Additional Info SEC, May, 2012

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AlaskaACT

Highlights

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Staff

Shelly Wright -
Executive Director

Elaine Price -
Work Force Development

Arielle Parker -
Administrator

Cheri Lancaster -
CFO

Robert Venables -
Energy Coordinator

Board of Directors

Gordy Wrobel -
President

Tim Rooney -
1st Vice President

Lori Blood -
2nd Vice President

Merrill Sanford -
Treasurer

Patricia Phillips -
Secretary

Janice Hill -
Past President

Leo Luczak
Jim Dinley
Tory Korn
Charles Edwardson
Richard Peterson
Bryce Dahlstrom
Mike Bell

Committees

Economic Development-

Patty Phillips

Energy -

Merrill Sanford

Fisheries -

Jan Hill

Health, Education & Social Services -

Charles Edwardson

Gordy Wrobel

Mining -

Mike Bell

Richard Peterson

Timber -

Bryce Dahlstrom

Transportation -

Tim Rooney

Tourism -

Tory Korn

Honorary Lifetime Members

Bill Allen

Tom Briggs

Herb Pond

Carol Rushmore

David Stone

Robert W. Ward Jr.

Bill Williams

Membership for FY2012

ACE Coalition

AIDEA / AEA

AK DCCED / DCRA

AK DoTPF, AMHS

AK State Governor & Legislature

Alaska Airlines

Alaska Committee

Alaska Communications

Alaska Cruise Association

Alaska Electric Light & Power Company

Alaska Forest Association

Alaska Glacier Seafoods

Alaska Litho

Alaska Marine Lines

Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Office

Alaska Municipal League

Alaska Permanent Capital Management

Alaska Power & Telephone Company

Alaska Power Association

Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary/Alaska Canopy Adventures

Alaska Resource Development Council

Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program

Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute

Alaska Ship & Drydock

Alaska State Chamber of Commerce

Alaskans for Alaska - Elfin Cove

Allen Marine Tours, Inc.

Allen, Bill

Ballard & Associates

Bartlett Regional Hospital

BBC Human Resources Development Corp

Best Western Landing Plus, The

Bramstedt, Susan

Briggs, Tom

Cape Fox Corporation

Carson Dorn Inc.

Catholic Community Services

Central Council Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska

Chatham Electric

Chelan Produce Company

Chilkat Indian Village

Chilkoot Indian Association

Citizens Pro Road

City & Borough of Juneau

City & Borough of Sitka

City & Borough of Wrangell

City & Borough of Yakutat

City of Angoon

City of Coffman Cove

City of Craig

City of Hoonah

City of Hydaburg

City of Kake

City of Kasaan

City of Klawock

City of Pelican

City of Petersburg

City of Prince Rupert

City of Saxman

City of Tenakee Springs

City of Thorne Bay

City of Whitehorse

Coastal Helicopters

Coeur Alaska Kennsington Gold Mine

Commonwealth Associates

Community of Elfin Cove Non-Profit Corp.

Cordova Electric Cooperative

Cove Lodge

Craig Community Association

D. Hittle & Associates, Inc.

Denali Commission

District of Port Edward

Edna Bay Community

Electric Power Systems

Elgee Rehfeld Mertz LLC

Elliott Bay Design Group

First Bank

First National Bank of Alaska

First Things First Foundation

Gold Creek Properties

Greater Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce

Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce

Greens Creek Mining Co - Hecla

Grow Ketchikan

Gustavus Electric Company

Haida Corporation

Haines Borough

Haines Chamber of Commerce

Hames Corporation

Hammer & Wikan, Inc.

Hansen Gress

Heatherdale Resources

Holland America Line

Hyak Mining Co Inc.

Hydaburg Cooperative Association

Hyder Community Association

Inside Passage Electric Cooperative

Inter-Island Ferry Authority

Int'l Union of Operating Engineers Local 302

Juneau Chamber of Commerce

Juneau Convention & Visitors Bureau

Juneau Economic Development Council

Ketchikan Gateway Borough

Ketchikan Indian Community

Ketchikan Visitors Bureau

Kootznoowoo

MacKay, Bill

Madison Lumber & Hardware

McDowell Group

Metlakatla Indian Community

Metlakatla Power & Light

Municipality of Skagway

Nalder, Nan

Nature Conservancy, The

Naukati Bay, Inc.

Northland Services, Inc.

Ocean Beauty Seafoods, LLC

OceansAlaska

Organized Village of Kake

Organized Village of Kasaan

Pacific Fishing, Inc.

Pacific Seafood Processors Association

PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center

Petersburg Chamber of Commerce

Petersburg Economic Development Council

Petersburg Indian Association

PND Engineers, Inc.

Polarconsult Alaska, Inc.

Pond, Herb

Port of Bellingham

Power Systems & Supplies of Alaska

Prince of Wales Chamber of Commerce

Princess Tours

Red Onion Saloon, Inc.

Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine

Roanan Corporation

Rolfe, Philip

Rushmore, Carol

Sandor, John A.

Seafood Producers Cooperative

Sealaska Corp.

Service Auto Parts

Sgt. Preston's Lodge

Shattuck & Grummett

Shee Atika, Inc.

Sheinberg Associates

Sitka Convention & Visitors Bureau

Sitka Economic Development Association

Sitka Tribe of Alaska

Skagway Chamber of Commerce

Skagway Development Corporation

Skagway Traditional Council

Southeast Alaska Fishermen's Alliance

Southeast Alaska Guides Organization

Southeast Alaska Power Agency

Southeast Alaska Reg Dive Fisheries Association

Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium

Southeast Alaska Solid Waste Authority

Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition

Southeast Conference

Southeast Stevedoring

Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association

Stone, David

Thomas Bay Power Authority

Thomas E. Schultz, Attorney at Law

Thompson Management Services, Inc.

Tides Inn

True North Federal Credit Union

TSS, Inc.

University of Alaska, Southeast

US Congress

US EPA

US Forest Service

Viking Lumber

Ward, Jr., Robert

Watson, Dennis

Waypoint Inn at Herring Bay

Williams, Bill

Wostmann & Associates, Inc.

Wrangell Cooperative Association

Yak-Tat Kwaan, Inc.

Southeast Conference News June 2012

Dear Southeast Conference

Newsletter Readers,

We are passing on this information to you because we thought you might be interested in reading this important article to stay informed about the issues. You may pass this along or forward this email to your friends and family.

From Steve Hites, Skagway Street Car Company

Two years ago, we formed AlaskaACT and quickly built a membership of over 800 individuals and businesses. Together as one voice, we made changes to legislation that kept our visitor industry vibrant. Now it's time to call upon our member partners again to come together and fight another fight - an even bigger fight that again threatens our livelihood, our families, and our companies. I think as citizens we always hope that we never are forced to rally together to fight for something. We keep thinking that calmer heads will prevail, that our elected leaders will do the right thing, or that the Government agencies that "we the people" have created will actually work for us, and not against us.

The time has come to stand up again, just as we did when we all stood up together and spoke with one strong voice about the need to lower the Cruise Ship Passenger Head Tax. We are extremely grateful to Governor Sean Parnell and to the Legislature for making this tax reduction, but it was in no small part thanks to the hard work of all of the members of AlaskaACT across the state that this was accomplished.

The danger looming like the iceberg in front of the Titanic is the "Emission Control Area" (ECA) regulation being imposed on the coastal waters of the United States by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) starting on August 1st, 2012. Read on.

Emission Control Area leads to economic hardships for Alaskans
The Environmental Protection Agency's new "Emission Control Area" (ECA) rule will go into effect around the entire coastline of the U.S. and Canada on August 1, 2012, encompassing a 200 mile limit off shore. The new North American ECA requires low-sulfur fuel to be used by all ships; the allowable sulfur standard drops even lower in 2015.

None of the regulations are backed up by any proven or documented scientific studies, and no economic studies of the effects of the ECA on communities within the ECA have been undertaken.

All of Alaska will fall into the ECA except the far Western Aleutians, which have been specifically exempted due to international trade routes used by container ships that burn bunker fuel. The entire state of Hawaii will also fall into the 200 mile limit, yet the Great Lakes area has been exempted.

Very few Alaskans even know that this is happening. The EPA got the North American ECA approved into regulation through the International Maritime Organization, not through Congress where it would have been publicly debated. It is a questionable interpretation and application of the Clean Air Act.

The regulations will affect all ocean shipping, and they will hit both cruise ships and cargo ships. But because the much higher fuel costs will be passed on to the consumer, the real effect - economically - will be felt by the American people.

No economic studies have been done about how the ECA will impact any aspect of the American economy.

But more troubling, the ECA specifically targets one group of Americans -those of us who do not live in the contiguous United States - and it imposes unreasonable economic burdens upon us. Alaska, Hawaii, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico will all be directly and disproportionally affected, with discriminatory economic hardships put on every man, woman, and child in these non-contiguous places.

Summary of problems with EPA Emission Control Area:

No comprehensive analysis or air quality modeling was conducted in Alaska.

ECA boundary arbitrarily designates only a portion of Alaska: the Western Aleutians are exempted to allow for international freighter traffic across the Pacific, even though this flies in the face of the EPA's supposed 100% "human health" mandate for the blanket imposition of the ECA along the entire Western and Eastern U.S. coastline to begin with. The EPA's "zero tolerance" for sulfur emissions is therefore tolerable when they decide it is expedient for tolerance.

No economic impact analysis was conducted for Alaska. Analysis used greatly underestimated the increased costs of goods as well as impact on employment.

Availability of distillate fuels is unknown.

Alaska is only asking for the same analysis that was conducted in other areas of the country.

Why is the Great Lakes area exempted? Former Rep. Jim Oberstar, the powerful Congressman from Minnesota on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, knew that the ECA would directly affect jobs on and around the Great Lakes. Again, this points to the hypocrisy of the EPA's supposed 100% "human health" mandate justifying the blanket imposition of the ECA along both U.S. coastlines. It follows that the EPA's "zero tolerance" for sulfur emissions - to "protect human health" - is tolerable when theydecide it is politically expedient to allow for tolerance.

The quality of analysis by the EPA has been questioned by both the State of Alaska and the State of Hawaii. They have challenged the rationale for including these states in the emission control area on the basis of arbitrary drawing of the 200 mile limit and incomplete analysis of the benefits and economic costs of ECA in those states. If the Great Lakes area was exempted for economic reasons, the same economic analysis must be done for Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and any other non-contiguous U.S. possessions. The economic health of these American communities and American citizens demands that this be done.

This is going to require the involvement of every Alaskan. A Federal Government agency - the EPA - is running amok here, and our livelihoods are being threatened. This is not about whether Alaskans want "clean air". We all want clean air for ourselves and our children. Alaskans are the most environmentally-minded people in the nation. But if you believe in keeping The Regulators honest about their rules and how they directly affect our economy, we all have to stand up on this one.

AlaskaACT will be working with various State and Local organizations to ask for their assistance in overturning this outrageous and arbitrary decision by EPA. And we can't do it without you: we will be asking for your help to change these regulations. In the meantime, read up on this situation yourselves. Talk with your friends and neighbors. Call your elected representatives. Ask questions. Demand answers.

Thank you for your continued support.

Steve Hites

------

For more information about this important issue, contact:

AlaskaACT

121 W. Fireweed Lane,

Suite 250 Anchorage,

AK 99503

Phone: (907) 644-9995

info@alaskaact.com

http://www.alaskaact.com/

Highlights

June Events:

June 14 - Flag Day

June 17 - Father's Day

June 21 - Summer Solstice / First Day of Summer

July Events:

July 4 - Independence Day

Up Coming

September - Southeast Conference Annual Membership Meeting,

Craig, Prince of Wales Island [Book your own travel and lodging now!]

Planning Lemonade Day Alaska for next year!

If you would like to submit an article or event announcement for the Southeast Conference E-News, please send your request to arielle@seconference.org.

Sincerely,

Arielle Parker

Administrator

Southeast Conference

phone: (907) 523-4353 ..
arielle@seconference.org
info@seconference.org
http://seconference.org

The mission of Southeast Conference is to undertake and support activities that promote strong economies, healthy communities, and a quality environment in Southeast Alaska.

SEC is the State-designated Alaska Regional Development Organization (ARDOR), the federally-designated Economic Development District (EDD), and the federally-designated Resource Conservation & Development Council (RC&D) for Southeast Alaska. Each of these things requires Southeast Conference take an active role in regional resource management and economic development planning.
ardor