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WASHINGTON — Alaska labor is not taking any chances this election year.

Unions are endorsing both Republicans and Democrats in the congressional races.

The Alaska District Council of Laborers is endorsing Republican incumbent Don Young in the U.S. House race. ADCL business manager Tim Sharp said Young has consistently advocated for issues affecting Alaskan workers.

“Even during those times when we did have differences of opinion with the Congressman, he always let us know exactly where he stood. We can respect that,” Sharp said in a prepared statement.

“Besides, how would people perceive the Laborers’ Union, or any union for that matter, if we simply traded old friends for new friends during political campaigns based on political convenience?” Sharp said.

The ADCL includes Local 942 in Fairbanks and Juneau, Local 341 in Anchorage and Local 71, the statewide public employees union based in Anchorage.

Meanwhile, the state’s largest public employees union is backing Democrat Ethan Berkowitz in his bid to win the state’s lone House seat. The ASEA/AFSCME Local 52, which represents state and municipal employees, supported Republican incumbent Don Young in 2006.

The Seafarers International Union have endorsed Republican Sen. Ted Stevens.

Breaking ranks

Rep. Young was among 49 House Republicans who broke ranks with President George W. Bush last week to vote for a $10 billion extension of jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed.

The measure would extend unemployment benefits an additional 13 weeks for those who have exhausted the usual 26 weeks of state benefits.

The House approved the measure by a vote of 274 to 137 on Thursday.

Young was a co-sponsor of the measure.

“It’s important to make sure that with increased energy costs and the impact on everything, including groceries and other goods, that folks can keep supporting their families while looking for employment,” Young’s spokeswoman Meredith Kenny said.

The Senate is considering adding the extension to the Iraq war funding bill to try to avoid a White House veto threat.

Digital TV transition in focus

Sen. Stevens and the Alaska Broadcasters Association are hosting an informational workshop on the federally mandated transition to digital television in Fairbanks on this Friday.

The workshop is open to the public and will include speakers from the Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunication and Informational Administration, the federal agencies in charge of the switch to digital broadcasts in early 2009.

Stevens has been active in trying to raise public awareness of the upcoming transition to digital signals that will make older analog televisions obsolete without cable or a converter box.

Stevens has said he’s concerned the switch could leave many rural residents without access to public broadcasting’s emergency warning system.

The NTIA is offering U.S. households coupons worth $40 toward the purchase of converter boxes.

The one-hour workshop begins at 11 a.m. in the Fairbanks North Star Borough Library at 1215 Cowles Street.

Murkowski pushes Exxon Valdez legislation

Sen. Lisa Murkowski is rushing to pass legislation that would help claimants in the Exxon Valdez oil spill case avoid hefty tax bills next year if the U.S. Supreme Court approves the $2.5 billion in punitive damages set by a lower court.

The Supreme Court is expected to hand down a decision in the case by June 23, and a decision could be announced as early as Monday.

Murkowski’s proposal would allow income averaging and increased retirement contributions for spill victims who receive payouts in the punitive damage award.

Murkowski is trying to win approval for her income averaging measure before the court rules by getting it added to a package of tax break extenders pending in the Senate. She has spoke to the leaders of the Senate Finance Committee about adding the measure to the tax extenders bill.

“What I have been told is that it’s something that they hope to have in there. But so far as I know, we have not been given the assurance that it is part of it,” she said.

Murkowski said there’s likely to be a lag time of at least 60 days between the announcement of the court’s decision and when the checks are put in the mail to claimants. It’s important to have the legislation approved before the checks are issued to avoid problems with the Internal Revenue Service, Murkowski said.

“Once those checks are cut, trying to do anything retroactively, particularly when you’re dealing with the IRS, is so very difficult,” she said. “I don’t think it’s impossible, but I think it becomes much more complicated, and that’s why we had the level of urgency that we have had in trying to resolve this legislatively before the decision finally came down and before those payments are to be released.”

The Senate is set to vote Tuesday on a package of tax provisions. Murkowski is hopeful her income averaging measure will be part of the package but even if it is, she’s not confident the bill will get the 60 votes needed to proceed.

And even if the legislation is approved by the Senate, it still has to pass the House, where fiscal conservative Democrats oppose the overall package because it lacks fiscal offsets.

Fish and Wildlife seeks to limit polar bear disturbances

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released new rules last week meant to limit the impact of oil and gas exploration on polar bears and other marine mammals in the Chukchi Sea.

The regulations, required under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, set limits on the number of polar bears and walruses that can be disturbed by seismic and other exploration activity.

The so-called incidental take rules apply to the non-lethal disturbance of polar bears and walruses in by oil companies exploring off Alaska’s northwest coast.

The ruling, which covers an area stretching from Point Hope to Barrow, does not sanction the killing of polar bears or walruses and is independent of the polar bear listing under the Endangered Species Act.

The five-year rule requires oil workers to implement mitigating measures to minimize any potential impact on the marine mammals.

Disturbance limits vary depending on the activity, said Bruce Woods, a spokesman for the agency.

“This is meant to train the industry to develop a plan so they can drill with the minimum amount of disturbance to polar bear and walruses,” he said.

The agency has determined that “unintentional and short-term” disturbances of walruses and polar bears would have only a negligible impact on the populations of these species.

“The number of polar bears that have been seen during this type of activity you can probably count annually on one hand,” Woods said.

Similar rules were in place in the Chukchi Sea between 1991 and 1996, and have been in effect for the Beaufort Sea since 1993.

No polar bears have been killed through the direct action of oil and gas exploration since the agency began monitoring the issue, Woods said.

Conservation groups have been staunch opponents of offshore development in the Arctic, pointing out that it contributes to the release of heat-trapping greenhouse gases responsible for a substantial decline in the sea ice cover polar bears and walruses depend on for survival.

And finally ...

Michael Brumas has been hired to be Sen. Murkowski’s new communications director, a position long left vacant by Kevin Sweeney’s decision to return to Alaska.

Brumas, originally from Memphis, Tenn., spent 14 years covering Capitol Hill for the Birmingham News, before going to work for Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions as his communications director. For the past year, Brumas has served as Sen. Richard Shelby, another Alabama Republican, as his chief of staff.

Murkowski tried to find an Alaskan to lead her communications team but after an exhaustive search chose Brumas. Anne Johnson, who has been Murkowski’s main spokesperson for the past year, will continue to serve as deputy communications director.