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Letter: Alaska’s PFD reality

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Letter: Alaska’s PFD reality


By David Knapp

Up to date: 2 hours in the past Revealed: 2 hours in the past

Our lawmakers in Juneau are struggling to provide you with a sustainable Everlasting Fund dividend system. The explanation they’re struggling is there isn’t a such system. Alaska faces a long-term fiscal hole, and to shut it requires ending the PFD.

For the reason that PFD shouldn’t be sustainable, Alaska’s solely alternative within the matter is whether or not the PFD could have a “mushy” ending or a “laborious” ending. A “mushy” ending would require coordinating the top of the PFD with the start of latest needs-based social support packages to guard weak Alaskans. A “laborious” ending can be to take no proactive motion to guard weak Alaskans earlier than the PFD turns into unfundable.

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A proactive mushy ending to the PFD requires foresight, funding and can. The long-term fiscal hole turned manifest when oil costs crashed in 2008. At the moment the state held normal fund financial savings which may have funded a mushy PFD ending, however our lawmakers lacked the foresight, spent the financial savings, and missed the chance.

Importantly, the Alaska Supreme Courtroom has dominated that the PFD has no particular authorized standing; it’s simply one other discretionary appropriation funded from the state’s normal fund.

The principal argument towards ending the PFD is that weak Alaskans depend on it to pay for important wants. But when the PFD should inevitably finish with a purpose to shut the state’s long-term fiscal hole, the one method to defend weak Alaskans is to coordinate new needs-based reduction packages with the ending of the PFD.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy and others have referred to as for a constitutional modification to guard the PFD. Fiscally, a constitutionally protected PFD would necessitate state taxes to shut the fiscal hole, in impact, making the PFD tax-supported. However once more, each state within the nation may fund a tax-supported PFD (clone), however none do as a result of the economics don’t make sense. Even when Alaska had been to disregard the economics and implement a tax-supported PFD, the fiscal inefficiency would quickly go away the state no alternative however to reverse course, revoke the constitutional safety, and finish the PFD the “laborious” approach.

Backside line: To shut Alaska’s long-term fiscal hole requires ending the PFD.

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Alaska’s most weak will undergo if the state fails to orchestrate a “mushy” PFD ending. To orchestrate a mushy PFD ending requires foresight, funding and can. The windfall income can present the funding. Can our lawmakers present the foresight and can?

— David Knapp

Anchorage

Have one thing in your thoughts? Ship to letters@adn.com or click on right here to submit by way of any internet browser. Letters below 200 phrases have one of the best probability of being printed. Writers ought to disclose any private or skilled connections with the themes of their letters. Letters are edited for accuracy, readability and size.





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Alaska

Moderate earthquake strikes south-central Alaska

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Moderate earthquake strikes south-central Alaska


ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – A moderate earthquake occurred in south-central Alaska Sunday afternoon, striking at 2:42 p.m.

Its epicenter was located about 24 miles due east of Anchorage with a depth of 18 miles.

No damage or injuries were reported.

See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com

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OPINION: CDQ program and pollock fishery are essential to Western Alaska

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OPINION: CDQ program and pollock fishery are essential to Western Alaska


By Eric Deakin, Ragnar Alstrom and Michael Link

Updated: 1 hour ago Published: 1 hour ago

We work every day to support Alaska’s rural communities through the Community Development Quota (CDQ) program and have seen firsthand the lifeline the program provides to our state’s most isolated and economically vulnerable areas.

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This program is one of the most successful social justice programs in the United States, giving rural, coastal communities a stake in the success of the Bering Sea fisheries, and transferring these benefits into community investments. Our fisheries participation provides $80 million to $100 million of programs, wages and benefits into Western Alaska annually, and the full economic reach of the CDQ program is substantially larger when accounting for jobs and support services statewide.

In some communities, CDQs are the largest and only private-sector employer; the only market for small-boat fishermen; the only nonfederal funding available for critical infrastructure projects; and an essential program provider for local subsistence and commercial fishing access. There is no replacement for the CDQ program, and harm to it would come at a severe cost. As one resident framed it, CDQ is to Western Alaska communities, what oil is to Alaska.

Consistent with their statutory mandate, CDQ groups have increased their fisheries investments, and their 65 member communities are now major players in the Bering Sea. The foundation of the program is the Bering Sea pollock fishery, 30% of which is owned by CDQ groups. We invest in pollock because it remains one of the most sustainably managed fisheries in the world, backed by rigorous science, with independent observers on every vessel, ensuring that bycatch is carefully monitored and minimized.

We also invest in pollock because the industry is committed to constantly improving and responding to new challenges. We understand the impact that salmon collapses are having on culture and food security in Western Alaska communities. Working with industry partners, we have reduced chinook bycatch to historically low levels and achieved more than an 80% reduction in chum bycatch over the past three years. This is a clear demonstration that CDQ groups and industry are taking the dire salmon situation seriously, despite science that shows bycatch reductions will have very minimal, if any, positive impact on subsistence access.

The effects of recent warm summers on the Bering Sea ecosystem have been well documented by science. This has caused some species to prosper, like sablefish and Bristol Bay sockeye salmon, while others have been negatively impacted, including several species of crab and salmon. Adding to these challenges is the unregulated and growing hatchery production of chum salmon in Russia and Asia, which is competing for limited resources in the Bering Sea, and increasing management challenges.

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Attributing the current salmon crises to this fishery is misguided and could cause unnecessary harm to CDQ communities. Without the pollock fishery, we would see dramatic increases in the cost of food, fuel and other goods that are shipped to rural Alaska. We would also see the collapse of the CDQ program and all that it provides, including a wide array of projects and jobs that help keep families fed and children in school.

The challenges Alaska faces are significant, and to address them we need to collectively work together to mitigate the impacts of warming oceans on our fisheries, build resiliency in our communities and fishery management, and continue to improve practices to minimize fishing impacts. We must also recognize the vital need for the types of community investments and job opportunities that the CDQ program creates for Western Alaska and ensure these benefits are considered when talking about the Bering Sea pollock fishery.

Eric Deakin is chief executive officer of the Coastal Villages Region Fund.

Ragnar Alstrom is executive director of the Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association.

Michael Link is president and CEO of Bristol Bay Economic Development Corp.

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The views expressed here are the writer’s and are not necessarily endorsed by the Anchorage Daily News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)adn.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Read our full guidelines for letters and commentaries here.





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‘Drag racing for dogs:’ Anchorage canines gather for the ‘Great Alaska Barkout’

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‘Drag racing for dogs:’ Anchorage canines gather for the ‘Great Alaska Barkout’


ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Alaska’s first “flyball” league held its annual “Great Alaska Barkout Flyball Tournament” on Saturday in midtown at Alyeska Canine Trainers.

Flyball is a fast-paced sport in which relay teams of four dogs and their handlers compete to cross the finish line first while carrying a tennis ball launched from a spring loaded box. Saturday’s tournament was one of several throughout the year held by “Dogs Gone Wild,” which started in 2004 as Alaska’s first flyball league.

“We have here in Alaska, we’ve got, I think it’s about 6 tournaments per year,” said competitor and handler Maija Doggett. “So you know every other month or so there will be a tournament hosted. Most of them are hosted right here at Alyeska Canine Trainers.”

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