Many of you know I have spent a lot of time on protecting Alaska’s great fishing stocks. And a lot of time fishing. The desire to protect Alaska’s fish is something that binds most Alaskans across party lines.
Unfortunately there is a worrisome bill running through the Legislature. Here’s what I can tell you about it. I hope you might share your opinion with the Senate, where this bill will be voted upon soon.
This week a major piece of legislation that will have widespread impacts on the state of Alaska passed quickly through the House of Representatives without much public input. HB80 and SB29 were introduced by Governor Parnell to roll back the citizens’ 2006 initiative. The public initiative held the cruise ship industry accountable for the ship discharge in Alaska waters by setting standards for discharge. The industry had from 2006 to 2015 to implement the upgrades to the ships to meet the outflow standard goals.
