00                 CS FOR SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 7(RES)                                                               
01 Supporting reinstatement of the United States Department of the Interior directive                                      
02 exempting the United States Bureau of Land Management in Alaska from the                                                
03 mandatory wilderness review process.                                                                                    
04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
05       WHEREAS, in 1980, the United States Congress passed the Alaska National Interest                                
06 Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), which included sec. 1326, frequently referred to as the                                
07 "no more clause", prohibiting further executive withdrawals and studies for the specific                                
08 purpose of creating more conservation units or areas; and                                                               
09       WHEREAS, in sec. 1320, ANILCA expressly exempted the Bureau of Land                                             
10 Management from the sec. 603 wilderness review program of the Federal Land Policy and                                   
11 Management Act of 1976; and                                                                                             
12       WHEREAS, in 1981, the United States Secretary of the Interior issued a directive that                           
13 prohibited the United States Bureau of Land Management from considering any of the                                      
14 80,000,000 acres the bureau manages in Alaska for designation as wilderness under the                                   
15 National Wilderness Preservation System; and                                                                            
01       WHEREAS, on January 18, 2001, on one of his last days in office, United States                                
02 Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt rescinded this 19-year-old directive without public                             
03 comment or consultation with Alaska; and                                                                                
04       WHEREAS the rescission is improper without public comment and the participation                                 
05 of Alaska, is not in the best interests of the state, and should be reinstated by the incoming                          
06 administration; and                                                                                                     
07       WHEREAS the requirement that all Bureau of Land Management administered                                         
08 roadless tracts of 5,000 or more acres be studied for their wilderness qualities will result in all                     
09 areas being managed as quasi-wilderness and effectively create a virtual economic barrier;                              
10       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature opposes the rescission of this                                 
11 Department of the Interior directive; and be it                                                                         
12       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the swift                                              
13 reinstatement of the directive by the administration of President George W. Bush.                                       
14       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable George W. Bush, President                              
15 of the United States; the Honorable Gale Norton, United States Secretary of the Interior; and                           
16 to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the                                  
17 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.