Casey Kelly

A 62-year-old Juneau woman has been medevac’d to Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center, after suffering serious injuries in a vehicle-pedestrian accident early this morning (Thursday).

The incident happened just before 7:30 a.m. Juneau Police say the woman was running across Glacier Highway at Davis Street when she was hit by a Jeep Wrangler driven by a 34-year-old man.

An ambulance took her to Bartlett Regional Hospital, where her injuries were deemed serious enough that she be medevac’d to Harborview, according to Bartlett Spokesman Jim Strader.

Her current condition is unknown. The woman’s name and the name of the driver have not been released. The incident is under investigation.

The Parnell Administration is looking to fill the void left by the closure of the Alaska Coastal Management Program in June.

The program helped coordinate the local, state, and federal permitting process for development projects in coastal areas of the state. Last session, the administration and House Republicans fought proposed changes designed to make it more accountable to local communities, and the legislature failed to reauthorize the program.

State Division of Oil and Gas Director Bill Barron told the House Resources Committee this week (Tuesday) that the Department of Natural Resources has established a special task force to help developers navigate permitting issues. He says the administration has no plans to re-establish the old Coastal Management system. Instead, the task force is looking at modifying the Office of Project Management and Permitting – or O-Pump.

“What we’re trying to structure, recognizing that OPMP has worked very well, is there a way we could have – for lack of a better term – O-PUMP lite,” said Barron. “Something that a smaller company can use to help coordinate that. Is that a twist on ACMP? Maybe. It depends on how you slice the words.”

Bethel Democrat Bob Herron – who attempted to negotiate reauthorization of Coastal Management last session – asked Barron about the practical side of the administration’s work.

“Is O-PUMP lite going to be recognized by your federal counterparts?” asked Herron.

“That’s yet to be seen,” Barron said. “I believe part of that is how we structure it and present it. But we’ll find out.”

A citizens’ initiative co-sponsored by Juneau Mayor Bruce Botelho that would re-establish an Alaska Coastal Management Program is currently under review by Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell’s office. Botelho says the program gave local communities input into projects proposed in their backyards, but it also helped developers.

“One of the great features of coastal zone management is the opportunity for basically one-stop permitting – the idea that all agencies would work together in terms of a streamlined permitting process and coordination, which now is lacking,” said Botelho. “And of course the second element which I think is of particular importance is that the federal government would be required to submit its plans for review.”

The proposed initiative was submitted to the Lt. Governor’s office October 7th. Treadwell will rule by December 6th on whether sponsors can begin gathering nearly 26-thousand signatures to put it on next November’s ballot.

The Department of Natural Resources will be back before lawmakers during the upcoming session.

It happens like clockwork, though it’s not tied to a specific date. The arrival of fall in Juneau is usually marked by drivers still stuck in summer driving mode – caught off-guard by icy road conditions.

Juneau Police Officer Chris Gifford says there were as many as half a dozen accidents around town during this morning’s slippery commute.

“The Lena [Point] area there was three different accidents all right in a little stretch of road. So that area had three accidents and the Norway Point area had two,” says Gifford.

One driver was taken to Bartlett Regional Hospital for treatment of minor injuries. His 1990 Toyota 4-Runner was heavily damaged after it left the roadway on Glacier Highway near Lena Loop Road. Twenty-nine-year old Matthew Armstrong was cited for careless driving.

Gifford has some winter driving tips for motorists: “Give yourself extra time to get to your destination, put extra distance between yourself and the vehicle in front of you. And make sure your windshield and other windows are clear before getting into your car to drive.”

Low temperatures are supposed to dip into the 20s tonight (Wednesday) and Thursday, with highs in the 30s. There’s a chance of the first snow at sea level this season on Friday, though warmer temperatures are expected over the weekend.

Shareholders for Southeast’s regional Native Corporation can look forward to another dividend payment next month.

Sealaska’s board of directors has approved a dividend distribution of nearly 12-million dollars to the corporation’s more than 20-thousand shareholders.

It’s the second payment this year and will mean $1.02 per share for village and descendant shareholders, and twice that for elders.

Sealaska Chief Investment Officer Anthony Mallott says the dividend reflects losses from the economic downturn.

“The operations distribution and the permanent fund distribution have been in the just over a dollar range, we have now for a couple years, mainly affected by the fact that we average our distributions over a long time period and we’re still averaging the negative effects of 2008 where there were significant losses within our investment portfolio and there were some operational losses as well,” Mallott says

Urban and at-large shareholders also receive $6.12 per share under revenue sharing among Alaska’s regional corporations, required by section “7-i” of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

Additional payments are made to the various village corporations that can pass the money on to shareholders or use it for operations.

Dividends are paid from revenue sharing, earnings from a corporation permanent fund as well as earnings off investments and Sealaska’s subsidiary companies. The corporation owns timber, construction and environmental services businesses. It also has invested in plastics manufacturing and information technology.

Mallott anticipates payments could increase as the economy improves.

“One of the long term goals of Sealaska is to create and provide meaningful distributions to their shareholder base and we continually strive for that,” Mallott says. “The amounts recently are probably under our goal if you don’t count the 7i but again we’re working out of the great depression and great recession and we’ll continue to build those distributions to a point where both the winter and spring distributions are meaningful to those shareholders that are in our villages and elsewhere.”

Including last spring’s payment, the corporation’s total dividend this year will be nearly 24-million dollars. Fall dividend payments will be made by direct deposit or U.S. mail around December 8th.

Congressman Don Young lashed out at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service during a hearing last week on legislation that would loosen restrictions on the sale of sea otter pelts in parts of Alaska. Young is hoping the bill will stem the growth of sea otters in Southeast and Southcentral.

The Juneau Assembly has set its top ten goals and priorities for the next year.

The list includes gaining support for a new State Library Archives and Museum building in the Capital City. The state recently broke ground on the 124.5-million dollar project in the Willoughby District, though it’s not yet fully funded. Assemblywoman Karen Crane – a former state library director – says it’s important to keep pushing for the so-called SLAM building, which could spark public and private investment in Juneau.

“There now looks like there might be some support for it within the administration,” Crane says. “And if it doesn’t get funded within the next year or two, the project is not going to go forward.”

Deputy Mayor David Stone pushed for a financial transition plan to help the city adjust to an expected decline in state and federal assistance.

“I think we have a responsibility to future assemblies, as well as our citizens to have a good financial plan for how we’re going to weather this storm,” says Stone.

Perhaps the most controversial item on the list is a review of whether or not to promote development of the AJ Mine. Because the mine is so divisive, Crane says it’s important to decide how the matter will be resolved, and when.

“There’s a significant number of people in the community who are very nervous about this, and I think it would be helpful if we could lay out for them in some more detail how the process is going to go,” Crane says. “And for ourselves: What are going to be the issues that make this project either a project that moves forward or that we decide is not moving forward?”

The assembly goals list is finalized annually after the fall municipal election. This year’s version was narrowed down from about 60 goals discussed at an assembly retreat last month.

CBJ Assembly Top 10 Goals for 2011

• Support new state library, archives and museum (SLAM)
• Find ways to reach out not only to our neighboring Southeast communities, but all Alaska communities to enhance Juneau as the Capital City and an important regional economic and transportation hub
• Actively promote Juneau as a World Class Climate Research center
• Develop a CBJ financial transition plan for the potential future decline of state and federal assistance
• Continue to support fisheries development in Juneau through infrastructure development
• Complete review of the potential development of the AJ Mine for initial go/no go decision
• Successfully recruit and hire a new city manager
• Ensure that Juneau has a functioning local solid waste disposal option into the future
• Implement a long term solution for Juneau’s sewage solids
• Identify a route and begin permitting the extension of North Douglas Highway