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The Juneau Chamber of Commerce and 13 other Southeast businesses and organizations will join in the state’s lawsuit against a federal rule that prevents road construction in certain areas of the Tongass National Forest.

The Parnell administration in June appealed a federal district court decision setting aside an eight-year-old policy that exempted the Tongass from the so-called Roadless Rule. The organizations plan to file as interveners in the case next week in federal district court in Washington, D.C.

The conservation policy was implemented in 2001, as President Clinton was leaving office. Then Gov. Tony Knowles sued the federal government. The state argued that the 1980 Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act – which preserved 115-million acres – also decreed that no more land could be protected in the state.

Two years later, the Murkowski administration negotiated an out-of-court settlement.

Jim Clark was Gov. Frank Murkowski’s chief of staff. He says under the settlement the Tongass was exempt from application of the roadless policy via a 2003 interim rule, with a final rule to come at some point after that.

Clark is now the attorney for the group that will file as interveners in the Parnell lawsuit.

He told the Juneau Chamber of Commerce yesterday (Thursday) the rule could prevent development of hydroelectric and other renewable energy projects, as well as mining and timber in Southeast Alaska, and even the proposed Lynn Canal Highway out of Juneau.

A number of utility companies have joined the case, including Alaska Electric Light and Power, Alaska Power and Telephone and Inside Passage Electric Cooperative.

“There’s no mention in the Tongass portion of the Roadless Rule about the impact that prohibiting road or reconstruction in the inventoried roadless areas would have on hydro power construction, transmission line construction from hydro sites to communities, or the maintenance of either one,” Clark says.  “All that’s said is existing authorized uses would be allowed to maintain and operate within the parameters of their current authorization, including any provisions regarding access.”

Federal District Court Judge John Sedwick in May approved a list of energy and mining projects already underway as not subject to the Roadless Rule. Clark says all the projects are important, but he can find no authority in the rule that exempts them.

Environmental attorneys read the law differently. Buck Lindekugel of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council says the rule does not prevent other projects from going forward. SEACC and the U.S. Forest Service helped negotiate the list with the Justice Department. Lindekugel says it doesn’t need to be comprehensive.

“If you read the rule, the rule does not prohibit mining in roadless areas,” Lindekugel says. “It does not prohibit renewable energy development. And the court made that very clear when it issued its proposed order. And the reason we listed the projects in that proposed order was to clarify the flexibility of the rule.

Lindekugel calls the interveners’ argument “a lot of scare tactics.”

But First Things First Alaska Foundation President Neil MacKinnon says organizations that join the lawsuit are “trying to right the roadless wrong.”

“We see this Roadless Rule as probably the biggest economic impediment to the future of Southeast and it’s got to change or we don’t have a future,” MacKinnon says.

The foundation donated $5,000 to the litigation fund and is asking for other contributions. First Things First is a non-profit formed in 2009 to support resource development in Alaska.

Other companies joining the state’s case include Alaska Marine Lines, Southeast Stevedoring, Alaska Miners and Northwest Miners associations.

Clark, the interveners’ attorney, expects it will take 12 to 18 months before a decision comes from the federal court.

Two more candidates say they’ll run for Juneau Assembly.

Financial Investment Advisor Bradley Fluetsch says he’s running for the District One seat being vacated by Merrill Sanford. Realtor Carlton Smith plans to run for the Areawide seat held until recently by Bob Doll.

Fluetsch ran for mayor and lost to Bruce Botelho.  He says he’s been eyeing an Assembly race since then.

Fluetsch says his main concern is diversifying Juneau.  He calls the Capital City a one-horse town.

“We have one water system, we have one power company with one power line, we have one airline, we have one marine transportation system, we have no road option. We have one basic employer, government. You lose a horse, Juneau loses bad,”  Fluetsch says.  “You know, just working with the community trying to find that modest growth.  How are  we going to do it, where are we going to put the people, what are they going to do for work? Those are the issues the Assembly can address.”

Fleutsch says extending water and sewer throughout the borough, affordable housing, and job creation are all major issues.

Most of the candidates this year cite similar issues as reasons to run for the Assembly.

Carlton Smith says he’s filing his candidate application on Friday morning.  He says his record as a business owner as well as his long involvement with private, non-profit, and charitable organizations are good training for the Assembly.

He says the Assembly has a full plate of issues right now.

“For starters, the issue of the mine since we’re part owner of the AJ,” Smith says.  “The harbor improvements, water and sewer improvements are right there in front of us, coupled with the sales tax issue; the question of recycling, how we can get going on that.

“Probably most of all is how we can secure the employment levels we have right now.  And quite frankly we have to have a new focused effort on creating jobs,” Smith says.

He is a former chief executive officer of Kootznoowoo and a Sealaska officer.

Fluetsch is a former president of Juneau’s Alaska Native Brotherhood Grand Camp.

The municipal filing deadline is August 15.  Others running for Assembly are Jesse Kiehl, Loren Jones, Randy Wanamaker and Geny DelRosario.

So far, only Sally Saddler has filed to run for School Board.

Juneau’s cross-town rivals take to the football field Saturday (Aug. 13). The first game of the season pits the Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears and the Thunder Mountain Falcons against each other. The Falcons are just in their third year; the Bears’ football program is more than two decades old.

Though they play in different conferences, they’re starting the season in what Bears’ head coach Rich Sjoross says may be the most emotional game:

“There are so many story lines you could look at, with kids that are related to each other or have played with each other for years and now for the first time at the high school level they’re playing against each other. Coaching staff that used to work together is now split up at different schools,” Sjoross says. “And both teams are coming off a pretty successful year last year and have pretty high expectations this year, so I think that’s going to add some drama to it as well.”

Most of the Falcon’s coaching staff once coached the Crimson Bears. Some families have kids at both high schools. When Juneau’s second high school opened three years ago, the Falcons ended up in the small Southeast Conference with Sitka and Ketchikan, while Juneau stayed in the Railbelt conference with larger schools.

Saturday night’s game is a shake-down, says TMHS head coach Bill Byour. And he expects Bears to give the Falcons a real fight.

“My kids are going to come out and play hard too. But they’ve (Crimson Bears) worked together many more years. That program has been in place, it’s a quality program, so I expect the first meeting between the two schools is going to be a battle. It’s going to be a good game,” Byouer says.

The junior varsity teams kick off at 5 p.m. at Reilly Ritchie Memorial Field at Adair Kennedy Park. The varsity rivalry starts at 8 p.m.

Stories include the latest on the Arne Fuglvog fishery violation case and the newest candidates to jump into this fall’s CBJ Assembly races.

What makes dough rise? How do you preserve milk? Twenty-seven young chefs are learning the answers to those questions and more this week at a Juneau Economic Development Council summer camp designed to teach kids the science of cooking. Casey Kelly has more.

Its day three of the Kitchen Chemistry camp and students are making mozzarella cheese in the culinary classroom at Thunder Mountain High School. Working in groups of four or five, they start by warming a gallon of milk and just over a teaspoon of lime juice – a substitute for citric acid – in a large pot on the stove. But most of the kids are a little unsure about the next step.

“After I think we cook it, we just gotta wait awhile or bake it or something,” says Hunter Hill, a fifth grader at Gastineau Elementary School. He says he signed up for the camp because he really likes cooking at home – mostly desserts.

“I like making crepes for my family that I get from a library book. And yeah, other than that, I like making cookies, brownies and cake, stuff like that,” Hill says.

JEDC Education Specialist Bob Vieth says the purpose of the cheese making exercise is to teach kids one way to preserve milk. During the week they also learn how to preserve cucumbers by pickling them, about leavening agents by making pizza dough, and about sweeteners by making fudge.

“And along the way we’ve been trying to emphasize the science aspects and the chemistry aspects of the various cooking techniques that they’re using,” says Vieth.

Simon Smith learned what happens when you use baking soda instead of baking powder to make scones.

“The whole class tasted them and wasn’t so good,” Smith says.

Vieth admits there have been a fair number of failures. All the kids are going into either fourth or fifth grade, but he says some of them are pretty good chefs already, and they’re learning advanced science years before they would in school.

“They’re learning concepts and vocabulary terms here that they normally wouldn’t be exposed to until high school chemistry,” Vieth says. “So when they do get them in chemistry, they’ll say ‘Oh yeah, I remember that from the cooking class.'”

Sophia Harvey says there’s another benefit of going to a cooking summer camp.

“I like eating the stuff after,” Harvey says.

Kitchen Chemistry is the last of this year’s JEDC Summer Camps. Previous camps include building underwater gliders, rocketry, and LEGO robotics. All the camps are part of JEDC’s STEM education program, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. In Juneau, I’m Casey Kelly.

Alaska State Troopers are reporting a big break in a cold case of a child kidnapping and sexual assault.

Brooks E. Jackson of Wasilla has been linked to the crime, twenty years after it occurred.

The eight-year girl was abducted by a stranger from a bus stop near Wasilla in February, 1991. She was taken to a home and raped, then released a few hours later. After an investigation and a search, no suspect was ever identified.

Jackson was arrested and convicted in 2005 for a marijuana grow operation in his home. He was required to submit a DNA sample as part of his conviction. But Troopers say that Brooks committed suicide just before the sample could be analyzed.

The sample that Brooks provided was one of nearly ten million in the federal DNA database, but Troopers says it was a perfect match to a sample collected after the Wasilla abduction. After the DNA connection was made last September, Troopers say they began investigating Brooks, what he was doing in February in 1991 and what vehicles he was driving. Troopers say they were not able to locate the vehicle or home with a porch described by the girl during the abduction. But the DNA sample is an explicit tie to the case and they consider it closed.

There is no statute of limitations for such a crime in Alaska. But with the main suspect dead, Troopers say there will be no prosecution or conviction.

The girl is now 28-years old. The woman and her family were informed of the break in the case last week. She was not specifically named in an announcement on Tuesday and Troopers, Palmer District Attorney’s office, and the Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory are asking everyone to respect her privacy.