ANWR money stays in spending bill

The appropriation includes $3 million for an Oregon public relations company called Pac/West Communications for marketing campaigns in individual congressional districts to put pressure on lawmakers who are against drilling in the refuge.

The other $750,000 would go to Arctic Power, the state's ANWR lobbyist since 1992, to work within Washington's Beltway and try to persuade ANWR holdouts to vote for the measure this year.

When laying out the differences between the Alaska House and Senate versions of the spending bill, the conference committee of three senators and three representatives approved the ANWR appropriations without discussion.

The full House and Senate must give final approval to the compromise bill, which will be presented to the chambers once the conference committee finishes working through the rest of the differences.

The Senate version did not include the ANWR campaign money, but Senate Finance Co-Chairman Gary Wilken, R-Fairbanks, said he supported the appropriation and bringing on Pac/West.

"From what I've read, they seem to have been successful in the past," Wilken said.

House Speaker John Harris, R-Valdez, had pressed for including Pac/West in the ANWR campaign. He said Monday he had spoken to senators in the Republican majority about the group and the need to make the appropriation.

"They've been well educated now," Harris said. "Quite frankly, (Pac/West is) the only lobbying company that, in my opinion, has shown an interest in Alaska that's a national lobbying firm."

Paul Phillips, Pac/West president and chief executive, could not be reached at his Wilsonville, Ore., office Monday for comment.

Pac/West in 2004 campaigned against an Alaska ballot initiative to ban bear baiting in the state. The group is now trying to defeat an initiative to place a $50-per-passenger tax on cruise ships visiting the state.

The company also lists as a client Redfern Resources Ltd., which is trying to reopen the Tulsequah Chief Mine about 40 miles up the Taku River from Juneau in British Columbia, Canada. Environmentalists say the Tulsequah mine leaks more than 16 tons of heavy metals into the river each year, and Alaska fishermen believe reopening the mine could damage the area's salmon fishery.

Several lawmakers, especially Democrats, question hiring the public relations firm. They argue that the company leans to the right politically, which will not help sway Democratic congressmen in the ANWR debate, and that there is no evidence the company has the ability to successfully wage a nationwide campaign.

Al Adams, a former state lawmaker and now chairman of Arctic Power's board of directors, said he was pleased with the appropriation to his organization, but did not know how Arctic Power and Pac/West would work together.

"I know nothing about Pac/West," Adams said. "If they're good and help us target communities, we will work well with them."

The spending package the conference committee is considering totals more than $700 million, with $600 million of that two appropriations to squirrel away a portion of this year's $1.4 billion surplus. Half would go to the state's public education fund and the rest to the Alaska Housing Finance Corp. for undefined public works projects over the next decade.

The rest of the spending package is meant to supplement governmental agencies' budgets this year for unexpected costs, such as the high fuel costs to the Alaska Marine Highway System's ferries.

The conference committee members will return to the discussions after they receive additional negotiation powers from the House speaker and Senate president.