Anchorage Daily News

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The Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Auke Bay has a new online fluke catalog of humpbacks in the Juneau area. Find the link near the bottom of the Newsreader today. (Suzie Teerlink, AFSC)

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Alaska Airlines says employee misused customer credit cards. The airline reports this morning that a former call center employee diverted 1,500 customer payments to a personal account, according to the Associated Press. The activity occurred between August 2006 and June 2008. Check your statements for unauthorized transactions, Alaska Air says.

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Anchorage man faces $32,000-a-day penalty for wetlands damage. A press release from the Environmental Protection Agency says David Sweezey used heavy equipment to clear, grade and fill wetlands and streams to create a pond on his Anchorage property. He did the work in 2003, and the EPA filed an order requiring him to restore the wetlands in 2005. His refusal to comply with the order has resulted in the penalties, the EPA says.

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Point Hope leaders say troopers mismanaged caribou investigation. The Associated Press reports that Jack Schaefer, president of the Native Village of Point Hope, disputes the number of wasted caribou carcasses, saying only nine were found. He says local leaders want to deliver any punishment necessary, and the village has sent a letter of complaint to Gov. Sarah Palin over the troopers' investigation.

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"Anger, distrust, frustration ..." over Exxon at root of reaction to TransCanada quote. Speaker of the House John Harris told the Globe and Mail Tuesday that Alaska attitudes about Exxon continue to be raw because of the disastrous 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound and the company's fight over civil damages, including the Supreme Court's choice to cut punitive damages to $500 million.

"You haven't lived under the Exxon Valdez umbrella," Harris said in an interview yesterday. "You don't really know the feeling at all. And the feeling of many Alaskans who have lived under it is that of anger, distrust, frustration - all those things and probably a lot more. When you have a foreigner ... saying 'Alaskans, you're not going to get this gas pipeline until Exxon says so,' that hurt a lot of people's feelings and made people angry."

The flap resonated in coverage by the Peninsula Clarion. Here is the Associated Press' recent report on Exxon Mobil second-quarter profits, and a Houston Chronicle column about why those numbers should worry Americans.

Meanwhile, a business news source, Canada's Financial Post, warns investors away from the TransCanada pipeline proposal, saying the company will be overburdened by execution, contract, regulatory, financial and construction risks.

Bondholders should be scared, according to Laurie Conheady, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets.

"We believe there is little, if any, upside for TransCanada PipeLines' bondholders in this announcement or the prospect of TransCanada building the pipeline," she said. "On the contrary, we see the potential for significant downside risk for the debt providers as the company moves to develop the pipeline project."

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Sen. Ted Stevens won't be at the Republican Convention. Instead, he'll be campaigning in Alaska, reports the Associated Press. Also not attending are Oregon's Gordon Smith, Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine, all facing tough re-election campaigns. Two others, Wayne Allard of Colorado and Larry Craig of Idaho, are retiring.

Also in question is Vice President Dick Cheney, whose press secretary says his schedule is still open for the Sept. 1-4 convention in St. Paul, Minn.

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Alaska Railroad and UAF study herbicide use for tracks. The Alaska Railroad hasn't used herbicides since 1983, according to Progressive Railroading.com, relying instead on brush cutting, steaming and burning to keep tracks clear. But Alaska's "20 hours of summer daylight" has spurred so much growth that the railroad has been fined by the Federal Railroad Administration.

The multiyear project will involve test plots between Portage and Seward and a site at UAF. It will study groundwater and soil samples to measure the persistence of two herbicides, Oust Extra and AquaMaster.

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Pundit ponders Palin's praise for Obama. Politico.com cites a press release from the governor's office in which she appreciates Obama's understanding of Alaska's potential gas reserves in terms of clean energy and jobs. She also likes his $1,000 energy rebate checks but isn't crazy about his desire to tax oil company profits.

Alaska energy politics seem to trump national politics here, though it's also interesting to see a red(dish) state Republican so willing to associate herself with the Democratic nominee.

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State terminates all but one lease at Point Thomson. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and KTVA report that the state Department of Natural Resources clipped the leases Tuesday because they are years past their terms, not producing hydrocarbons and have no wells. The decision affects 44 leases, and the state expects an appeal. The one remaining lease is owned by Exxon, due to expire in 2010.

"Exxon's willingness to engage Alaskan companies and workers and contract with Alaskan business for support services with the knowledge that the 23rd plan of development had been rejected and that its leases would soon expire is unfortunate," said Kevin Banks, director of the Division of Oil and Gas.

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In other headlines of interest to Alaskans:

>Juneau docs recommend whooping cough vaccine (Juneau Empire)

>Kodiak worries about an expensive winter ahead (KMXT)

>In Bethel, boat gas thievery takes a jump (KYUK)

>Irish climber remembered at home (Irish Times)

>Scientists study how underground waterways affect salmon (KCAW)

>New whale Web site available for fluke matching (Alaska Fisheries Science Center)

>The speech Obama should give in Alaska (Huffington Post)

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