Anchorage Daily News

Supreme Court to hear Alaska mining case. The New York Times this morning reports that in one of its last actions before departing for a summer break, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear next winter the argument between the Idaho-based Coeur mining company and the state of Alaska on one side, and environmentalists on the other. Their issue is over planned dumping of tailings from gold mining into a 23-acre Lower Slate Lake in the Tongass National Forest.

The U.S. Corps of Engineers had already issued a permit, but the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco invalidated the permit because the Clean Water Act of 1972 bars dumping. The Associated Press and Reuters are also covering.

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Skagway mourns the shooting of a "spirit" bear. The Juneau Empire reports that a hunter has killed what residents believe to be a protected white or glacier bear near Skagway.

The Board of Game last year had passed regulations to protect the bear at the request of the city of Skagway and local residents. However, the hunter is unlikely to be prosecuted because the multi-colored pelt may not be that of the protected bear, Fish and Game officials said.

Still, the town mourns. "People here are extremely upset that the bear was shot and that they're returning the hide to this gentleman," said Jan Wrentmore, owner of Skagway's Red Onion Saloon.

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Former Alaskan uses his Silicon Valley entrepreneurial skill to help salmon. The San Jose Mercury News tells the tale of Fluidigm CEO Gajus Worthington, who grew up in Chugiak and fished for salmon in Cook Inlet before heading to Stanford University, then launching a Silicon Valley biotech start up.

His creation? A 1 1/4-inch-square silicone device that contains hundreds of thousands of rubber channels, valves and reaction chambers. It moves liquid through chambers, mixing tiny biological samples with chemical agents that yield results for gene analysis, disease detection and other biological tests.

Last year Alaska used Fluidigm chips to examine the genes of tens of thousand of salmon returning to swim up Alaska's rivers to determine their spawning ground destinations. . That information allowed state officials to direct commercial fishers to abundant fish runs while steering them away from those at risk of being depleted by over fishing.

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Canada launches new strategy to protect wild salmon from sea lice. The Vancouver Sun reports that British Columbia's largest aquaculture company will create migratory corridors during spring out-migration to protect young salmon passing near fish farms from encountering sea lice.

They plan to empty out fish farms near the migratory paths at critical times. The Suzuki Environmental Foundation says that's not good enough. They prefer to see fish farms abandon nets and create closed-container farms to better protect wild salmon migrating nearby.

In other news about salmon, obp.org reports that an Oregon legislative panel voted Thursday to provide coastal fishermen with half a million dollars from the state's emergency fund as a result of closed West Coast salmon fisheries. This state funding will be on top of expected federal aid.

And the Globe and Mail reports that Vancouver's premier seafood restaurant is taking heat for putting B.C. salmon back on its menu. Environmental groups consider the species under pressure and recommend not eating it.

Alaska's fishermen, struggling with high fuel prices and the potential sudden influx of cash from the Exxon Valdez settlement, may get some relief, according to stories in The Bristol Bay Times, KTUU and KFQD.

The fuel help may come from a tax credit based on the difference between the price of fuel on Labor Day 2004, adjusted for inflation, and prices paid this year. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Ted Stevens are co-sponsors.

Murkowski also has a proposal to allow Exxon plaintiffs to income-average their settlement payouts over three years, which they can't do under current law.

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Make way for the wood bison. The Fairbanks Daily News Miner reports that the state's Department of Fish and Game has just trucked 53 Canadian bison to Alaska in a long effort to restore bison to the Interior.

The animals will remain in quarantine at a big game farm near Anchorage for up to two years before being released. They'll likely be considered endangered; it will take years for the herd to regenerate.

Wood bison roamed Alaska in large numbers as few as 200 years ago before becoming extinct about 100 years ago. The animals were trucked 2,000 miles from Elk Island National Park in Alberta.

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In other critter news, a new wolf study puts numbers behind predator-control goals. KUAC in Fairbanks reports that a USGS study on human impact on wolf populations identifies a tipping point below which a wolf population is unaffected, whether that harvest is through hunting and trapping, urbanization or road kill.

"If you're not taking more than 30 percent of the wolves annually, you're really having no notable effect on the population you're attempting to reduce," said USGS wildlife biologist Layne Adams.

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Juneau remains energy conscious even after cheap power returns. The Juneau Empire reports that last week's energy consumption was 18 percent below the same week last year, and about the same as mid-May this year, according to Alaska Electric Light & Power Co. spokesman Scott Willis.

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Please leave the lights on in Fairbanks. That was the word from the editorial board at the Fairbanks Daily News Miner.

In the spirit of adding public opinion to the mix, residents should ask if this city really is so broke that it should consider cutting basics that help provide neighborhood security and boost quality of life.

Efficiencies are fantastic, but when the council sees this portion of the task force report, it should consider that not all dollars cut result in overall savings.

Meanwhile, the News Miner also reports on alternative energy initiatives underway at Golden Valley Electric Association, which plans two hydro, one wind and a solar project as ways to wean away from fossil fuel energy. The Alaska Energy Authority gave GVEA $212,000 to study them.

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Alaska writers state their case in Outside/online publications. The Seattle Times has an op-ed piece by Homer fisherman Frank Mullen on the Exxon Valdez decision, and Amanda Coyne reports on the Obama focus on Alaska for the Huffington Post.

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Have you considered a career in air traffic control? ABC News lists Anchorage and Fairbanks as cities where the Federal Aviation Administration is offering big bonuses to lure experienced air traffic controllers to work.

The FAA is scurrying to retain seasoned employees and hire and train new controllers as those who started working after the air traffic controllers strike in the early 1980s approach retirement. The FAA expects to replace nearly its entire workforce over the course of the next decade.

And about those bonuses? The report doesn't give numbers on the Alaska bonuses, but says controllers can get $27,000 to transfer to New York, and if they promise to stay four years, add another $75,000.

But the National Air Traffic Controllers Association isn't happy. "It's a sign of desperation that staffing is so bad at these facilities that the FAA has to offer such an outrageously high sum of money instead of negotiating a reasonable and logical solution to the mess it has created."

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Here's background reading for anyone keeping up with Pebble Mine. Jack Caldwell is a retired civil engineer who grew up with mining parents and grandparents in South Africa. He has a thoughtful blog post at I think mining, taking a close and personally informed look at Anglo American and its interests in Zimbabwe and Alaska.

The investment in Alaska strikes me as a hearkening back to the same corporate culture that persisted through the bad days in South Africa and now the continued push in Zimbabwe. I am surely wrong, but it is tempting to speculate that in the minds of the corporate-culture gurus of Anglo, Alaska is just another dark place of people who have to be persuaded that mining is right for them and for their land if only they will let Anglo do it.

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In other headlines of interest to Alaskans:

> Exxon-Alaska relationship tenses up over pipeline (Wall Street Journal, subscription required)

> The activist court spills oil on logic (Seattle Times)

> Road to 60: Introducing Mark Begich for Senate (MyDD)

> Scooter sales are up in Kodiak (KMXT)

> Volunteers find evidence of 200-year-old building (Kodiak Daily Mirror)

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