Anchorage Daily News

Palin invites McCain to visit ANWR. John Grizzi, writing at HumanEvents.com, a blog of the conservative movement, says Gov. Sarah Palin told him at the National Governors Association Meeting in Philadelphia that she has invited Republican presidential candidate John McCain to see ANWR.

"I'm asking him to come up and see ANWR," Republican Gov. Sarah Palin told me Saturday during the centennial meeting of the National Governors Association here. As to her discussions so far with McCain, Palin said, "We agreed to disagree." But, she quickly added, "I am encouraged with his evolved thinking on offshore drilling, and I think he might come along on ANWR if he sees our 2,000 acres for himself."

KTUU reports that seven congressional candidates from the Lower 48 will be in Alaska shortly to take a look at ANWR. The story quotes Sarah James, a Gwich'in elder from Arctic Village, saying she'll be there to meet them and tell then ANWR is off-limits.

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Bush to lift offshore drilling ban today. The Associated Press reports this morning that President Bush will lift an executive order on offshore drilling that has stood since his father was president. The announcement is expected today in the White House Rose Garden.

Since there are two bans on offshore drilling, lifting the ban does not mean immediate drilling. Congress would also need to lift its ban.

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High gas prices may lead to change in attitudes over ANWR. Meanwhile, Grizzi also said Rhode Island Gov. Donald Canceri and Vermont Gov. James Douglas, both Republicans in conservation-minded states that have opposed ANWR drilling, say that high gas prices have their constituents rethinking the position.

"I have resisted ANWR so far," Douglas said, "but with gas prices so high, I do believe we should put everything on the table."

Bush reflected that in his Saturday radio speech, according to KTUU, as did coverage today in the Washington Post, noting that "57 percent of people surveyed were willing to allow drilling in coastal and wilderness areas currently off-limits if it had the potential to reduce high gas prices."

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The ad that wouldn't die. The ADN Alaska Politics blog has covered Wally Hickel's ad campaign to somehow shame Alaska leaders into approving his all-Alaska gas pipeline to bring natural gas to Asia, including Round 2 of the ad.

Reaction came in over the weekend. Dermot Cole of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner was succinct in his criticism.

If we want to create a powerful anti-Alaska movement in the Lower 48 - one that could lead to scrutiny of the tens of billions we have stashed away - all we have to do is announce that Alaska wants to ship natural gas to China.

Editorial writers at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reminded readers that "no company can guarantee a pipeline at this point; the preliminary work has yet to be done by anyone. ... Guarantees to build a pipeline from any executive of any company should be viewed with high skepticism."

The Juneau Empire looked more broadly at Alaska's energy issues and the special session that begins this week to deal with the crises. Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Jim Whitaker's suggestion of legal action toward the state for allowing Anchorage's low-priced natural gas was at the heart of the editorial.

"It's true that Whitaker sometimes comes across as a musk ox in a gift shop," they wrote, "But he's not doing this to deny anything to that region but to raise the point that the rest of the state could use help from the state as well.

"It's not hard to imagine how energy prices could lead to a renewed effort to close Eielson Air Force Base."

The Alaska Politics blog reports on a testy letter from Rep. Les Gara to the leadership over a failure of legislators to vote on the TransCanada proposal. Gara is calling for a vote tomorrow.

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Boxed ice cream for $14.59, three pounds of apples for $9.59. KTUU reported on grocery prices in Emmonak that have been driven by soaring transportation costs.

Try 18-pounds of barbecue charcoal for $50.28.

"Ever since the price of a barrel of oil went up, grocery prices have just skyrocketed," said Marcel Isadore, an Emmonak resident.

Former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan says he worries about a spike in thefts and domestic violence in the Bush as a result of climbing food and household goods prices.

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Five brown bears roaming near Cooper Landing. Alex Kimes, owner of Alaska Horsemen Trail Adventures, was surprised to find two grizzlies had climbed into his open horse trailer Friday night, reports KTUU. He slammed the door shut and the bears were tranquilized and moved.

Kimes says Cooper Landing residents and tourists are afraid to take evening walks because up to five bears appear to be wandering the area.

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No worries on exploratory drilling at Pebble, state says. Readers may recall an April story in the ADN in which a former federal fisheries biologist critiqued state regulators' oversight of mineral exploration in Pebble. Carol Ann Woody raised questions about whether the drill rigs might draw up amounts of water that could be harmful to developing salmon and mobilize heavy metals in the groundwater.

The Alaska Journal of Commerce posted a story on its Web site Sunday that state mining coordinator Tom Crafford continues to be confident that the ongoing work at Pebble won't have a significant impact on fisheries resources.

Crafford said Woody's concerns about reactivity of Pebble ore, acid mine drainage, metals leaching and potential contamination from various metals in relation to the number, depth and location of drill holes were valid issues that would be addressed if and when Pebble proceeds to development permitting.

"They are really not issues of concern for the ongoing drilling exploration program at Pebble," Crafford said.

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Jury selection begins today in Juneau cocaine case. Aaron Washington's trial for alleged cocaine distribution starts today in Juneau, but the 42-year-old merchant faces another trial in September for allegedly running a larger criminal enterprise that imported and sold cocaine in Juneau since 2003, reports the Juneau Empire.

Two things about this case attract attention. In recent filings, his girlfriend has asked the court to lift a no-contact order so they could continue to plan their wedding.

And Washington himself says he wasn't "exactly" innocent either. "It's not like I've never done anything wrong," he said in a jailhouse interview recently.

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Thorne Bay gets a new firetruck. The story behind this 30-square-mile community of 400 and how it got its new firetruck is heartwarming, reports Firehouse.com. Thorne Bay is on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska.

Ronald Currit is the volunteer fire chief. While searching for replacement parts to the town's old firetruck, he came upon a Web site announcing a contest to win one.

Currit wrote up Thorne Bay's need, and he got a return e-mail in two days that said: "If you can get it home, you can have it." Quality 1st Basement Systems in Perth Amboy, N.J., had used the 1977 Hahn pumper truck in parades until interest waned. Now it wanted to get it off its hands.

Currit and his 18-year-old son flew to New Jersey in April and drove the truck 4,000 miles and put it on two ferries to get it home.

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Twenty Russian scientists abandon shrinking Arctic research camp. The BBC reports that the scientists are on a drifting ice floe in the Arctic. Their little ice floe has been shrinking so quickly they risk a complete breakup as it drifts toward warmer waters.

This evacuation comes as Canadian researchers report that the melting of the Arctic ice this year started at least four weeks ahead of the long-term average.

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Other headlines of interest to Alaskans:

> Alaska Airlines pilots seek mediator in talks (Seattle Times)

> Ernest Gruening's historical call for an end to colonialism in Alaska (Anchorage Press)

> Kenai legislators react to Cowdery indictment (Peninsula Clarion)

> Gabrielle LeDoux ads hit the airwaves (KTUU and Alaska Politics)

> UAA joins forces with the University of the Arctic (dbusiness.com)

> Kodiak scaps plans for new jailhouse (Kodiak Daily Mirror)

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