The Bristol Bay Fishery Reserve is one of the last undisturbed salmon ecosystems in the world. Senate Bill 152 would help to protect the delicate environment of Bristol Bay and, by extension, one of Alaska’s most renewable resources — salmon fisheries.

The Juneau Empire’s Tuesday, March 20 article “Native Corps. bicker over Pebble Mine at meeting” reported a statement that “only 15 percent of Bristol Bay permits are local...”

This statement is not true.

At the end of 2011, local Bristol Bay Alaskans held more than 25 percent of the Bristol Bay salmon entry permits. Furthermore, as a whole, Alaskans held nearly 54 percent of the Bristol Bay salmon permits.

I would like to express my gratitude to so many representatives in the house for answering my calls and my emails and for supporting our family by backing house bill 74, the autism insurance bill. My son is one of many Alaskans who experience autism. Our family fights every day to give him the things in life that so many of us take for granted. He struggles to eat, sleep, and to be able to go to school. For us, this bill is hope, a chance for him to have an education and happy life instead of a facility placement. Representative Keller is holding this bill so it will not pass.

I am a first time writer to the editor and feel very strongly on the issue of the PacRim mining plan. This plan is terrible, bad and stupid. To think that anyone of us on this planet can return a salmon stream to its original state after destroying it is idiotic.