Stevens visits Valley

Senator speaks to chambers

Decembe 29, 2006

By Russell Stigall/Frontiersman

PALMER - Chambers of commerce of both Palmer and greater Wasilla combined forces to pack the house for keynote speaker Sen. Ted Stevens.

Valley dignitaries and chamber members met in Palmer's Moose Lodge at noon on Wednesday. In attendance were Mayor John Combs of Palmer, Mayor Dianne M. Keller of Wasilla, Mat-Su Borough Mayor Curt Menard, state Sen. Lyda Green, state Rep. Carl Gatto, Marty Metiva, Wasilla City Council member, Mat-Su Borough Assembly members Cindy Bettine, Michelle Church, Mary Kvalheim and Robert Wells, and Mat-Su Borough School Board member Jim Colver.

However, the dignitary all others had come to hear was Sen. Ted Stevens.

The Senate president pro tempore's time behind the podium was a mix of personal stories from his 38 years in Congress and updates on current congressional issues - the Port Security Improvement Act, Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Act, Pipes Act, congressional earmarks and Alaska's natural resources.

He opened with a few words about late president Gerald Ford.

Ford, Stevens said, came to Alaska in the mid 1970s to inspect the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. While here, Ford crashed Sen. Stevens' birthday party. The president jokingly expressed his concern about a problem Stevens' had developed. At the time Stevens was jet-lagged flying home from Washington, D.C., almost every weekend. Stevens quoted Ford: &#8220Ted Stevens is hungry at midnight and sexy at noon.”

The 109th Congress was productive for Alaska, Stevens said. Congress passed dozens of bills that originated in the Commerce Committee, which he co-chairs with Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, R-Hawaii. Thirteen passed in the final two days. Stevens and Inouye worked together to pass the Port Security Improvement Act, Stevens said. The act is designed to improve the maritime transportation and security system and communication with Homeland Security.

Stevens expressed the importance of the bill to Alaskans.

The Port of Anchorage handles 90 percent of Anchorage and Railbelt goods, Stevens said. Alaska ships hundreds of millions of barrels of oil out of Valdez. Nearly a million cruise-ship passengers visit Alaska each year.

&#8220An attack on one of our ports would devastate our economies and our abilities to receive basic goods,” Stevens said. The act would help protect Alaska's ports from such an attack.

The final days of the 109th Congress saw the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The act has protected Alaska's fisheries for the last 30 years, Stevens said. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council is a model for success.

There are no overfished stocks or endangered species of fish under the council's control. Currently, Stevens said, Congress is trying to control International Unregulated Utilization - the unregulated fishing 200 miles offshore.

New regulation for oil producers came out of the 109th Congress as well.

The Pipes Act resulted from a listening session, Stevens said, held after 16 miles of corroded British Petroleum pipeline spilled hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil at Prudhoe Bay in March. The act reauthorizes the Pipeline Safety Program through 2010. Low-stress pipeline safety and industry accountability are covered in the act.

&#8220Senior officials for every pipeline company must sign off on the annual report of compliance Š with the safety laws of our county regarding pipelines,” Stevens said. At the same time, Congress confirmed retired Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thomas Barrett as the new pipeline and hazardous materials safety administrator.

Stevens admitted that changes were inevitable regarding congressional earmarks, in light of the recent national controversy over Alaska's so-called &#8220bridges to nowhere.”

&#8220It's a new era of federal budgeting control. Our increasing national debt and cost of war is obviously putting a strain on federal spending, and there are great concerns about the impact of spending on future economic growth,” Stevens said.

However, there is no way to avoid Congress finding ways to address people's suggestions for federal funding. As an example, Stevens used the Denali Commission - created to ensure water and sewer service to rural Alaska communities. The commission started as an earmark, but is now a line item in the president's budget.

Stevens expressed pride in Alaska's natural resources, primarily its potential oil and gas resources on Alaska's outer continental shelf, the gas hydrates frozen under its permafrost, and the oil and gas buried under the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

&#8220I do believe ANWR will eventually be authorized,” Stevens said.

He also mentioned Alaska's vast reserves of coal and its reserves of ocean current, tidal, wind, hydro and geothermal power. One thing stands in the way of developing these energy sources, Stevens said - capital investment. Investors need confidence. Stevens believes the production of the gas pipeline will create this confidence and a climate of investment.

Stevens said he plans to work with Gov. Sarah Palin to reach a deal for a pipeline.

Contact Russell Stigall at

352-2267 or russell.stigall@ frontiersman.com.