Every good story has a starting point. "Once upon a time..." That sort of thing. As it turns out, bad stories have them, too.
For me, in any case, this bad story begins on Jan. 18, 2013. Just three days into the beginning of the first session of the 28th Alaska Legislature, House Bill 80 was filed "at the request of the governor." It was his prerogative.
You see, back in 2006, 82,000 Alaskans supported more rigorous regulatory oversight of the cruise ship industry's effluent discharge. Gov. Parnell wished to ease these restrictions and filed HB80 as his instrument to do so. When it passed, the losers were clean water and our commercial fisheries in Southeast Alaska.
Before the story continues, to be complete and comprehensive, one needs to turn the pages back just a bit. I said that my story begins on Jan.18, 2013. But, it would be inaccurate to give the administration a "pass" until Jan. 18 last year. On July 26, 2009, Sarah Palin relinquished the governorship and Sean Parnell became governor. On Gov. Parnell's watch, the state of Alaska decided to opt out of participation in the 1972 Coastal Zone Management Act. Why fiercely "red" states like Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas continue to operate a program and we don't is a mystery. Perhaps those states were opposed to ceding authority to the federal government on coastal zone issues, instead wanting to fully participate and comment on matters this administration has concluded it will just ignore. Some might call this "self-imposed federal overreach."
Now the story really takes a turn for the worse.
In quick succession, continuing in 2013, the administration filed or endorsed a series of bills that demonstrated impatience with democratic tradition and custom (notice to the public and an opportunity to be heard) and recognized corporations before individuals: One, the notorious HB77, which, among other things, was designed to centralize Commissioner Sullivan's power at DNR and eliminate pending water rights applications (which in a case called Chuitna Citizens Coalition v. Dan Sullivan, DNR illegally failed to process in any event). Two, HB47, a "pay to play" provision designed to "chill" regular Alaskans from going to court to challenge any industrial development. And three, HB129, which gives Alaskans only one opportunity to comment on and influence permitting for oil and gas development, before they can possibly even know what that development might look like.
Sadly, that was not the end of this governor's anti-Alaska-values administration efforts. The governor issued Administrative Order No. 266 on Aug. 26, 2013, a "wink and a nod" directive designed to push the administration's agenda forward without public input, followed by the coup de grace -- wholesale changes to 32 Wildlife Habitat Management Plans for critical habitat areas, refuges and sanctuaries (special use areas). The highly respected Rick Sinnott said these changes are designed to "make (the management plans) as unrestrictive as possible so that pretty much anyone who comes in with a permit to pretty much anything will be given the permit and told to go out there and do whatever they want to do."
In summary, it's unclear what the governor could have done to cause more harm to Alaska natural resource values than he has done over the last five years, short of showing deliberate malice to those values. A whole separate story could be told about his wildlife managers' apparent desire to become zookeepers or game farm wardens.
What is more concerning is the absence of anything to indicate the governor recognizes that Alaska is a jewel. You know: the Last Frontier, a place of untrammeled spaces with still in-tact ecosystems. No photos of him backpacking, kayaking, fishing or hunting. Govs. Hammond and Knowles got it. They understood that Alaska was unlike any place else. During my visit to McNeil River State Game Sanctuary in late August, Fish and Game officers there described a previous governor's trip to the sanctuary -- that governor tromped through the woods just like the other visitors, enjoying the principles for which the sanctuary stands -- and just loving Alaska for being Alaska. Not asking anything from it in return.
Importantly, as is evidenced by court decisions concerning the Bristol Bay Area Plan (and misclassification of lands near the Pebble deposit), the aforementioned Chuitna decision (where a trial judge found DNR's constitutional violations), and a decision called REDOIL (where DNR was found to have failed to look at cumulative impacts of development), Dan Sullivan was a complicit partner in each of the governor's efforts and initiatives.
On the thing that makes Alaska unique in the world: our pristine waters, great ecosystems and lands, our fishing and hunting, this governor has failed miserably. His proposals have shown a disdain for what makes Alaska special. It's been a bad story.
Rep. Andy Josephson is an attorney and teacher who represents Midtown, University and East Anchorage in the Alaska House of Representatives.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.