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Date Posted: 16:01:47 11/04/06 Sat
Author: Don Johnson
Subject: Pollution Impaired River?

Just heard that the EPA is planning to try to shut down the Kenai River by 2011
if the State of Alaska doesn't list the Kenai as a "pollution impaired river".
The EPA appears to be attempting to force Alaska to come up with some kind of a "PLAN"
to fix the "PROBLEM", of petroleum products in the river, during July.

Why would the Department of Environmental Conservation tell the Kenai River Special Management Area
advisory board that it plans to list the Kenai River as "IMPAIRED" under the Clean Water Act?
The DEC claims this action is based on a violation of State standards for the protection of
Kenai River aquatic life.
DEC CLAIMS that 600 gallons of fuel, per day, enters the river in the month of July!
DEC CLAIMS the primary cause of this pollution is boats.
DEC also CLAIMS that a horsepower increases will not solve the fuel problem and that a
reduction in boats or use patterns WILL BE FORCED.

Classifying the Kenai River as "IMPAIRED", because of petroleum products, is a
statement on a serious lack of due watch dog diligence from the sportfish industry.
The commercial fishing industry has been searching for a way to stop common user anglers
from accessing our Kenai River fishery for 30 years. It looks like their latest attempts
are paying off as they jump onto the DEC bandwagon and attempt to force the State to
shut down the Kenai River by 2011, if we have not prevented current levels of
public access to the river.
The claims coming from the DEC and the commercial gill net industry, intend to either
force a shut-down of public access on the Kenai River, or they will do it for us.
Team "Gill netters / DEC" is claiming that the " problem" is resulting from Alaska's
inability to control the growth on the river and resultant impacts.
Does this sound slightly similar to the feds coming in and taking over fisheries
management of federal waters regarding subsistence?

The commercial fishing industry is fully aware that it is losing the fish allocation battle
on Kenai River fisheries. Gill netters know that as public access increases, they lose
their strangle hold on Kenai River salmon stocks. These commercial users have been
searching for 30 years for a way to prevent public access on the Kenai River.
Is it a coincidences that the EPA suddenly sticks its head out and defines the
Kenai River as "IMPAIRED", while the gill netters demand the same thing?
Is it a coincidences that many river bank owners, guide hater and other special
interest groups have been attempting to prevent public access to the Kenai River
through the generation of a tidal wave of regulations to "protect the river"?
These special interest groups maintain they want to "SAVE THE RIVER" by
shutting it down! They raise no funds to improve the habitat, they only beat the
drum of reduced public access while leaving their personal access undisturbed.

Petroleum products coming down the Kenai River were at a peak back in the
late1980's and early 1990's but the EPA is unaware of this because they were
not around watching.
Since then the entire river has naturally cleaned up its release of petroleum
products just because of the upgrades made within new outboard engine technology.
I have been watching what folks have been dumping or "dropping" into the
Kenai River since 1978. I have watched the blue smog float over the river during
the peak of Kenai River petroleum releases 20 years ago.
If there are 600 gallons of petroleum coming down the river per day now, we were
getting 6000 gallons per day back in the 80's and 90's; how did our current thriving
fisheries survive that?
The point is that the public has greatly cleaned up its release of petroleum products
into the Kenai. The point is that there has been a "factor of 10 times", clean up
happening naturally on the Kenai River for 20 years and the EPA suddenly now
raises its head and says its not enough? Where were they back in the 1980's?

My point is directly that it is a monstrous coincidences that the commercial fishing
industry has been attempting to shut-down public access on the Kenai for 30 years.
My point is that the true amount of petroleum running down the Kenai is irrelevant
when you comprehend that there is a nature & on going program already
in place to reduce petroleum into the Kenai River. Currently very few boat operator's
run old style two stroke engines on the Kenai. This engine fact alone has removed
the bulk of petroleum products from the river and the air.
We don't see the Kenai River blue smog anymore do we?
What agency force us to clean all that up?

It is a sad day for Alaska when the State partners up with commercial gill netters to prevent
the public from accessing its own commonly owned surplus fisheries. It doesn't matter
if the claim is that sportfish is bumping rods together, has a lack of toilets or is trampling
the grass on the river bank, it is all coming from the same source, that source is the
THE COMMERCIAL FISHING INDUSTRY.
Basically any public activity on the Kenai River is fair game for the commercial
fishing industry. The specific activity is not relevant, what is relevant is that all
public access to the river is a direct threat to commercial fishing industry.
According to the gill netters, every form of public access is a threat to them, even the
Kenai River Classic as it donates millions of dollars for Kenai River habitat issues.
So as these special interest groups take shot after shot at any form of public access,
under the habitat banner, they also attempt to stop folks grom trying to generate funds
to improve the habitat. This hypocritical commercial prospective alone displays
a basic lack of truth behind their river habitat issues.

If you have been watching the Kenai River for the last few decades you instantly
see that the "petroleum issue", is just the latest wild idea coming from the
commercial fishing industry. If a petroleum claim doesn't shut down sportfish
access today, they will come out with a detergent, sewage or just plain
trash claim tomorrow. I have been watching these guy operate for since 1978
and they just bounce from complaint to complaint. The only thing which has
changed is the way they camouflage that they are behind the complaint.
They used to just openly generate complaints, now they stir up the issue
and pretend that they had nothing to do with it after an agency like the
EPA latches onto it.
Their goal is public access removal from Kenai River fisheries, every sportfish
person out their needs to fully understand this. They are relentless and will not
stop until they have filed a complaint with every person & agency out there
which may help them achieve that goal.

Don Johnson
Soldotna, Alaska
ccpwow@gci.net

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