Right-wing assembly leader dumps climate change committee to start his reign

The Climate Action Committee of the Fairbanks borough assembly meets Tuesday at 9 a.m. If you want to participate via Zoom, you have to sign up by 8:30 a.m.

I suspect that more than a few people will want to ask the committee members if any of them know what they are doing. (Spoiler alert: They don’t.)

Here are details about signing into the meeting.

The borough assembly named tour guide Aaron Lojewski presiding officer last week. He wasted no time after the meeting in allowing a little power to go to his head, unceremoniously dumping the volunteer members of the Climate Action Committee who have worked for months on a draft plan for the borough.

The committee members did nothing wrong. They put in long hours and tried to come up with a reasonable plan for the community. This is not the right way to treat people.

Lojewski had the borough clerk’s office tell the committee members they were no longer needed by email Saturday. One of those he got rid of is UAF Professor Emeritus Terry Chapin, an internationally recognized scientist.

Lojewski then placed a group of his friends and Republican comrades on the committee. They haven’t worked on the draft action plan and most have no expertise in any of this.

Under its new right-wing leadership, the Climate Action Committee of the Fairbanks borough assembly is likely to be the Climate Inaction Committee.

When Lojewski ran for the Legislature and lost in 2016, he said there should be no state plan to deal with climate change. He also used the language of those who deny climate science: “Climate change was happening long before human beings ever existed. To pretend we are the only influence, as your question implies, is nonsense.”

“There should be no Alaska policy to combat global warming,” Lojewski said.

Lojewski claimed in 2019 that people alarmed about climate change are “Chicken Little.” He voted against the creation of the assembly Climate Action Committee in 2021, along with Frank Tomaszewski, Tammie Wilson and Jimi Cash.

Lojewski chose his friend, former City Councilman Aaron Gibson, to be chair of the Climate Action Committee. He also named Tomaszewski’s wife, Harmony, Vivian Stiver, Fred Vreeman, Kevin McKinley and Barbara Haney, an assembly member who works for Rep. Mike Prax.

In addition to Chapin, Lojewski fired Stefan Milkowski, Princess Johnson, Melissa Sikes, Lisa Baraff and Mindy O’Neall, the assembly member who had been the chair. Mayor Bryce Ward, who should speak up about this, remains a member of the committee.

In August, Milkowski and O’Neall wrote about the goals of the committee and the plan it was working to finish: “Over the next several months, the committee will work to evaluate ideas, incorporate public input, and draft a plan to present to the Borough Assembly for approval. Once approved, some measures will be implemented directly, some will require further Assembly action, and some will require further participation and action from the public.”

“This plan will set the borough on a path of mitigation and adaptation in the smartest, fairest, and most cost-effective way possible, and our intention is that it will inspire individuals, businesses, and community groups to do what they can, too. This is an opportunity for our community to lead. Let’s take it.”

For more on the draft plan prepared by the fired committee members, check here. For a look at the draft vision statements and where they stood as of a month ago, check here.

The summary says the plan would focus on borough-managed infrastructure, help the community better prepare for climate change and reduce the borough’s contributions to climate change by finding ways to lower greenhouse gases. There is nothing radical about it.

Your contributions help support independent analysis and political commentary by Alaska reporter and author Dermot Cole. Thank you for reading and for your support. Either click here to use PayPal or send checks to: Dermot Cole, Box 10673, Fairbanks, AK 99710-0673.