Daily Sitka Sentinel from Sitka, Alaska • Page 3

Clark Faces Full Plate of Issues Before Leaving Interior Post ByGUYDARST Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) Before leaving the Interior Department, William P. Clark must take up unfinished business ranging from water poisoning in a California wildlife refuge to offshore oil and gas leases. The outgoing interior secretary will- also leave his successor major personnel decisions and an old headache over the leasing of coal mining rights on federal lands. And before Clark leaves for his California ranch in March, he must also wrestle with a controversial irrigation project in North Dakota. The issues show the range of con- cerns of America's curator of parks, guardian of wildlife, irrigator of western deserts, biggest landlord and custodian of potentially huge energy reserves.

The department currently has vacancies for three assistant secretaries, and the head of the National Park Service is impatient to retire. Clark will not choose the new assistant secretaries for land and water resources, parks and fish, and wildlife and Indian affairs, spokesman Rusty Brashear said Wednesday. He may recommend names to his successor, though, Bradshear said. Clark already has interviewed Alaskans Give Clark Praise and Criticism WASHINGTON AP) Government officials and conservationists concerned about Alaska issues have mixed reviews of the job done by resigning Interior Secretary William Clark. "I think the state's gotten along pretty well -with him," said John Katz, head of Gov.

Bill Sheffield's Washington office. "He's a statesmanlike, gentlemanly person to deal with," Katz said Wednesday, as reported by the Fairbanks News-Miner's Washington bureau. his 13 months on the job, Clark has accommodated Alaska on issues from off-shore mineral leasing to land conveyances, but he has also butted heads with the state on these and other matters. Clark, 53, told President Reagan on Tuesday that he will resign to return to his California ranch. His departure, expected in spring, will end a tenure started in October 1983 when Clark replaced resigning Interior Secretary James Watt.

Alaska's state and congressional officials generally praised Clark, though he has played a comparatively minor role on Alaska issues. He visited the state only once as secretary, when Reagan met Pope John Paul II in Fairbanks last May. "He has done a good job and kept a steady keel on Alaska," said Sen, Ted Stevens, who pointed to Clark's lead role within the Reagan administration to -give coastal states a sjiare of federal lawsuit by two conservationist groups who fear the policy will result in the deterioration of national wetlands areas in Alaska. Most recently, Clark has encountered criticism from Alaska and six other coastal states over his apparent refusal to compromise on snaring certain federal offshore leasing revenues with the states. The Interior Department has also delayed resolution of some disputes.

Interior officials have reviewed for more than a year proposed access regulations across public lands in Alaska such as national parks and wildlife refuges. The department also has failed to act on a controversial tribal constitution for the Native village of Eagle. Alaska officials said they hoped the new secretary will be a westerner with the same public lands views of Clark and Watt. Katz said that almost as important to Alaska is the selection of three new assistant secretaries. Those positions, over Land and Water Resources, Indian Affairs, and Fish and Wildlife and Parks are currently or soon will be vacant: It's uncertain whether Clark or his successor will name replacements to those posts.

potential successors to Park Service chief Russ Dickenson, and could make that decision. Speculation on a successor to Clark focused on former Rep. Dan Marriott, R-Utah, and Reps. Manuel Lujan, R- N.M., and Richard Cheney, R-Wyo. Also mentioned were Sen.

Paul Laxalt, Energy Secretary Donald Hodel, a former undersecretary at Interior, and Anne Dore McClaughlin, the current undersecretary. The 53-year-old Clark was named secretary in October 1983 after almost two years as national security adviser. True to form as President Reagan's longtime troubleshooter, he depressurized potential election-year controversies that erupted under predecessor James Watt. In some cases, this meant postponing decisions. Instead of deciding whether to lease coal mining rights on federal lands in the West, Clark ordered new environmental impact statements.

They are due in July. Possibly the most pressing problem before the department involves the Kesterson Wildlife Refugee in California, where state authorities last week ordered the government to stop dumping poisoned irrigation from San Joaquin Valley Anterior officials are seeking a three- week postponement of the Tuesday deadline for their reply to the state order. The water, loaded with selenium from agricultural soil, has caused stillbirths and birth defects among ducks. No human casualties have been reported. Clark says treating the water or carrying it to San Francisco Bay could cost $5 billion.

Before March, the department must publish another five-year plan for leasing rights for oil and gas drilling in federal waters offshore. Clark played a key role in persuading Congress to try something new to settle an old controversy over diversion of Missouri River water to central and eastern North Dakota. Last month, a special commission set up by Congress recommended a sizeable curtailment of the scope of the project. Clark must decide what to recommend to Congress and whether to release $54 million that it embargoed while the commission deliberated. Labor Unions Facing "Secretary Clark has -continued, this administration's good-neighbor policy and has been responsive in working toward solutions to the challenges faced in land mangement policy in Alaska," said Rep.

Young. But Wilderness Society President William Turnage said in a statement: "Clark was a masterstroke for the president because he had the public relations skills to cover up the Watt disaster and keep the president's miserable envirbninental policy off the front page. In the process, he failed his responsibility to the environment and to the American people." t.ess combative than his predecessor, Clark modified several federal policies at Alaska's request. He granted Sheffield's request for slowdowns or deletions in off-shore oil and gas sales, including the North Aleutian Basin near fisheries-rich Bristol Bay and the Barrow Arch sale in the Chukchi Sea. On other issues, Clark has proceeded despite protests by the state, coastal communities and fishing groups.

At the state's urging, the Interior Department under Clark enacted a new policy for conveying submerged land to Alaska and its native corporations. But the policy was promptly challenged in a Goldberg on Tap Rube Goldberg Night will be held Monday in the Sitka High School gym. The inventions will be on display at IS CLEVELAND (AP) Labor unions lost 10 percent of their membership from 1980 to 1982 and aren't likely to regain the lost workers, researchers said. "That's 2 million people (lost by unions), and I don't think they will recoup those losses," said Brian Heshizer, assistant professor in the management and labor department at Cleveland State University's College of Business Administration. "The prospects for growth, in the short and intermediate term, are not good.

Employer resistance is high." Heshizer and professor Harry Graham sent questionnaires to 112 unions across the country, and 79 of them were returned. Half of the labor leaders questioned in the study said they believed the labor movement was in a state of crisis, Heshizer said. The leaders also believed their strength at the bargaining table had declined when compared with 20 years earlier, the study indicated. About 39 percent of the labor officials questioned said anti-labor government policies were to blame for unions' problems, but 47 percent blamed unions' own policies and structures. Labor's public image was cited as a source of problems by 21 percent of the leaders, and the economy was mentioned by 18 percent.

"Unions have been battered by the economy and by image problems," Heshizer said. "Many members of the public believe unions have brought their problems on themselves through high wages and restrictive work practices." Results of the study, conducted in 1983, were published recently in Monthly Labor Review. Losing Candidate Milo Seeks Winner's Ouster ANCHORAGE (AP) Rep. Milo Fritz of Anchor Point is urging Lt. Gov.

Steve McAlpine to decertify the election of Libertarian Andre Marrou to the A iity vviiuviio win UG Ull UlOUlaY CXL 6:45 p.m. and judging will begin at 7:15 Alaska House of Representatives p.m. The event is sponsored by the SHS chemistry class. New Phones Set ANCHORAGE (AP) Adak, in the Aleutian Islands, will be without telephone service for six hours Jan. 12 while workmen install new "high-tech equipment," an Alascom official said Monday.

Spokesman Tom Jensen, director of public affairs for the communications company, said the island, which contains a U.S. Navy base, will be cut off between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Fritz, a Republican, was defeated by Marrou by fewer than 100 votes in the November election. Fritz claimed in a Dec.

30 letter to McAlpine that Marrou knowingly lied on a conflict-of-interest form filed with the Alaska Public Offices Commission about his sources of income. "You can fine these people, you can threaten them with jail terms, but the only way these overt violations will cease is to invoke the law and forbid these people to hold public office. Aiidre Marrou must be made an example," Fritz said. Fritz asked McAlpine to certify him to fill the seat. 747-327S 321 Lincoln Street for Lynden Transport and Long Distance Hauling Heating Fuel Over 37 Years of Experience Means Better Service to You! A spokesman for McAlpine's ottice confirmed receiving a telegram from Fritz asking that the election be set aside, but said follow-up material had not arrived.

Under state law, McAlpine has authority to remove an elected official who "refuses or knowingly fails to disclose required information" on his conflict-of-interest statement. Fritz claims Marrou violated the law' he failed to disclose the names of real estate clients and when he failed to disclose payments received as a contract right-of-way agent for the city of Homer. Marrou said Fritz' claims were part of a vendetta. "If there has been a mistake, it was unintentional," Marrou said. "This is a matter of public record.

It would have been silly for me to try and hide anything." Marrou contended that as a real estate agent he was not required to list on his conflict-of-interest statement the buyers and sellers he represents. "In real estate, a client relationship exists only between the broker" and the customer, Marrou said. Even when paid on a commission basis, the salesman "gets his check from the broker, not from the client," he said. Jane Barcott of the public offices commission said that in the past, the commission has required candidates and elected officials who derive income from commission sales to disclose the names of their customers. The rule has been applied to door-to- door saleswomen, insurance salesmen and real estate agents, she said.

New RR Boss Due High Pay FAIRBANKS (AP) The general manager of the new Alaska Railroad Corp. will receive $337,000 plus benefits for the duration of his two-year con- tract, the chairman of the corporation's board said. Frank Turpin, who will become head of the railroad when he retires in February as president of Alyeska Pipeline Service will get a yearly salary of $125,000, said chairman James Campbell. If Turpin completes the contract, he'll get an incentive bonus of 35 percent, for a total of $337,000. Campbell said Turpin also will receive the "typical kinds" of benefits, such as use of an automobile, travel expenses and costs of membership in professional organizations.

Campbell said the 35 percent bonus makes up for the benefits Turpin is not being provided and serves as an incentive for Turpin to complete his contract. Turpin did not need medical, dental or life insurance, so the Alaska Railroad Corp. did not provide it, Campbell said. Daily Sitka Sentinel, Sitka, Alaska, Thursday, January 3,1985, Page 3 ectg To Stop Goat Hunt WASHINGTON (AP) The Navy refused'a last-ditch appeal today to cancel a big goat hunt on an uninhabited Pacific Ocean island it uses for target practice. Rep.

Bobbi Fiedler, and Cleveland Amory, president of the Fund for Animals, tried unsuccessfully to convince Navy brass to postpone the week-long goat hunt, scheduled to start Friday on San Clemente Island. The Navy says a helicopter will spend a week flying over the island carrying civilian hunters who will blaze away with shotguns at an estimated 1,500 andalusian goats. The animals are descended from a herd that reached San Clemente perhaps a century ago. The Navy, which uses the island 65 miles northwest of San Diego as a shooting range for warships, says the goats are being killed to protect a type of lizard and several species of birds and plants that are oh the federal endangered species list. Oil Prices Tumble To Five-Year Lows By STEVEN P.

ROSENFELD AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) American oil traders doubt that OPEC can keep cartel members from cheating on prouuction and pricing, analysts said after crude oil and refined petroleum prices. tumbled to -five-year lows in futures trading. West Texas intermediate crude oil, the major U.S. grade of oil, closed at $25.92 a barrel Wednesday, its lowest level since 1979. The drop came in the first day of trading since the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided at its divisive yearend meeting to keep its benchmark grade of oil at $29 a barrel.

"The market doesn't believe that what OPEC did in Geneva will have any effect and I agree with the market," said William Randol, an oil industry analyst at the New York securities firm First Boston Corp. "All the dominoes in the pricing system have already fallen," -Randol said. "The benchmark at $29 looks kind of silly." At one point Wednesday on the New York Exchange, West Texas intermediate slid as low as $25.86 a barrel in contracts for February delivery. The close of $25.92 was down 49 cents from Friday, the last session before the New Year's break, and was the lowest level for crude oil since late 1979, said exchange spokeswoman Mary Ann Mattock. In other contracts for February delivery, heating oil fell 2.18 cents to close at 71.14 cents a gallon, regular gasoline dropped 1.53 cents to 64.38 cents a gallon, and regular unleaded gasoline fell 1.9 cents to 66.20 cents a gallon all the lowest levels since mid- 1979.

"Most people in the oil industry are quite disappointed in the lack of progress by OPEC in stabilizing the market," said Edward Dellamonte, an oil analyst at the New York investment firm Prudential-Bache Securities Inc. The drop in oil prices, and expectations of further also helped boost the dollar to new heights, sent the British pound slipping to an all- time low of $1.145 and knocked the price of gold Bullion to. a low of $302 a troy ounce. "It was extremely disappointing," Ms. Fiedler said after meeting with Vice A dm.

Tom Hughes, deputy chief of naval operations for logistics. "We used every ounce of persuasion, but it appeared the Navy had made up its mind." She said the Navy did make a "minor concession," agreeing to allow the Fund for Animals to visit the island next summer in an effort to remove any goats that survive the hunt. "We have to get all the goats off. We've done everything we feel is humanly possible to save them," said Ken Mitchell, a spokesman for the Naval air station at North Island, Calif. Mitchell says that since 1973, about 16,000 of the brown and black animals have been taken off the island, most of them in the last four years by the Fund for Animals.

These goats were rounded up and trapped, but this effort reached a dead end for two reasons, according to Mitchell. The trappers could not pursue fleeing goats into the island's deep canyons or into the southern end, which is off- limits because of the danger from unexploded shells left over from target practice, he said. The second reason, he said, is Mother Nature: "They double their herd size in 18 months. They're very prolific." The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has recommended the goats be removed but not necessarily killed -because they are destroying habitat needed by two types of birds, the San Clemente loggerhead shrike and sage sparrow, and the island night lizard, according to spokesman Bill Meyer.

He said the agency is not worried about the endangered wildlife suffering from the ships' guns because "we feel there is sufficient habitat not affected by the shooting." The Navy, which has fought a series of court battles over the fate of the San Clemente goats, ran a hunt for a weekend in 1983. An estimated 600 goats were killed before a court order silenced the guns. With that order no longer in force, the Navy is putting the goats' fate into the hands of Steve Carothers of Flagstaff, who conducted the 1983 hunt. Under federal contract, Carothers also shot wild burros in the Grand Canyon from a helicopter. Amory said he finds it ironic that the Navy would kill goats.

"The irony, when the goat is the mascot of the Naval Academy, is amazing," he said. MacDonald's Semi-Annual A Women's Department Main Floor Starts Friday, January 4 at 9:00 a.m..