Unalaska, AK – The Environmental Protection Agency has granted Shell Oil the air permit it needs to start drilling in the Chukchi Sea. The permit covers emissions from the drilling rig Frontier Discoverer and all of its support vessels. Janis Hastings, deputy director of the EPA's office of Air, Waste, and Toxics, says the permit put strict limits on Shell's operations.

"We do a conservative analysis assuming that they are emitting at what would be the maximum amount allowed, and then we do air quality model that looks at what you would expect to see in terms of concentrations at some distance away from the source. In the case of this operation, Shell's required to meet the air quality standard at the hull of the ship, so within a very short distance."

Unalaska, AK – A crewman on the F/T Ocean Peace severed a majority of his hand while cleaning machinery and had to be medevac'ed by the Coast Guard during a blizzard near Adak.

Twenty-five year old Joemar Lontoc was cleaning a fish processing machine on Tuesday evening when it inadvertently turned on and severed 75 percent of his left hand near the wrist. The ship was about 225 miles northwest of Adak at the time of the incident. The Coast Guard immediately launched three aircraft from St. Paul and Kodiak, but the blizzard conditions made it impossible to hoist the man that night. Instead, the 200-foot trawler sailed closer to Adak while a Coast Guard flight surgeon communicated with the crew to help stabilize the patient. At day break Wednesday morning, when the ship was about 100 miles from land, a helicopter crew that had waited out the storm in Adak was able to successfully hoist Lontoc off the ship. He was immediately taken to the health clinic in Adak then medevac'ed by life flight to Anchorage.

Unalaska, AK – The city council will host a special meeting focusing on the design, amenities, and funding of the Carl E. Moses Boat Harbor this Saturday starting at 10 am.
In early March the council voted to fund only the base bid for the new boat harbor and did not include funding for the drive down dock or the expansion of the C float, which would make room for larger boats. The additions would tack $4.6 million on to the $39 million price tag. The council will reconsider this decision during their Saturday meeting and vote again whether or not to fund the options, many of which have received community support.
They will also discuss different ways to fund the project, including bonding. Bonding would probably require an increase in property taxes. Other options include reallocating money from other parts of the budget and pulling money from the general fund. The council will also learn more about the ports enterprise fund.
The meeting will take place at 10 am on Saturday morning in the Council Chambers at City Hall.

Unalaska, AK – The legal battle over the processing plant in Adak continues. Last month the federal court ruled that Aleut Enterprise could not quickly evict Adak Seafoods from the plant on Adak Island. Aleut Enterprise president Rudy Tsakada said they need to go through a lengthy court process.

"The action that was taken last month was strictly an expedited, force-entry detainer, an eviction process that was sped up in an expedited format. And what the judge basically ruled was that there was enough complexities in the case that rather than doing a expedited hearing that there probably should be more discovery, more discussion, depositions, things along those lines, prior to a ruling being made."

Unalaska, AK – A group of city representatives recently returned from a lobbying trip to Juneau. The entire trip cost the city about $30,000, which includes airfare and hotels for three council members, the mayor and the city manager and the cost of the seafood reception. The city spent about $16,800 on reception for state government representatives to teach them about our community. The price estimate, provided by city staff, includes the cost of buying and transporting the crab legs, paying entertainment, and providing giveaways.

Unalaska, AK – In this episode of "Outdoors Unalaska," Ms. Beatty's award-winning high school ESL class spoke with a group of local divers about going underwater in the Bering Sea.

Unalaska, AK – Russian language students from the high school recently traveled to Anchorage for the Russian Language State Competition. Bianca Barrera won the gold medal for the level one competition and had the highest score out of everyone. PJ Sherebernikoff won the bronze for the level three through five section, and Aaron Sours received an honorable mention. They challenged 167 students from around the state.

Unalaska, AK – The National Marine Fisheries Service is accepting public comments on the new rules regarding Chinook salmon bycatch by the Bering Sea pollock fishery. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council approved the regulation during their April meeting last year. The new regulation limits bycatch to 60,000 salmon but includes incentives to keep the bycatch rate under 47,591. The public can comment until May 7, 2010.

Unalaska, AK – Funding for twice monthly ferry runs passed the State House of Representatives Monday morning. House Bill 326 provides funding for the Alaska Marine Highway System to bring the ferry out the Aleutian chain and to Unalaska twice a month from May 2010 until October 2010 and twice again in May and June of 2011. The state legislature cannot make funding decisions for fiscal year 2012, which starts July 1, 2011. That means they cannot guarantee two runs per month for the entire summer of 2011. The bill appropriates another $650,000 for the extra runs in May and June and $3.6 million for the extra runs the other six months. The supplemental budget bill passed unanimously 40 to 0 and will now go to the Senate.