Alaska Conservation Voters

Conservation Watch

Alaska Conservation Voters works to protect Alaska 's environment through public education and advocacy, and supports pro-conservation candidates for public office.

"This is not Russia!"
---Lani Brennan, testifying against HB 130 at its 1st hearing (House Resources Committee, 2/9/2005). Brennan continued, "Saving expense is not a good enough reason" to remove planning requirements and expedite a land transfer from the state to the University.

• Chilly Public Reception for Land Liquidation Bill
• Seekins Seeking More Tundra Traffic

In Every Issue

• Bills on the Move
• New Legislation
• Hearing Schedule

Chilly Public Reception for Land Liquidation Bill

A diverse constituency of Alaskans registered their opposition to the Governor's latest pubic land liquidation bill Wednesday. In addition to concerns about specific parcels, citizens were frustrated by the speed at which the bill flew from Murkowski's office to the House Resources Committee within two days of its introduction.

HB 130 and sister SB 96, introduced on Monday, expedite the transfer of 260,000 acres of state land to the University of Alaska. For months, DNR and the UA secretly negotiated selection of the 71 parcels, and yet the communities affected were only given 2 days to study the list before the bill's first hearing. This angered folks like Anchorage resident Lani Brennan, who asked the House Resources Committee on Wednesday, "What's the big rush?"

"We're in no rush to pass this out of committee," claimed Fairbanks Republican Rep. Jay Ramras, committee co-chair, agreeing to give HB 130 a fair hearing after receiving 100 emails that day from Alaskans, many troubled by the way Ramras had scheduled the bill for a hearing before it was even introduced.

Meanwhile, the University administration traveled around to the least-affected Southeast Alaska towns holding poorly advertised faux public meetings in a half-hearted attempt to educate local folks. To date, communities like Tenakee Springs, Port Alexander, and Pelican have received few answers about what will happen if the bill passes and the last remaining state lands in their backyards fall into private hands.

Citizens voiced their concerns at the Resources hearing regarding specific parcels, such as Baranof Warm Springs, a 2,880-acre beach near the Kodiak rocket launch facility, and Neets Bay near Ketchikan. Mike Round, representing the Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association (SSRAA), referred to the land grant as "fundamentally irresponsible." "Development of commercial activity in that [Neets] watershed is unacceptable" Round testified.

It remains to be seen whether the public outcry will hamper the Murkowski Administration's efforts to shortchange the public process and push to liquidate prime public lands. HB 130 is scheduled for additional hearings Monday and Wednesday in the House Resources Committee

Is your community threatened? View the Governor's hit list at:
http://www.dnr.state.ak.us/mlw/ualands/

Seekins Seeking More Tundra Traffic

Sen. Ralph Seekins (R-Fairbanks) is again trying to wheel and deal the Legislature to repeal ATV use restrictions within 5 miles of the Dalton Highway corridor.

Current law, while restricting most off-road vehicle use, allows for snow machine users to cross the corridor when their travel necessitates (AS 19.40.210). The ban's purpose is to prevent joyriding that could threaten the pipeline, frighten caribou, or damage tundra, not to restrict legitimate use by area residents.

The law's origin stems from an agreement drawn up between residents of Arctic Alaska and the organizations which collaborated to build the pipeline and associated road. Local elders, most of whom are no longer living, were told that access to the road and surrounding areas would be limited to protect their hunting and other interests.

Seekins claims the current law limits access to public lands, begging the question, does it really take an ATV or snow machine to enjoy a strip of land right next to a highway? Seekins also believes his bill, SB 85, will streamline policing efforts because the current ban, with its many exceptions, is rarely enforced.

On the contrary, the North Slope Borough law enforcement community has testified in opposition of Seekins' 2004 bill SB 298, saying that off-road vehicle traffic in the corridor would impede their efforts to secure the pipeline, prevent trash dumping, and protect traditional use. Other opponents of SB 298 included wildlife biologists, tundra ecologists, villages along the corridor, ice fishermen, and subsistence hunters.

SB 85 is scheduled for a hearing Tuesday in Senate Transportation.

Leave it to Senator Motorhead...

Bills on the Move

---Arctic Refuge drilling resolutions HJR 4 and SJR 2 continue to barrel through the Legislature. SJR 2 passed a Senate floor vote on Wednesday, with only Sen. Kim Elton (D-Juneau) voting no. HJR 4 is now sitting in Senate Rules, awaiting a floor vote, and SJR 2 is scheduled for Wednesday in House Resources.

---Municipal election bill SB 14 is pushing its way through the House, having passed CRA on Friday. It's next stop is House State Affairs.

---HJR 6, Rep. Beth Kerttula's resolution supporting tougher national requirements for fish labeling, swam through its committees and is treading water awaiting a House floor vote Monday.

---On Thursday the Senate unanimously passed SJR 5, encouraging Congress to reauthorize the Methane Hydrate Research act. The resolution is poised to move quickly through the house.

---HB 71, which extends tax incentives for Bristol Bay oil and gas exploration, has moved through House Ways and Means and is scheduled for Thursday in (H) Oil & Gas.

New Legislation

No new bills of note this week.

Hearings this Week

Check the BASIS hearing schedule for the most current schedule. Once a bill has been heard in a particular committee it may be brought up again without public notice or listing on the weekly committee schedule.