eventually two Alaska State Troopers took her away, all based on what is now believed to be a fake court order manufactured by a member of her family.

Fulp was the 2022 Alaska Principal of the Year and is well-respected by her peers. Parents of students at Colony High School told Must Read Alaska that she is well-loved by students and parents and that the school community is shocked that something like this could have happened.

Breaking: Troopers took away school principal for mental health evaluation based on what DPS now says was a faked court order

Are Peltolas violating federal laws against influence peddling?

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January 26, 2023

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Are Peltolas violating federal laws against influence peddling?

Rep. Mary and Gene Peltola may not be millionaires yet. But using the Nancy and Paul Pelosi Playbook, they may be millionaires soon: Get the wife into Congress, and then the husband can peddle influence and make investments based on valuable intel and leverage acquired in Washington, D.C. and other seats of power.

Gene Peltola is making deals, and Rep. Mary Peltola already is on the record supporting legislation that makes those transactions valuable.

Gene Peltola didn’t wait for Mary to get elected before he started peddling his influence. After Mary Peltola had made the “final four” for the special general election to replace Congressman Don Young, Gene Peltola was already busy setting up a business with three other individuals. Through a lobbyist contract, he got a meeting with Gov. Mike Dunleavy to get his brand-new Alaska Carbon Solutions business a piece of the pie of the carbon trading program the governor is trying to set up.

Contracts in this sector are worth millions of dollars and Gene Peltola needed work. With Mary Peltola likely heading for Congress, he’d be leaving the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Gene Peltola’s meeting with the governor that concerned his new business venture took place in mid-July, at the same time he was the most senior executive for the Bureau of Indian Affairs for Alaska.

“Regional Director – Mr. Eugene R. Peltola, Jr., retired on July 29, 2022. Our Region will have Acting RDs until the position is permanently filled,” the BIA’s website reports.

According to the Alaska Landmine, a left-leaning blog that first reported the scent of corruption, Gene Peltola said he retired in May. But the official record shows differently.

Gene Peltola and his company made a pitch to the governor on July 11, 2022, while Gene was still a federal employee,

On July 5, Gene Peltola and two of his business partners met with Gov. Dunleavy in Anchorage. On July 10 they met with the governor in Houston, where Dunleavy had traveled to work on Alaska natural gasline issues.

Then, on July 11, Alaska Carbon Solutions was registered with the Department of Commerce.

As a federal official in senior ranks, Gene Peltola is still covered by the Federal Ethics law, which is designed to prevent corruption in government. For those in senior positions, there’s a one-year cooling off period that they must abide by after leaving government service before working in any business enterprise for which they had government oversight or involvement.

“This statute prohibits a Federal employee from participating personally and substantially, on behalf of the Federal Government, in any particular matter in which he or she has a financial interest. In addition, the statute provides that the financial interests of certain other ‘persons’ are treated as the employee’s interests. These other persons include the employee’s spouse; minor child; general partner; an organization in which he or she serves as an officer, trustee, partner, or employee; and any person or organization with whom the employee is negotiating or has an arrangement concerning future employment,” the law reads at 18 U.S.C. § 208.

In 5 C.F.R. § 2635.502, “You must take appropriate steps to avoid any appearance of loss of impartiality in the performance of your official duties. An employee should not participate in a particular matter involving specific parties if it is likely to affect the financial interests of a member of the employee’s household, or if the employee knows that he or she has a ‘covered relationship’ with a party or party representative in such matter, and where the employee believes that a reasonable person would question his or her impartiality in the matter. The term ‘covered relationship’ includes a wide variety of personal and business relationships that an employee or his or her family members may have with outside parties.”

Rep. Mary Peltola repeated many times on the campaign trail that she is “not a millionaire,” referring to her main competitors Nick Begich and Sarah Palin.

While all this was going on with her husband, Mary Peltola was pushing for the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, a massive climate change bill that has a section devoted to carbon credits.

That federal law includes $369 billion in green energy initiatives and “includes funding to encourage carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) project,” according to the Department of Energy. It’s the sweet spot for Gene Peltola and his Alaska Carbon Solutions LLC.

Now as congresswoman, Mary Peltola serves on the House Natural Resource Committee and House Transportation Committee, both of which address carbon credit issues. Already, Mary Peltola has influence on the Ambler project, which Gene Peltola is also working on through his side company Peltola Solutions.

Journalist says Peltola called Capitol Police on her as congresswoman tried to walk toward a chauffeured SUV

USA Today: Rep. George Santos and Mary Peltola have something in common — resumes that don’t hold up

Sen. Giessel, once Alaska’s pro-life champion, opposes a constitutional amendment protecting unborn Alaskans

Suzanne Downing

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January 26, 2023

30

Sen. Giessel, once Alaska’s pro-life champion, opposes a constitutional amendment protecting unborn Alaskans

Sen. Cathy Giessel this week continued to roll out what appears to be her relatively new position on abortion: She does not support legislation that would bring the question of limits or sideboards on abortion to voters.

In a press conference on Monday, Giessel joined other members of the Senate majority in taking questions from reporters. One reporter asked the group about Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s pro-life statements in his State of the State Address earlier that evening, when he said he wants to make Alaska the most pro-life state in the union.

Currently, the Alaska Constitution has been interpreted by judges to mean that a child may be aborted all the way until birth. There are no abortion restrictions in Alaska, which has no gestation cut-off time in law. Even liberal California does not allow abortions after 24 weeks gestation except to save the life of the mother.

Giessel fielded the question, after Senate President Gary Stevens hemmed and hawed that all bills should get a hearing, even if they were not likely to move from one of the committees.

Giessel was more direct: “Alaska does have constitutional protection for abortion and so I would suspect, although I don’t know this, that he [the governor] would be proposing a constitutional amendment that would put some restrictions on abortion services.

When asked if she would support the matter going to voters, she said, “I personally would not, but we’ll see what happens with the Senate body. We’ll see.”

It’s a 180-degree turn from the bill Sen. Giessel proposed in 2018, Senate Bill 124, which was known as the “Born Alive Bill.”

That bill addressed duties of physicians and health care practitioners when performing or inducing abortions, that if the baby that was being aborted came out alive, they would be required to view that as a person in need of aid and make a reasonable attempt to save her or her life.

That bill died in Senate Finance after receiving a “do not pass” from Sen. Bill Wielechowski in Judiciary. Wielechowski, in the current Senate, controls what bills go to the floor as the chairman of Rules Committee.

Surviving abortion: What do you do with the baby?

Downing: The president has raided the Strategic Petroleum Reserve into a national emergency

Suzanne Downing

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January 26, 2023

16

By SUZANNE DOWNING

Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana got it right: Over the past two years, President Joe Biden stalled domestic energy production, begged Saudi Arabia to send more oil to America, and drained the Strategic Petroleum Reserve — all in his effort to lower gas prices in advance of the 2022 election.

It’s at the point where the national oil reserve created in 1975 to be available in the event of a national emergency is becoming its own emergency.

Under the Biden Administration, the midterm election and spiking gasoline prices created a political crisis for Democrats, one that the president solved by draining 42% of what was in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve when he took office.

Biden abused the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, says Rep. Stephanie Brice of Oklahoma. The 638 million barrels of emergency oil in January of 2021 is down to 371 million barrels in January of 2023.

How much is that in real terms? 371 million barrels is not much more than one barrel per American, which will make enough gasoline to power your car for 280 miles, give or take a hill.

Biden said just before the November election that the administration would, after 18 months of draining the reserve, begin to refill it in the first quarter of 2023. The Department of Energy put out contracts to buy three million barrels of oil from producers at a price between $70-$78 a barrel. It was not much, but it was a start of less than 1 percent.

The bidding period closed in late December and bids were to be reviewed and awarded on Jan. 13, with deliveries expected to be poured back into Big Hill Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Beaumont, Texas in February. It would restore less than 1 percent of what has been removed from the emergency supply by the administration, but it was a start.

Quietly in January, the Department of Energy decided it did not have any acceptable bids, and simply awarded no bids, without an explanation. There will be no three million barrels put back into the SPR this round and the Department of Energy has clammed up about it.

Reasonable people ask why. While DOE won’t say so, producers don’t think $70 is an attractive price, when all signals point to oil being priced on the exchanges in the $80-$95 range for the foreseeable future. Crude oil prices surged to their highest in seven weeks earlier this week.

House Resolution 21, the Strategic Production Response Act, would put side rails on the Department of Energy by prohibiting the release of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for political purposes. At this point, it appears H.R. 21 is going to get Christmas-treed with as many as 100 amendments and it may lose its momentum or get killed altogether.

The president has vowed to veto the bill in the unlikely event it makes its way to his desk. “He will not allow the American people to suffer because of the backwards agenda that House Republicans are advancing,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in a White House briefing. H.R. 21, she said, “risks raising these gas prices and making it harder to offer Americans relief in the future.”

Biden wants Americans to believe he has lowered gas prices. Here are the facts: In 2021, gas averaged $3.01 a gallon. Today, gas in America averages $3.50, a nearly 17% increase.

Time is marching on for this president. It’s year three of his first term. He promised he’d put oil back in the SPR, and now he cannot deliver on that promise. While his policies continue to suppress domestic energy production, and demand around the world is exceeding supply, the president has made the nation a less secure place because he traded our national security for power – his own political power.

Suzanne Downing is publisher of Must Read Alaska.

Art Chance: School principal’s experience with Troopers shows how fragile our civil rights really are

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR

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January 25, 2023

76

Visualize yourself sitting comfortably in your home just before noon on a Wednesday. You have a family member as a guest. Since you’re a Christian conservative, maybe Martha McCallum of FOX is on the TV. An Alaska State Trooper knocks at the door, you answer, and the Trooper tells you he’s at your home for a “welfare check.”

Most Alaskans don’t harbor any animosity towards the cops and unless you had a pile of blow on the dining table, you’d invite the officer in and converse with him/her. You don’t appear to be in danger or a resident of crazy town, so the officer thanks you for your time and goes on his/her way. You have some harsh words with the family member who was obviously responsible for the “welfare check.”

A few hours later, you now have two family members in the house and there is a knock at the door. Now there are two Troopers and one of your family members asserts that s/he has a court order to have you detained and sent for psychiatric evaluation. It is an open question whether the alleged court order was ever produced or even existed, but the Troopers accepted the authority of such an order and without resistance, and you led away in custody to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

You endure the indignity of having your personal possessions confiscated and being stripped of your clothing and dressed in a hospital gown. A psychotropic drug is administered to you. You are detained for three days.

Then the whole system says, “never mind.”

Breaking: Troopers took away school principal for mental health evaluation based on what DPS now says was a faked court order

Then it gets really interesting. The Troopers try to verify the alleged court order and the Court System refuses, citing confidentiality, which is BS because telling another law enforcement agency something isn’t a public disclosure. Then, the Court System issues a statement to the media saying it never issued such an order. Courts couldn’t tell the Department of Public Safety, but it could tell some reporter at KTUU.

First, something went badly wrong here. I spent all day on the phone with my grizzled old buddies from my days of dealing with the Department of Public Safety. None of us could think of a circumstance in which a civilian would have a court order that could result in someone being placed in custody. Those sorts of orders go from the hand of an officer of the court to the hand of an officer of the law. We don’t even know for sure that the Troopers ever actually saw the alleged court order.

Were I still wearing one of my old hats, I’d have a piece of those two Troopers; I wouldn’t fire them, but I’d set their retirement date back awhile. This isn’t something that a Trooper would do every day so they might not know the subtleties of it.

There is something going on here that we don’t know. The “tell” for me is that the Court System went to the media rather than to the DPS to reveal that there was no warrant. This sort of thing can happen at fairly low levels in government. Some Administrative Something or Another could have decided that h/she didn’t like a school principal coming out as an activist Christian.

I’m thinking, however, that some of the family members share those sorts of political views and used their connections in the Court System to mau-mau their relative.

Art Chance is a retired Director of Labor Relations for the State of Alaska, formerly of Juneau and now living in Anchorage. He is the author of the book, “Red on Blue, Establishing a Republican Governance,” available at Amazon.

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Michael Tavoliero: Grooming of children continues in our schools, and officials seem unconcerned

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR

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January 25, 2023

68

Michael Tavoliero: Grooming of children continues in our schools, and officials seem unconcerned

By MICHAEL TAVOLIERO

My column, “The crime and tragedy of passive grooming and indoctrination,” highlights the growing practice of sexual grooming and the loss of innocence among children in Anchorage, Alaska.

Despite the publication of the column on Nov. 20, 2021, in Must Read Alaska, little action has been taken by Alaska’s and Anchorage’s political and prosecutorial leadership to establish a policy against sexual grooming, as well as enforce current state law.

The protection of Anchorage’s greatest asset is paramount. Without the protection of our children, our society will spiral down the drain into chaos.

Some parents, who endeavor to overcome bureaucratic and political opposition, have taken action to ban certain types of literature from libraries accessible to children, but the problem persists.

The Anchorage mayor, Assembly members, and school board members all swore an oath that implicitly requires the best of their abilities to protect the welfare of Anchorage’s children, yet we have seen no efforts by state or local politicians or prosecutors to enforce laws against the exploitation of minors. Are Anchorage’s politicians and prosecutors cowards?

There has also been a lack of engagement and response from the religious leaders in the community to address this issue. Here is the perfect opportunity for these “leaders,” yet we have seen little to nothing from any of the church, synagogue and other religious leadership in our community stand up against this. Are Anchorage religious leaders cowards?

The public continues only to witness the sexual grooming and destruction of the innocence of Anchorage’s children even when publications like MRAK and other conservative news programs focus the light on this evil.

In the meantime, some of Anchorage’s public employees nefariously and clandestinely promote the further destruction of Anchorage’s future.

This is truly sick, evil and unlawful.

We have seen little to nothing being done by the Anchorage School District in establishing a no-sexual-grooming policy.

We have seen no state or local prosecutorial effects to enforcement State law.

Suzanne Downing’s article of January 24, 2023, “Smoking gun! Records show teachers, librarians collaborate to get graphic, instructional gay lit. to kids,” claims “Through a public records request, the parent activist found that, although the graphic gay-sex book ‘Gender Queer’ is now out, teachers and librarians in the district have been collaborating to get more of these instructional books in kids’ hands.”

And, “The evidence is clear from emails that the books were indeed being fast-tracked at Steller. The trove of email communications that has been uncovered included a note from a school librarian, saying that she would work quickly to get more gay-agenda books to the teacher, adding, ’If I act fast you could use them.’”

Smoking gun! Records show teachers, librarians collaborate to get graphic, instructional gay lit. to kids

Alaska Statutes 11.41.436 and 11.41.455 describe the circumstances that define the felony of unlawful exploitation of a minor:

AS 11.41.436:

(a) An offender commits the crime of sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree if…

(4) being 16 years of age or older, the offender aids, induces, causes, or encourages a person who is under 16 years of age to engage in conduct described in AS 11.41.455 (a)(2) – (6);

*and* the offender occupies a position of authority in relation to the victim.

Alaska Statute 11.41.455 graphically describes the kinds of sexual activities the minor may be induced into performing by the exploitative adult who is grooming them. As we know, the process of grooming a child for future exploitation begins slowly, the perpetrator often starting by showing the child pornographic materials.

That statute is cited fully below.

AS 11.41.455. Unlawful Exploitation of a Minor.

(a) A person commits the crime of unlawful exploitation of a minor if, in the state and with the intent of producing a live performance, film, audio, video, electronic, or electromagnetic recording, photograph, negative, slide, book, newspaper, magazine, or other material that visually or aurally depicts the conduct listed in (1) – (7) of this subsection,the person knowingly induces or employs a child under 18 years of age to engage in, or photographs, films, records, or televises a child under 18 years of age engaged in, the following actual or simulated conduct:

(1) sexual penetration;

(2) the lewd touching of another person’s genitals, anus, or breast;

(3) the lewd touching by another person of the child’s genitals, anus, or breast;

(4) masturbation;

(5) bestiality;

(6) the lewd exhibition of the child’s genitals; or

(7) sexual masochism or sadism.

(b) A parent, legal guardian, or person having custody or control of a child under 18 years of age commits the crime of unlawful exploitation of a minor if, in the state, the person permits the child to engage in conduct described in (a) of this section knowing that the conduct is intended to be used in producing a live performance, film, audio, video, electronic, or electromagnetic recording, photograph, negative, slide, book, newspaper, magazine, or other material that visually or aurally depicts the conduct.

(c) Unlawful exploitation of a minor is a

(1) class B felony; or

(2) class A felony if the person has been previously convicted of unlawful exploitation of a minor in this jurisdiction or a similar crime in this or another jurisdiction.

(d) In this section, “audio recording” means a nonbook prerecorded item without a visual component, and includes a record, tape, cassette, and compact disc.

Suzanne Downing has begun to identify these individuals, as seen in her article exposing some of them. Are there many more?

The public must demand that the individuals, who are responsible for this wicked crime, be identified and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Do I have an “Amen!”

Michael Tavoliero is a senior writer at Must Read Alaska.

Michael Tavoliero: Reject Murkowski’s path to colonialism

Power the future: Biden would veto House bill that will protect oil reserves

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR

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January 25, 2023

10

Power the future: Biden would veto House bill that will protect oil reserves

By POWER THE FUTURE

The Biden/Harris Administration’s careless tapping into the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve has made our emergency reserves dangerously low. The president using this emergency reserve to help his approval ratings while draining a much-needed supply. Now, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is saying President Joe Biden would veto a House bill that would protect the SPR.

Reuters reports:

“The bill, called HR21, would prohibit the energy secretary from tapping the SPR without producing a plan to increase oil and gas leasing on federal lands – unless the release is for a severe oil supply emergency.Republican lawmakers say they are concerned that last year’s releases from the SPR, the biggest amount of crude oil from any president, have deteriorated the ability to store, pipe and pump oil at the SPR, which holds crude across series of underground natural caverns on the Texas and Louisiana coasts.”

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is meant to be used strategically for emergencies, not as a way to handle high gas prices. President Biden is merely trying to protect his own image, with no regard for the long-term consequences.

Power The Future’s Communications Director Larry Behrens, said it best, “Long before we had heard of the Penn Biden Center, President Biden’s legacy was delivering the highest gas prices in generations and the worst inflation since the 1980s. Every American knows that gas prices are dramatically higher than when President Biden first took office, yet he wants to continue to use our strategic petroleum reserve as his own political damage control. The meaningful way to lowering gas prices is by unleashing domestic energy production, something Biden can never do because it will offend his far left eco-base.”

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is supposed to be used only in severe supply interruption situations. With no clear plan for how to refill the SPR, what will happen during the next emergency after the current administration has used it all up?

No logging for Alaska: Biden finalizes re-lockdown of Tongass

Suzanne Downing

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January 25, 2023

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No logging for Alaska: Biden finalizes re-lockdown of Tongass

In a reversal, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service issued a final repeal of the 2020 Alaska Roadless Rule. The move reinstates the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule on the Tongass National Forest, effectively prohibiting timber harvest, road construction and reconstruction within designated Inventoried Roadless Areas.

“This decision is a huge loss for Alaskans,” said Alaska Gov.Mike Dunleavy. “It’s yet another way the Biden administration is singling out Alaska. Alaskans deserve access to the resources that the Tongass provides – jobs, renewable energy resources, and tourism, not a government plan that treats human beings within a working forest like an invasive species.”

The Tongass covers more than 17 million acres and is the largest forest in the United States. More than 71,000 Alaska residents and the capital city of Juneau are within the Tongass National Forest.

“This unfortunate decision is a blow to the economic and socioeconomic development of Southeast Alaska. It marks another bitter chapter in this long-running saga, once more forcing the State and its citizens to pay the costs of near-absolute preservation. It denies them the most basic and fundamental developments of society, which are taken for granted in nearly every other part of the country.” said Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor.

Numerous environmental safeguards currently ensure that economic survival is balanced with wise conservation practices and resource protection. Repeal of the 2020 Alaska Roadless Rule prevents the region from safely and responsibly supplying the critical essential minerals crucial for the Biden Administration’s clean energy transition.

“Alaska’s communities and our regional needs are vastly different than the rest of the nation, and this should continue to be recognized though a common-sense management approach in the Tongass National Forest,” said DNR Deputy Commissioner Brent Goodrum. “The State’s unique and targeted exemption to the sweeping national Roadless Rule was a successful example of public policy allowing appropriate access in a small fraction of the immense Tongass. Continued access would have enhanced subsistence, energy security, recreation, transportation, resource development, and public safety in a multiple-use forest for the direct benefit of the people of Southeast Alaska.”

The former 2001 Roadless Rule remains a national, one-size-fits-all regulation that unlawfully limits opportunities for Alaskans who live and work in the Tongass region, the Dunleavy Administration said. The State and Alaska’s congressional delegation have worked over six consecutive terms of governors (Democratic, Independent, and Republican) to exempt the Tongass from the 2001 Roadless Rule. Only under President Donald Trump was the Tongass carved out as a special case.

Reinstatement of the 2001 Roadless Rule fails to meet the stated purpose and need established in the administrative record and fails to adequately respond to the State’s petition for rulemaking, which prompted the adoption of the 2020 Alaska Roadless Rule, and ignores the recommendations from the Alaska Roadless Rule Citizen Advisory Committee, the state said.

The State of Alaska’s position is that the decision ignores the fact that the Tongass contains more Inventoried Roadless Areas than any other forest in the National Forest System, which has and will continue to be appropriately managed at the forest plan level, as determined in the 2020 Alaska Roadless Rule Record of Decision.

Reapplying the 2001 Roadless Rule to the Tongass violates unique Alaska and Tongass-specific statutory provisions of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act and Tongass Timber Reform Act and resumes a flawed and biased decision-making process for determining whether an activity is subject to one of the 2001 Roadless Rule exceptions.

Electric ferry to be powered by federal infrastructure funds

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Are Peltolas violating federal laws against influence peddling?

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Sen. Giessel, once Alaska’s pro-life champion, opposes a constitutional amendment protecting unborn Alaskans

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Downing: The president has raided the Strategic Petroleum Reserve into a national emergency

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Art Chance: School principal’s experience with Troopers shows how fragile our civil rights really are

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Michael Tavoliero: Grooming of children continues in our schools, and officials seem unconcerned

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Power the future: Biden would veto House bill that will protect oil reserves

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No logging for Alaska: Biden finalizes re-lockdown of Tongass

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Opinion: Will Biological Sex Become Unconstitutional in Alaska Schools?

Trans-Activist Parents Take Case Against Mat-Su School District to Alaska Supreme Court; State Files Brief in Support of District

New Analysis Highlights Workforce Gap for AK LNG

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