Enrolled HJR 30: Requesting that the federal government and the United States Secretary of the Interior reconsider the Izembek Land Exchange decision and approve the Izembek Land Exchange, allowing the residents of King Cove to have road access to the Cold Bay Airport for critical health and safety reasons and to improve the quality of their lives.
00Enrolled HJR 30 01 Requesting that the federal government and the United States Secretary of the Interior 02 reconsider the Izembek Land Exchange decision and approve the Izembek Land Exchange, 03 allowing the residents of King Cove to have road access to the Cold Bay Airport for critical 04 health and safety reasons and to improve the quality of their lives. 05 _______________ 06 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 07 WHEREAS the approximately 950 residents of King Cove need safe and reliable 08 surface access to the Cold Bay Airport for reasons of health, safety, and quality of life; and 09 WHEREAS that access would be a single-lane, gravel road with cable barriers on 10 both sides of the road that would traverse a small portion of the Izembek National Wildlife 11 Refuge, which surrounds King Cove and Cold Bay; and 12 WHEREAS, for three decades, the Aleut residents of King Cove and the state have 13 clashed with the federal government over the likely benefits and potential effects of the road; 14 and 15 WHEREAS the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 authorized a land 16 exchange to provide for the road, with an unprecedented offer of over 61,000 acres from the
01 State of Alaska and King Cove Corporation to the federal government for 206 acres and a 02 small parcel on Sitkanuk Island that would be used to construct a modest access road for daily 03 use by 15 to 20 vehicles; and 04 WHEREAS, in 2010, the legislature unanimously passed and Governor Parnell 05 signed into law House Bill No. 210, enacted as ch. 119, SLA 2010, approving the state's 06 participation in the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009; and 07 WHEREAS the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 mandated an 08 Environmental Impact Statement be completed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service 09 before the United States Secretary of the Interior could approve the Izembek Land Exchange 10 and issue a Record of Decision and Public Interest Finding; and 11 WHEREAS the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 designated the State 12 of Alaska, the Aleutians East Borough, the City of King Cove, the King Cove Corporation, 13 the Agdaagux Tribe of King Cove, and the Native Village of Belkofski as "Cooperating 14 Agencies" to work with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to prepare an objective 15 and balanced Environmental Impact Statement as the basis for the Izembek Land Exchange 16 Record of Decision and Public Interest Finding; and 17 WHEREAS, for over four years, the Cooperating Agencies actively participated in 18 every step of the Environmental Impact Statement process by participating in over 100 19 meetings with United States Fish and Wildlife Service, by conducting and providing detailed 20 document reviews, and by maintaining an expectation for reasonable, balanced, and properly 21 vetted scientific findings of both the human and natural environments in the Izembek area and 22 conclusions under the Purpose and Need section of the Environmental Impact Statement 23 supporting "a transportation access alternative between the City of King Cove and the Cold 24 Bay Airport which is safe, reliable, and affordable"; and 25 WHEREAS, in March 2013, then United States Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar 26 announced that the final Environmental Impact Statement selected the No Action alternative, 27 thus rejecting the Izembek Land Exchange and road connection from King Cove to the Cold 28 Bay Airport; and 29 WHEREAS, in announcing that decision, the official spokesperson of the United 30 States Fish and Wildlife Service publicly stated, "safety considerations are important, but they 31 were not a factor in this decision--at least not a factor we analyzed, since we only analyzed
01 the environmental impacts, which is what we were called upon to do since we are not a public 02 safety organization"; and 03 WHEREAS hearing this public admission that transportation accessibility and safety 04 concerns, particularly during times of medical emergency, do not matter to the United States 05 Fish and Wildlife Service was egregious to King Cove residents; and 06 WHEREAS the Cooperating Agencies protested the No Action alternative and 07 notified Secretary Salazar that his decision violated the federal government's and his official 08 trust responsibility to the Aleut people of King Cove, failed to analyze the value of over 09 61,000 acres of new federal land to be designated as refuge and wilderness land as part of the 10 Act, failed to provide an environmental justice analysis, violated substantial standards under 11 the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, and violated various Presidential Executive 12 Orders regarding the trust and other responsibilities of the federal government to the Aleut 13 tribes and individual Alaska Native residents of King Cove; and 14 WHEREAS, with the support of the Alaska Congressional delegation, Governor 15 Parnell, and the legislature, Secretary Ken Salazar agreed to meet with King Cove residents 16 and listen to their factual responses and heart-felt emotions regarding the No Action 17 alternative; and 18 WHEREAS Secretary Salazar agreed to have his successor, United States Secretary 19 of the Interior Sally Jewell, and Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Kevin Washburn, 20 personally visit King Cove in the summer of 2013 to tour the community and meet with local 21 residents, discuss with the community's health care providers the extreme difficulty of 22 transporting patients in times of emergency to the Cold Bay Airport for access to medical 23 facilities and providers in Anchorage, and conduct tribal consultation sessions with Agdaagux 24 and Belkofski tribe members, including discussions regarding the federal government's and 25 the Secretary's trust responsibility in the final Izembek Record of Decision and Public Interest 26 Finding; and 27 WHEREAS the Cooperating Agencies unanimously recommended the approval of 28 the land exchange as authorized by the United States Congress in the Omnibus Public Land 29 Management Act of 2009 and provided detailed information during the Environmental Impact 30 Statement process that made clear that no alternative other than approval of the land 31 exchange, which would include approval of the road corridor, could provide safe, reliable, and
01 affordable transportation access under the Purpose and Need section of the Environmental 02 Impact Study; and 03 WHEREAS the information provided in the Environmental Impact Statement process 04 included biological and technical information concerning environmental justice and 05 transportation considerations, which the federal government and the Secretary purposefully 06 ignored; and 07 WHEREAS, unfortunately, those visits and that information had no effect on the 08 federal government's and Secretary Jewell's final decision, which she announced on 09 December 23, 2013, and her decision was simply to reaffirm the prior No Action alternative 10 recommended by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in its proposed Final 11 Environmental Impact Statement; and 12 WHEREAS, in Secretary Jewell's decision, she claimed that other alternatives were 13 available to meet the Purpose and Need of the Environmental Impact Statement; however, she 14 did not contact the Cooperating Agencies, including the State of Alaska, the municipalities, 15 the tribes, or the King Cove Corporation, to provide those alternatives or make any attempt to 16 meet the needs of the Aleut and other residents of King Cove as required by the federal 17 government's trust responsibility to those Alaska Native residents, thereby blatantly violating 18 the federal government's trust responsibility to the Alaska Natives; and 19 WHEREAS the King Cove Access Project Environmental Impact Statement (2001- 20 2003) and the current Izembek Land Exchange Environmental Impact Statement (2010-2014) 21 considered, and then reconsidered, all possible marine, rail, air, and surface transportation 22 alternatives and properly concluded that a surface transportation alternative is the only 23 alternative that meets the Purpose and Need for safe, reliable, and affordable transportation; 24 and 25 WHEREAS the Secretary has been led to believe by the United States Fish and 26 Wildlife Service that a marine landing craft can provide the necessary transportation access 27 from the City of King Cove over Cold Bay and has not been willing to listen to the prevailing, 28 local marine knowledge that the wind, wave, and ice conditions in Cold Bay prevent that 29 alternative from being a plausible and realistic solution; and 30 WHEREAS the Secretary has shown no awareness or concern for the frightening, 31 precarious, and time-sensitive situations, including weather conditions, that affect emergency
01 medevacs by small plane, fishing vessel, or United States Coast Guard helicopter; and 02 WHEREAS the Secretary has violated her trust responsibilities by not selecting the 03 only transportation access alternative that meets the Purpose and Need, and consequently, 04 does not appear to understand that this "trust" is not a limitation on Alaska Natives' freedom 05 and rights; it is a limit on the federal government's power over Alaska Natives, and 06 specifically, a limit on the United States Department of the Interior's power over Alaska 07 Natives; and 08 WHEREAS the Secretary apparently does not know or care that the courts have 09 liberally construed legal rulings in favor of Alaska Natives and that all executive branch 10 decisions are subject to a "presumption of reviewability"; and 11 WHEREAS the Alaska Congressional delegation, Governor Parnell, the Aleutians 12 East Borough, the City of King Cove, the King Cove Corporation, and the Agdaagux and 13 Belkofski tribes have requested that Secretary Jewell reconsider her decision because it was 14 based on faulty information in the final Environmental Impact Statement, particularly the lack 15 of a transportation access alternative other than a road that meets the safe, reliable, and 16 affordable criteria of the Purpose and Need section of the Environmental Impact Statement; 17 the final Environmental Impact Statement did not include a proper Public Interest Finding as 18 required by the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, did not include any evidence 19 of honoring Secretary Salazar's commitment to have Assistant Secretary Washburn prepare a 20 report that "will address whether and to what extent the road is needed to meet medical 21 emergency requirements of King Cove," and did not meet the federal government's trust 22 responsibility to the Aleut residents of King Cove; and 23 WHEREAS the legislature finds the federal government's decision by Secretary 24 Jewell to be another insulting example of the federal government's overreach into the lives, 25 health, and safety of all Alaskans by making ill-informed and biased decisions about our lives 26 with regard to our unique natural and human environments, which have harmoniously 27 coexisted for centuries; 28 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature requests and demands the 29 following actions from the federal government and United States Secretary of the Interior 30 Sally Jewell: 31 (1) reconsideration of the Izembek Land Exchange decision based on technical
01 and procedural deficiencies; and 02 (2) approval of the Izembek Land Exchange, allowing the residents of King 03 Cove to have road access to the Cold Bay Airport for critical health and safety reasons and to 04 improve the quality of their lives. 05 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of 06 the United States; the Honorable Sally Jewell, United States Secretary of the Interior; the 07 Honorable Sean Parnell, Governor of Alaska; and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the 08 Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, 09 members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.