ADN by Paul Jenkins.  Slated for the Aug. 28 primary ballot, Ballot Measure 2 is an initiative from hell: a convoluted, 15-page freak show slapped together behind closed doors. The state estimates it would cost $5.4 million to run this vague, unvetted scheme.  The 703-word measure — the longest in state history — would create an entirely new coastal management regime. It would defang the Legislature, end-run the Alaska Constitution and subject development in Alaska to the capricious whim of a new, powerful and unaccountable bureaucracy bound by few, if any, rules. Worse, its decisions, unconstrained by time-lines to move them along, likely would adversely affect every industry — and your personal property rights.  

Alaska Dispatch.  Royal Dutch Shell’s hopes to drill in Alaska’s Arctic this summer have been hitting some hurdles lately, with potential problems arising with air permits, a hiccup over an oil-spill containment barge docked in Washington state and now, the drill ship Noble Discoverer came unexpectedly close to shore Saturday in Unalaska Bay on its eventual trek to the Arctic.