What's New

Commonwealth North Reception

An evening with an Alaska Dinosaur Hunter!

Monday, July 29th

5:30pm-7:30pm

The Petroleum Club of Anchorage

3301 C Street

 

Tonight, Commonwealth North will host a reception of good food, drinks, conversation, and dinosaurs! It’s a fun, family-friendly event, so we encourage you to bring your kids!

On Monday evening we will host paleontologist Anthony Fiorillo, Ph.D., Vice President of Research and Collections and Chief Curator at the Ross Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas. He will share his stories from his dinosaur hunts and what his groundbreaking work in Alaska can tell us about Alaska’s past, its environment, and our future.

Tony’s presentation can be viewed online here.

Dr. Fiorillo made news in 2001 when he found the first record of a dinosaur in any Alaskan national park. Since then, he has found dinosaur fossils in four Alaska national parks, including Denali National Park and Preserve, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve and Yukon-Charlie Rivers National Preserve. He is the author of over 100 papers and recently published the book, Alaska Dinosaurs: An Ancient Arctic World.

Dr. Fiorillo has been the Curator of Earth Sciences since 1995 and is a research affiliate for the University of Alaska Fairbanks. While he has collected fossils throughout North America and parts of Asia, he has primarily worked in western Texas and Alaska. His pursuits have resulted in numerous discoveries including a new species of a tyrannosaur. His work on ancient terrestrial ecosystems has taken him into over a dozen units of the National Park Service and won him national recognition in 2007, receiving the National Park Service, Alaska Region Natural Resource Research Award.

 

There is no charge to attend. Beer, wine and spirits will be available for purchase.

Please RSVP to events@commonwealthnorth.org, or dial (907) 566-2396

Thank you to The Petroleum Club of Anchorage for sponsoring this event!

 Fiscal Policy Study Group

 Fiscal Policy Study Group

 July 26th

8am-9:30am

Alaska Housing Finance Corporation

4300 Boniface Parkway

(Google Map)

On Friday morning, we will have briefings from Bryan Butcher, CEO/Executive Director at AHFC, Michael Strand, CFO at AHFC, and Tom Boutin, CEO at AIDEA, to discuss how they issue and manage debt and their process for evaluating and advancing projects in Alaska.
This program is a continuation of our series to understand the State of Alaska’s debt management practices and to identify potential public policy recommendations.

 

AHFC’s PowerPoint presentation.

Energy Action Coalition

Alaska USA Federal Credit Union

500 W 36th Avenue

Room 201

noon-1pm

(Google Map)

Pat Galvin, Chief Commercial Officer and General Counsel with Great Bear Petroleum, will give us an update on Great Bear’s current projects including Alkaid, its new discovery on the North Slope, and the other exploration targets.

 

 

Food Security Study Group

Alaska Village Initiatives

Wednesday, July 24th

8am-9am

(Google Map)

We will continue our discussion of Health Impact Assessments as a potential tool for understating how public policies can impact food security. We will be joined by Sarah Yoder, Public Health Specialist and Deputy Environmental Public Health Program Manager at the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. She will discuss the department’s Health Impact Assessment program and examples of its use in Alaska and other states.

Click here to see the department’s webpage on HIAs and links to resources such as their HIA Tool Kit.

 

Date:
July 19, 2019
Time:
noon-1pm
Location:
The Dena’ina Center 600 W 7th Ave

Energy and Natural Resource Policy Update
with U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski

Friday, July 19th

The Dena’ina Center
600 W 7th Ave

Noon-1:00pm
(doors open at 11:45am)

Video of this event is now available online.

CWN is pleased to welcome U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski for an update on congressional energy and natural resource policies affecting Alaska.

Senator Murkowski is the Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, where she is the Chairman of the Interior and Environment Subcommittee. Senator Murkowski is a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee – the first Alaskan to serve on that panel – and is also a senior member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

Commonwealth North was co-founded by former Governors Walter J. Hickel and William A. Egan in 1979 to lead Alaskans to adopt enlightened policies that enhance Alaskans’ quality of life and improve the State’s ability to effectively manage its resources. Our mission is to educate our members and other Alaskans on the significant public policy issues affecting our state and to identify effective solutions. Commonwealth North is a non-partisan educational non-profit organization.

Thank you to Lynden for sponsoring this program!

Table sponsorships available

Contact the CWN office at (907) 258-9524 for details.

 

Individual Tickets

CWN Members $30, Non-Members $40

CWN Food Security Study Group
Health Impact Assessments and Food Security
Wednesday, July 10th
Alaska Village Initiatives
1577 C St
Suite 304
8am-9am
On Wednesday, Food Security Study Group Co-chair Ed Fogels will give a briefing on Health Impact Assessments and the role they could play in developing Food Security policies in Alaska. Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is a combination of procedures, methods and tools by which a policy, program, or project may be judged as to its potential effects on the health of a population.
The State of Alaska has developed a HIA program and toolkit within the Department of Health and Social Services. Its primary purpose is to ensure that large-scale resource development projects are designed to maximize the positive health benefits and to minimize the negative health impacts to all Alaskans, however, the HIA program can also be used to evaluate the health impacts of policy initiatives.
Ed Fogels co-authored an article in the International Journal of Circumpolar Health in 2013, The State of Alaska’s early experience with institutionalization of health impact assessment.
Ed is a natural resource consultant and former deputy commissioner at the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.

Deven Mitchell, State Debt Manager

Understanding the Municipal Bond Bank

Friday, July 12th

8:00am-9:00am

First National Bank Alaska, Operations Center

1751 Gambell St

Deven Mitchell, State Debt Manager and Executive Director of the Alaska Municipal Bond Bank Authority, will give us a briefing on the Bond Bank and it’s role in funding capital improvement projects across the state.

Deven’s PowerPoint presenatation can be downloaded here.

(Google Map)

CWN Food Security Study Group
Alaska Farm Bureau
Wednesday, June 26th
Alaska Village Initiatives
1577 C St
Suite 304
8am-9am
We will have a briefing from Amy Seitz, Executive Director at the Alaska Farm Bureau, about their work and recommendations to enhance food security for Alaskans.

CWN Energy Action Coalition

Friday, June 21st

AlaskaUSA Federal Credit Union

500 W 36th Avenue

noon-1pm

Google Map

Friday at noon we will have a briefing from natural resource attorney Peter J. Caltagirone who is currently serving as Special Assistant to the Commissioner of Natural Resources. Peter will discuss oil & gas production in the Cook Inlet and prospects for future development.
Peter is an experienced trial lawyer who has handled litigation throughout Alaska and the Lower 48. He moved to Alaska in 2016 and represented DNR and DOR as Assistant Attorney General for the Alaska Department of Law in oil and gas royalty, leasing, and tax litigation. He also served as counsel to DNR on development of the Alaska LNG project, and provided advice on proposed legislation and regulations. He was recruited by DNR Commissioner Corri Feigi to return to State of Alaska service as Special Assistant in the Commissioner’s Office after briefly working with the Alaska Oil and Gas Association as Regulatory and Legal Affairs Manager.
Lunch from the Pita Pit will be available for $20.
Please click here to reserve your lunch.

 

CWN Food Security Study Group
 
Alaska Farm Trust
 
Wednesday, June 12th
 
Alaska Village Initiatives
1577 C St
Suite 304
 
8am-10am

 

We will have a briefing from Amy Pettit, Executive Director at the Alaska Farmland Trust, about their work and recommendations to enhance food security for Alaskans. Following her presentation, we will have a work session to focus on our food security study.

 

Her PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded here.