TSA, Coast Guard in AK Pot Discussion
Presiding over busy waterways and airspace that serve as unofficial highways of an inhospitable state twice the size of Texas, the federal government has a looming presence over Alaska and its famously live-and-let-live residents. And Uncle Sam considers marijuana illegal over every inch. This poses unique hurdles for entrepreneurs hoping to capitalize on an Alaska move to legalize recreational marijuana, and who seek to grow and process products to be marketed across the state, much of which is accessible only via transport links policed by U.S. agencies and governed by federal law. To get around such obstacles, some investors say they plan to launch location-specific seed-to-sale businesses…
ConocoPhilips Unit Fined
A ConocoPhillips (COP) tanker company has agreed to pay a fine and other penalties totaling $2.5m for spilling oily sludge into the ocean after leaving Valdez, Alaska with a load of oil - and then falsifying records to cover it up, The Anchorage Daily News reported on its Web site recently. Polar Tankers Inc. pleaded guilty in Anchorage to a criminal pollution violation, and U.S. District Judge Russel Holland placed Polar on probation for three years, the report said. Federal prosecutors said company officials dismissed the captain and chief engineer of the tanker, Polar Discovery, according to the report. While the spill itself would not have been criminal, according to Karen Loeffler, an assistant U.S.
