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One of the required community
meetings on the ballot measure to re-establish an Alaska Coastal Management
Program will be held this evening in Kodiak. The meetings, being held around the
state, will have speakers give pro and con arguments for the citizen-led
initiative, and a time for testimony.
Alaska is the only coastal state in
the nation without a coastal management plan. Coastal programs were established
to guarantee state and local participation in federal decisions on coastal
issues, including resource development such as logging, mining and oil drilling.
The citizen's initiative, which will
appear on the August 28th primary election ballot, was put forth by
the Alaska Sea Party, started by Kodiak Mayor Jerome Selby, Juneau Mayor Bruce
Bothello and former Homer Mayor Mako Haggarty. The citizen's initiative was a
fall-back plan in case the legislature again failed to resurrect the coastal
management program.
Opposition to coastal management
comes from pro-development organizations and their supporters, such as the Alaska
Oil and Gas Association, Alaska Miners Association and the Resource Development
Council for Alaska.
Unsurprisingly,
the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce is also against the initiative, and has
sent out "action alerts" to its members to testify against the measure when the
meetings come to their towns. Yesterday afternoon, the Kodiak Chamber of
Commerce had to back-peddle after inadvertently forwarding to its members the
entire Alaska Chamber message, including a link to pre-written talking points
against the measure.
Less than
two hours after the first message, a second e-mail was sent, apologizing for
including the State Chamber's position, and stating the Kodiak Chamber of
Commerce has not taken a position on the ballot measure.
Find both sides of the issue and the ballot measure language here.
The meeting
will be in the Kodiak High School commons from 4 to 7 p.m.
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