Prudhoe, PFAS, & Public Health

March 7, 2020

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

I hope you had a good first Friday! Things have been busy in the legislature, so let's just say 'brevity' isn't the word of the day for this newsletter. BUT, there was no reading assignment last week, so I don't feel too bad about dishing up a little extra on some super important ideas.

At the last floor session in February, I remembered Rosalee Walker, the first African American assemblymember in Juneau. She was a passionate educator, a civil rights activist, and a force in our community. Check out the video above!

Ready to Respond

The COVID-19 virus is on a lot of minds. Legislators got a briefing Wednesday from Alaska's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Anne Zink. You can watch it here. As I write this, there are no cases confirmed in Alaska, but experts are pretty sure it will arrive in our state. Since it's probably a question of 'when,' not 'if,' take a minute to think about it now. If we do it right, we'll look back on this and wonder why we were all so worried.

The first thing is to make sure you have this season's flu shot. Doubling up on viruses would be bad, but more importantly: the more people who get protected from the flu, the more medical resources we have to put into this new thing. If you haven't gotten a flu vaccine since fall, it's time.

The next thing isn't new, but maybe do a little extra: wash your hands thoroughly. That means scrubbing for 20 seconds or more. Don't miss your thumbs.

Beyond that, if you have a fever along with cough or shortness of breath, stay home. Call ahead before you go to your doctor or (if it's really bad) visit the emergency room. If you're medically at risk, or you take care of someone who is, check out some more basic advice from the Centers for Disease Control. (If it matches what that one fried posted on Facebook, great. If not, go with the scientists.)

It’s good to take this seriously, but we don’t need to panic. KTOO hosted a panel yesterday with local and state experts to discuss the facts and what it could mean for Juneau. Watch it here.

Thanks to Mayor Hill and everyone from Haines who signed the banner! We've got the Tazlina back on the run, but there's a LONG way to go.

Hearing Hilcorp

The Resources committees met last Wednesday on Hilcorp's plan to buy out BP in Alaska. That includes around a quarter of Prudhoe Bay and around half of the pipeline. Questions ranged from the environment to tax implications to a big office building in Anchorage.

I had questions about the responsibility to dismantle, remove, and restore ("DR&R.") At some point, an oil well peters out. Then it needs to be plugged and gravel pads have to be cleaned up. Some day the pipeline itself will need dismantling. That's all going to cost a LOT of money. Oil companies in Alaska all promise to take care of DR&R, but the state needs to ensure they're going to be good for it decades down the road when they run out of Alaska cash flow.

That's a trick, because the state doesn't make them set aside the money for DR&R in an account. Companies carry bonds for a certain bare minimum, like plugging the actual holes in the ground. For most everything else the state has long said 'we can see you're good for it based on the financial statements your company shows the stock market.' Hilcorp, on the other hand, is privately held. They don't show their financials. So it's critical for the Department of Natural Resources to take extra caution to guarantee Alaskans don't get left holding the bag decades from now.

And there's another twist when it comes to the pipeline. The oil companies that own it have included the future cost of DR&R in the tariff they charge themselves to move oil from the Slope to Valdez. (Remember, pipeline costs are taken off the top before they calculate their taxes.) That money isn't sitting in an account either. So BP is—quite appropriately—committing to its share of the pipeline cleanup some day in the future, even though it won't own any of the pipeline after the sale.

Corporations this size have multiple different corporate "entities" (subsidiaries, shell companies, spin-offs, etc.) There's nothing wrong with that. Alaska just needs to make sure there's no way for the "entity" we're ultimately holding liable to go defunct 30 or 40 years from now and stick the state with the tab.

The Dunleavy administration committed to getting us a lot more details on how they plan to protect Alaskans in the future. I'm eager to hear it.

Rep. Hannan and I spoke with Southeast Alaska representatives of AARP about key issues affecting our elders.

PFAS Pollution

We had a hearing Friday on my bill dealing with per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances. I know that's a mouthful to say, but it's an even worse mouthful in your actual mouth. Collectively known as PFAS, these things are poisoning drinking water wells across our state. SB 176 makes sure everyone has clean drinking water and provides blood testing for people who've already been exposed.

A lot of the PFAS contamination comes from firefighting foam that's really good at putting out oil fires. We need to stop spraying it on anything else—especially for practice. But we also need to make sure we're protecting Alaskans' safety. That's why the bill includes a multi-step phaseout so people dealing with very large hydrocarbon fires (think refineries or tanker terminals) can keep their PFAS-containing foam until there's a safe, effective alternative to put out the really big fires.

We had a great discussion in Senate Resources Friday. I'm deeply grateful for all the people who came to testify and called in to talk about how PFAS is affecting communities around the state. Committee members asked a lot of great questions, and both DOT (which was federally required to spray a lot of this stuff at airports) and DEC added important insights.

There's more next week! Rep. Sara Hannan is carrying the companion bill. It gets heard on both Monday and Friday in the House Resources Committee. There will also be a showing Monday night of the film "Dark Waters." It's about PFAS contamination nationwide and the lawyer who got the word out. It's hosted by the guy who inspired the film, Rob Bilott. (Mark Ruffalo plays him in the movie. Mark Ruffalo! I'd hit the jackpot if David Paymer played me...) Come see the film, meet Rob, and support the legislation!

See You Soon

Finally, I'm holding a Juneau town hall on Thursday jointly with Reps. Hannan and Story. Hope to see you there! I promise I won't be as long winded as I was in this newsletter.

All my best,

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Events around District Q

Juneau 2020 Traditional Games

Featuring Alaska’s “Eskimo Ninja” and athletes from all over Alaska and Canada – join in the fun this weekend! See more here.

Juneau Job and Career Expo

Looking for a job during summer or throughout the year? Never fear, Juneau Job Fair is here! See more on this March 11 event.

Juneau STEAM – Curiosity Unleashed Symposium

THINK. SEE. WONDER – Join Parents, Teachers, and Early Educators in some STEM learning on March 13. Here are details.

Juneau 30^th Anniversary

Discovery Southeast Award

Banquet & Auction

Celebrate 30 years of Discovery Southeast’s hands-on learning in nature on March 14! See more here.

Juneau Marie Drake

Planetarium’s “Where We Are”

A brief what’s up on Juneau’s current astronomical happenings – open to all ages. See the info on the March 17 show here.

Juneau Pamyua Live

Join UAS and Sealaska for Inuit soul music, tribal funk. See Pamyua live at UAS on March 20! Here’s all the information.

Haines Chilkat Valley Mining Forum

Listen, learn, discuss – join the Chilkat Valley mining committee on project updates on March 7 & 8. See more here.

Haines Business Reception &

Alaska Natives Without Land

An event to connect business leaders with Haines Landless Natives. Here’s all the info on this March 18 event.

Haines Tackling the Climate Crisis: From Knowledge to Action

Join Dr. Zach Brown for a journey into the climate crisis and how we can tackle it on March 20! Here’s all the information.

Skagway Women’s Gold Medal Basketball Team: Burger Feed

Support the Skagway Gold Medal Basketball Team on March 6 – team work makes the dream work! (And gets the team to the tournament, too.) See the details.

Skagway Buckwheat

International Ski Classic

A wintertime ‘must do’ in our corner of the world! Get out there this weekend. Here are details.