00SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 20                                                                                          
01 Requesting the United States Congress to accommodate Alaska's unique wetlands                                           
02 circumstances by amending the Clean Water Act to modify the wetlands                                                    
03 regulatory program and to recognize Alaska's outstanding history of wetlands                                            
04 conservation.                                                                                                           
05 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
06  WHEREAS, in 1972, the federal Clean Water Act allowed a broad expansion of                                             
07 federal jurisdiction over wetlands by modifying the definition of navigable waters to include                           
08 all waters of the United States; and                                                                                    
09  WHEREAS, in 1975, the United States Army Corps of Engineers expanded wetlands                                          
10 regulations to include restricted discharge of dredged and fill material into wetlands; and                             
11  WHEREAS, in 1997, the United States Army Corps of Engineers has proposed to                                            
12 phase out its Nationwide Permit 26 (NWP 26) that allows developers to fill wetlands from one                            
13 to 10 acres without gaining individual permit approval; and                                                             
14  WHEREAS this particular action may put a financial and logistical constraint on                                        

01 thousands of homeowners, businesses, and communities; and                                                               
02  WHEREAS Alaska contains more wetlands than all other states combined; and                                              
03  WHEREAS approximately 99.5 percent of Alaska's original wetlands acreage remains                                       
04 today; and                                                                                                              
05  WHEREAS most Alaska communities, including some 200 rural villages, are located                                        
06 in areas where wetlands are the dominant feature of the landscape; and                                                  
07  WHEREAS 88 percent of Alaska's wetlands are publicly owned; and                                                        
08  WHEREAS more than 60,000,000 acres of Alaska's wetlands are known to be                                                
09 conserved in some form of land designation, including federally designated wilderness land,                             
10 federal park and refuge land, and state park and refuge land, that restricts use or degradation                         
11 of wetlands;                                                                                                            
12  BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the United                                      
13 States Congress to amend the federal Clean Water Act to modify the wetlands regulatory                                  
14 program to                                                                                                              
15   (1)  continue existing activities related to airport safety, logging, mining, ice                                     
16 pads, roads, and snow removal without the existing requirement that the activity be determined                          
17 not to add to the "cumulative" loss of wetlands nationally;                                                             
18   (2)  provide flexibility in Alaska wetlands permitting commensurate with the                                          
19 large amount of wetlands set aside in Alaska and the low historic rate of wetlands loss in                              
20 Alaska;                                                                                                                 
21   (3)  eliminate existing requirements to mitigate unavoidable impacts or to prove                                      
22 no alternative sites are available; and                                                                                 
23   (4)  require the United States Army Corps of Engineers to customize a                                                 
24 permitting process for lands conveyed to the state under the Alaska Statehood Act and to                                
25 Alaska Native Corporations under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act that does not                                  
26 include burdensome mitigation, avoidance, and other requirements; and be it                                             
27  FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the                                           
28 United States Congress to recognize the unique contribution the citizens of Alaska have made                            
29 to wetlands conservation and Alaska's outstanding record of wetlands conservation.                                      
30  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the                                
31 United States; the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and President                            

01 of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Strom Thurmond, President Pro Tempore of the U.S.                                     
02 Senate; the Honorable Trent Lott, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Thomas                              
03 Daschle, Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the                                
04 U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Dick Armey, Majority Leader of the U.S. House                              
05 of Representatives; the Honorable Richard A. Gephardt, Minority Leader of the U.S. House                                
06 of Representatives; the Honorable John H. Chafee, Chair of the Senate Committee on                                      
07 Environment and Public Works; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank                                  
08 Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of                                  
09 the Alaska delegation in Congress.