Associated Press

JUNEAU — The Alaska Division of Elections says an initiative aimed at protecting salmon habitat has cleared a significant hurdle on its track to making a November state election ballot.

The Juneau Empire reports that the division on Tuesday said it is currently reviewing each of Stand for Salmon’s 43,706 signatures. To pass the review, Stand for Salmon needs only 32,127 signatures or 10 percent of those who voted in the previous general election.

As of Tuesday, 38,694 signatures were verified.

The initiative would create a more stringent permitting process for development projects on salmon habitat in Alaska.

Opponents say the initiative is bad for business, while supports say they’re streamlining a 60-year-old law in an attempt to protect Alaska salmon.

DENVER — U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s plan to put more of his department’s decision-makers in the field has a fundamental flaw in the eyes of some who spent their careers making those decisions.

Eleven former Interior Department officials with decades of experience in both Washington and in local offices told The Associated Press that most of the key officials are already in the field.

Some said the problem is that an increasing number of decisions that should be made locally are made in Washington because of political pressure, under both Democratic and Republican administrations.

The Interior Department manages 780,000 square miles of public lands, mostly in the West. More than 91 percent of the department’s workforce of about 70,000 is already based outside the Washington area.

ANCHORAGE — The National Park Service is considering new rules for the disposal of human waste generated by climbers on North America’s tallest mountain, Denali.

Rules for poop are serious on the Alaska mountain because all water comes from melted snow and contamination can lead to diarrhea and life-threatening dehydration.

Climbers above a base camp at 7,200 feet are allowed to deposit human waste into deep crevasses.

However, a researcher has determined that bacteria in much of the waste are not killed because it’s not exposed to extreme temperatures or ultraviolet light.

Proposed rules would require climbers to deposit human waste in one of two places: a crevasse high on the mountain, where it’s likely to be rendered inert, or at a ranger station in the Talkeetna, where climbers land after flying off the mountain.

KODIAK, Alaska — State and federal officials are responding after up to 3,000 gallons of fuel oil spilled in Shuyak Strait.

The Coast Guard says in a release that the spill reportedly occurred after an abandoned building collapsed in extreme weather in the strait, located about 50 miles north of Kodiak.

The Coast Guard says an oil fuel bladder in the building fell in the water, releasing a maximum potential of 3,000 gallons of fuel oil.

The Coast Guard and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation are responding to the spill. A company has been hired to coordinate the cleanup effort.

SITKA — The First Presbyterian Church of Sitka has announced that it is dissolving as a congregation and is beginning the process of closing the church.

The Daily Sitka Sentinel reported Monday that the closure is in response to dwindling membership and the high cost of maintaining the aging church.

Church ministry and facility coordinator Kristy Miller said that instead of a congregation, Sitka Presbyterians will be a fellowship directly under the Northwest Coast Presbytery.

The congregation built the church in 1958.

Miller said an administrative commission with members from the Sitka church and the presbytery will be formed next month to begin the process of closing the building, which she said is expected to be done by Sept. 30.

The commission will then consider the building’s next use.

KETCHIKAN — Bad weather hampered the search for a 39-year-old Alaska snowboarder buried by an avalanche.

Alaska State Troopers say Marvin Scott of Ketchikan was caught in an avalanche reported to be 100 yards wide by 1,500 yards long while snowboarding Sunday.

Scott and another man were snowboarding on Dude Mountain outside Ketchikan in southeast Alaska when the large slide let loose. Both men wore beacons, and the other man searched for Scott for an hour before hiking to call for help. There was no cell coverage on the mountain, and troopers received the call about four hours after the avalanche.

Scott’s family has been notified of the incident.