Legislature(1993 - 1994)
03/19/1993 08:00 AM House RES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HOUSE RESOURCES STANDING COMMITTEE
March 19, 1993
8:00 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Bill Williams, Chairman
Representative Bill Hudson, Vice Chairman
Representative Con Bunde
Representative Pat Carney
Representative John Davies
Representative Joe Green
Representative Jeannette James
Representative Eldon Mulder
Representative David Finkelstein
MEMBERS ABSENT
None
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
Briefing by the Department of Environmental Conservation on
Project Chariot and other radiation issues.
HB 201 "An Act amending provisions of ch. 66, SLA 1991,
that relate to reconstitution of the corpus of the
mental health trust, the management of trust
assets, and to the manner of enforcement of the
obligation to compensate the trust; and providing
for an effective date."
HEARD AND HELD IN COMMITTEE FOR FURTHER
CONSIDERATION
WITNESS REGISTER
Mead Treadwell
Deputy Commissioner
Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
410 W. Willoughby Ave., Suite 105
Juneau, Alaska 99801
Phone: 465-5050
Position Statement: Presented briefing on Project Chariot
and other radiation issues
Douglas Dasher
Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
1001 Noble Street, #350
Fairbanks, Alaska 99701
Phone: 451-2172
Position Statement: Presented briefing on Project Chariot
and other radiation issues
Rick Johanssen, Attorney
Representing Usibelli Mines
1029 W. 3rd Ave,. Suite 300
Anchorage, Alaska 99501
Phone: 279-8561
Position Statement: Explained amendments to HB 201
Brian Bjorkquist, Assistant Attorney General
Department of Law
1031 W. 4th St., Suite 200
Anchorage, Alaska 99501-1994
Phone: 269-5100
Position Statement: Testified on state's position regarding
amendments to HB 201
Roger Burggraf
830 Sheep Creek Rd.
Fairbanks, Alaska 99709
Phone: 479-2596
Position Statement: Supported amendments to HB 201
Charlie Boddy
Usibelli Coal Co.
122 1st Ave., #302
Fairbanks, Alaska 99701
Phone: 452-2625
Position Statement: Agreed with Mr. Johanssen's comments on
HB 201
Harold Gillam
104 2nd Ave.
Fairbanks, Alaska 99701
Phone: 452-2534
Position Statement: Urged resolution of mental health lands
dispute
PREVIOUS ACTION
BILL: HB 201
SHORT TITLE: MENTAL HEALTH TRUST AMENDMENTS
BILL VERSION:
SPONSOR(S): RESOURCES
TITLE: "An Act amending provisions of ch. 66, SLA 1991, that
relate to reconstitution of the corpus of the mental health
trust, the management of trust assets, and to the manner of
enforcement of the obligation to compensate the trust; and
providing for an effective date."
JRN-DATE JRN-PG ACTION
03/05/93 552 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME/REFERRAL(S)
03/05/93 552 (H) RESOURCES, JUDICIARY, FINANCE
03/12/93 (H) RES AT 08:00 AM CAPITOL 124
03/12/93 (H) MINUTE(RES)
03/12/93 (H) MINUTE(RES)
03/19/93 (H) RES AT 08:00 AM CAPITOL 124
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 93-32, SIDE A
Number 000
The House Resources Committee was called to order by
Chairman Bill Williams at 8:09 a.m. Members present at the
call to order were Representatives Williams, Hudson, Bunde,
Carney, Davies, Green, James, and Mulder. Representative
Finkelstein was absent at the call to order.
CHAIRMAN BILL WILLIAMS announced the committee would first
hear from the Department of Environmental Conservation on
Project Chariot and other radiation issues. This would be
followed, he said, with consideration of HB 201.
Number 049
MEAD TREADWELL, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF
ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION, distributed for committee
members' information two reports. The first was produced by
the U.S. Department of Energy, Nevada Field Office, titled
Project Chariot: Cape Thompson, Alaska, dated December,
1992. The second report, prepared by the Alaska State
Emergency Response Commission, Emergency Response Committee,
was titled Radiological Threats and Release Response
Preparedness in the State of Alaska, dated March, 1993. (A
copy of these reports may be found in the House Resources
Committee Room, Capitol Room 124, and after the adjournment
of the second session of the 18th Alaska State Legislature,
in the Legislative Reference Library.)
MR. TREADWELL told the committee several radiation issues
had arisen recently, including the presence of
radioisotopes, generators, the presence of Project Chariot
debris at Point Hope, and questions about the former nuclear
power plant at Fort Greely. He mentioned that there are
four state agencies that oversee radiation in one form or
another. Those were the Department of Environmental
Conservation (DEC), the Department of Health and Social
Services (DHSS), the Department of Labor, and the Department
of Military and Veterans' Affairs.
Number 074
MR. TREADWELL identified contact persons in some of those
agencies, including Mike Conway, Director of Spill
Prevention and Response (DEC); Jim Powell, Deputy Director
of Environmental Quality (DEC); Linda Himmelbauer, state
toxicologist; Doug Dasher, DEC; and Peter Nakamura, Director
of the Division of Public Health (DHSS).
MR. TREADWELL referred to the recommendations contained in
the Radiological Threats report, and directed members'
attention to page 7, where five key recommendations were
listed; as well as to page 10, where 15 general initiatives
were listed, addressing radiological issues.
MR. TREADWELL briefly described the recommendations. He
said the most important one was related to health, based on
a review done by an outside radiological research group. He
said that research team visited the state in the fall of
1992 and found that Alaska's coverage of X-Ray facilities
was not good. He called it the largest radiological threat
facing Alaska. The second recommendation, he said, was to
consolidate into one agency the major radiation protection
and response planning activities.
MR. TREADWELL described another recommendation to
consolidate and update state regulations and statutes
pertaining to radiological hazards. He said this
recommendation would be developed over the interim. A
fourth recommendation was to increase the effort in
communicating the risk from radiological sources to
Alaskans, particularly rural residents. He noted the
perceived incidence of increasing cancer rates in Northern
Alaska, and the perception that the U.S. government had not
been telling the truth regarding radiological materials left
behind.
MR. TREADWELL also mentioned the need to get a better hold
of what radiological materials might have entered the waters
and food chain from Russian practices. The final
recommendation he noted was to ask Governor Hickel to work
to have the U.S. government consult with the government of
the Russian federation on construction of new nuclear
facilities.
MR. TREADWELL described an incident where an Alaska DEC
official travelling in Russia on his own attended a
conference at which he was the only one who did not sign a
resolution endorsing a plan for large expansion of nuclear
facilities. He noted that a number of countries are
spending $50 million dollars to help upgrade Russian nuclear
power plants. He cautioned that the results of a nuclear
accident in Russia could be devastating to Alaska, depending
on the location of an accident and the wind conditions at
the time.
Number 218
DOUG DASHER, DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION'S LEAD
CONTACT ON PROJECT CHARIOT, told the committee that there
were three primary issues on which the DEC is working with
the federal Department of Energy. The first issue was how
and when clean-up of the Project Chariot site would take
place. Second was a push for broader health studies and
radiation monitors to give real-time warning of radiological
air emissions. The third issue, he said, was reimbursement
to Alaska for activities surrounding the clean-up of Project
Chariot. The state, he explained, had spent $60,000 so far
on the project.
MR. DASHER presented slides that showed the site near Point
Hope where Project Chariot began as a program that would
have blasted a harbor at Point Hope, and became an
experimental large-scale biological study. He said the
project became controversial and was discontinued in 1962.
The U.S. Geological Survey had conducted research at the
site to test the effects of radiation on drinking water, and
nuclear fall-out material was brought to the Snowbank Creek
site. He told the committee that the experiments were
conducted with minimum safeguards, and when the project was
discontinued, the radioactive soil was dumped and mixed with
other materials, and covered in mounds that were only
temporarily marked. The identifying markers are no longer
visible, he explained.
MR. DASHER said that in August of 1992, a researcher from
the University of Alaska found the materials, and since that
time, Senator Frank Murkowski had held hearings, and the
U.S. Department of Energy took responsibility, and has
prepared a clean-up plan, which he said was currently in the
public review and comment phase.
Number 490
MR. DASHER explained that after the clean-up, long-term
monitoring would be conducted, and the land would finally be
turned over to the Native Corporation. Of approximately
1,500 pounds of material that had been buried, he said 43.5
pounds have been hauled up. He estimated that the actual
radioactive isotopes remaining in the materials are about
equal to the size of a penny. He said that studies of the
material that had been recovered showed very low levels of
radiation. One major concern related to the project, he
said, had to do with classified data, and suspicions that
some other activities may have occurred besides those that
are known.
REPRESENTATIVE JOE GREEN asked Mr. Dasher what the half-life
of the radioactive materials was, and whether the materials
would still be strongly radioactive.
Number 512
MR. DASHER answered that the type of radioactive material
found at the site was CCM-137, with a half-life of 30-years.
Another substance, iodine-131, has a half-life of 8.7 days.
Strontium-85, he added, was around 60 days. After seven
half-lives, he explained, the radioactivity of those
materials is not detectable. Mr. Dasher told the committee
that the materials could have all been hauled out of the
area on a barge when the project was completed, and they
were cited by the Atomic Energy Commission, and ended up
getting permission to leave the materials at the site from
the Atomic Energy Commission. At the time, the commission
did not cite a significant health risk, Mr. Dasher
commented, but a future public relations problem was
predicted.
Number 535
REPRESENTATIVE CON BUNDE raised concerns that the clean-up
might disturb materials and actually cause more problems
than if the site was left alone. He suggested the clean-up
program should be driven by sound scientific principles and
not be P.R.-driven. Regarding the declassification of
information, he asked whether that process was happening
rapidly so any additional activities not now known would be
made public.
MR. DASHER addressed Representative Bunde's concern about
disturbing and moving radioactive materials, and stated that
the risk would primarily be the possibility of accidents in
the transportation of the material. He noted that nothing
found to date indicated a health risk posed by the mounds,
and that the perception of a threat was creating stress more
than any actual threat. In particular, he noted the concerns
held by the owner of land downstream on Snowbank Creek, Mr.
Wilbur Lane, as well as concerns that the lands would
eventually be turned over to the Native Corporation for
allotments in the area. At a meeting of the Science
Advisory Committee, Mr. Dasher commented, the possibility
was raised that it could be better to leave the mounds. He
explained that there was no consensus on that question, but
more would be known after the closing of the public comment
phase on the Department of Energy plan, on March 24, 1993.
Number 559
MR. DASHER addressed the question regarding the classified
data, and said that 24 or 26 documents have been released.
The two remaining documents, he said, pertain to a bomb and
will not be released. He also referred to other data in
storage in Germantown, Maryland which was in the process of
being declassified and would then be released. Boxes of
other unclassified information have already been sent to
Point Hope, he added.
Number 570
CHAIRMAN WILLIAMS noted for the record that Representative
Finkelstein had joined the meeting at 8:40 a.m.
VICE CHAIRMAN BILL HUDSON brought up the question of
reimbursement to the state of expenses incurred in the
project. He asked Mr. Treadwell the status of that issue.
Number 585
MR. TREADWELL replied that there are a number of federal
contaminated sites in Alaska, and with various federal
agencies, the state has cost-reimbursable agreements,
including the Corps of Engineers and the Department of
Defense. The two sites overseen by the Department of Energy
include the Point Hope site and the bomb blast site at
Amchitka. Mr. Treadwell said the state was negotiating an
agreement to reimburse costs forward and back. He noted
that Senator Ted Stevens got a million dollar appropriation
in 1992, and that it was anticipated full reimbursement
would be received.
Number 598
VICE CHAIRMAN HUDSON raised concerns about radioactive
materials being dumped by Russia and the former Soviet
Union, and asked Mr. Treadwell to comment on the threats
posed in the Arctic.
MR. TREADWELL apprised the committee on the existence of the
Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy, which he said was
an agreement among eight nations concerned about Russian
radiation. The group, he said, had a delegation meeting in
late March, 1993, in Copenhagen to review the work being
done by the eight nations to bring information forward.
Governor Hickel had written to the Secretary of State Warren
Christopher urging a better emergency notification network
from Russian nuclear power plants. He also referred to a
federal appropriation of $30 million and two pending
University of Alaska research proposals that hope to have
funding.
Number 624
REPRESENTATIVE GREEN asked Mr. Treadwell to comment on the
plans for the two sites previously mentioned, at Fort Greely
and Amchitka.
MR. TREADWELL said the Amchitka site had been a deep
underground blast, which might have caused some
contamination of ground water in a period of years. He said
the DEC was working with the federal Department of Energy to
ensure there would be monitoring of the site. The Fort
Greely project, he said, had been one of the first small
nuclear reactors developed, and it was shut down in the
1970's. Decommissioning nuclear power plants has been a
problem, he explained, and he said the contaminated soil was
being moved to a long-term disposal site in Hanford,
Washington.
Number 650
MR. TREADWELL continued by describing efforts to encourage
Russia to deal with potential nuclear facility accidents
which, because of the proximity to Alaska, could pose health
threats in Alaska. He noted that there are sites within a
day's air movement of Alaska.
Number 660
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN DAVIES asked Mr. Treadwell to comment on
the DEC's current ideas relating to seeking primacy on
nuclear regulation in Alaska, and plans for improving the
state's own monitoring capabilities.
Number 668
MR. TREADWELL responded that currently, for nuclear
materials that are used in Alaska, licensing is done by the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Some is done under general
permits, he explained, and some of those are difficult to
track exactly what nuclear devices are being used in the
state. The U.S. Army, he said, is given world-wide license
to use their Radioactive Thermal Generators (RTG) anywhere.
He said some licenses are classified, but that the DEC had
received information on the RTG at Fairway Rock in the
Bering Sea. He explained that if the state of Alaska were
to ask for primacy from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC) for licensing of nuclear materials, the DEC believes
the current fees charged by the NRC could pay for the
program.
MR. TREADWELL noted that the state has asked for a stronger
partnership with the NRC. Revenues from the fees charged if
the state had primacy, he said, could help pay for more up-
to-date inspection of X-Ray facilities in the state. He
suggested the committee take on the matter as an interim
project.
REPRESENTATIVE GREEN asked whether the state would incur any
liability if it assumed primacy.
Number 698
MR. TREADWELL replied that he did not believe the state
would incur any greater liability if it were the sovereign
than it incurs for any other regulations. The problem with
the NRC, he said, has to do with the inspections based in
Walnut Creek, California, and the fact that Alaska has no
central record-keeping.
TAPE 93-32, SIDE B
Number 000
REPRESENTATIVE GREEN returned to the concerns raised over
airborne radiation threats from Russia, and asked whether
precipitation in the form of rainfall and snow tends to
clear the air somewhat of radioactive contaminants.
MR. TREADWELL replied that one of the things being addressed
through the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy, as
well as the Northern Forum, is an attempt to get a better
handle on information regarding materials deposited in
Alaskan streams and lakes from airborne precipitation.
Airborne fall-out from Russian testing does settle out in
precipitation over time, he explained. A major concern now,
he said, is the fact that there have been many nuclear
explosions in Russia with poor monitoring and safety
precautions. Isotopes and heavy metals, he said, are
showing up in the food chain, and the basic effort with the
international community is to find out where it's coming
from.
Number 079
MR. TREADWELL referred to the U.S. approval of a $13 billion
aid package to Russia, and at the request of Alaska's DEC,
Senator Murkowski included a request that part of that aid
package be used to work on environmental problems that have
a potential threat in the United States. Given Alaska's
proximity to Russia, he said it was a high priority to
respond to the fall-out threat.
Number 099
CHAIRMAN WILLIAMS thanked the representatives of the DEC for
their presentation, and said that in the interest of time,
the committee would proceed with its agenda.
REPRESENTATIVE JEANNETTE JAMES distributed for members'
attention a draft position statement on the Mental Health
Lands Trust issue. (A copy of this draft may be found in
the House Resources Committee Room, Capitol Room 124, and
after the adjournment of the second session of the 18th
Alaska State Legislature, in the Legislative Reference
Library.)
Number 104
CHAIRMAN WILLIAMS announced that the remainder of the
meeting would be held by teleconference with sites in
Anchorage, Kodiak, Mat-Su and Fairbanks, to hear testimony
on the next item for the committee's consideration, HB 201.
HB 201: MENTAL HEALTH TRUST AMENDMENTS
CHAIRMAN WILLIAMS noted that since the bill's hearing on
March 12, a coalition of parties had been working with the
Resources committee staff on developing amendments to the HB
201.
Number 135
RICK JOHANSSEN, AN ATTORNEY REPRESENTING USIBELLI MINES,
spoke by teleconference from Anchorage to explain the
amendments to HB 201 developed by the coalition. (A copy of
the proposed amendments may be found in the House Resources
Committee Room, Capitol Room 124, and after the adjournment
of the second session of the 18th Alaska State Legislature,
in the Legislative Reference Library.) He said the
coalition was comprised of two of the four plaintiff groups
in the Weiss litigation; representatives of development
interests, including the Alaska Coal Association, the Alaska
Miners Association, and the Resource Development Council;
the oil company interveners in the Weiss litigation,
including Marathon and Unocal; and, all the public interest
interveners in the Weiss litigation.
Of those eight public interest intervening groups, MR.
JOHANSSEN said some are environmental organizations, and
others include the Alaska Sportfishing Association, and the
Susitna Valley Association.
Number 168
MR. JOHANSSEN explained that because of the complicated
legal aspects of the issues, the coalition groups were
represented by attorneys in developing the amendments to HB
201. He referred specifically to amendments E.1 and E.5,
and said they were products of the coalition's work. With
those amendments, he added, the coalition believes HB 201
addressed most of the legal problems associated with Chapter
66. The amendment's were also intended to address the legal
concerns of the Department of Law, he said.
Number 197
MR. JOHANSSEN addressed amendment E.1, and said the first
change it makes is to eliminate Section 3 of HB 201, leaving
AS 37.14.031 in place in Chapter 66. He said the
plaintiff's representatives in the coalition had wanted the
income and proceeds of original mental health trust lands to
go into the trust corpus, but the Department of Law felt
this would violate the terms of the original 1956 Enabling
Act. To eliminate that potential problem, he explained, the
coalition had agreed it was best to have all income and
proceeds go to the trust income account as established in
Chapter 66.
MR. JOHANSSEN explained the second change amendment E.1
proposed for HB 201, which would amend the collateral
provision of the bill by clarifying that the pledged
Legislatively Designated Areas (LDA) could continue to be
developed by the state to the extent the law governing any
particular LDA allows. The Department of Law, he said,
expressed concerns that the pledge of those lands as
security could prevent the state from doing anything that
could diminish or impair the value of the collateral.
Number 217
MR. JOHANSSEN addressed amendment E.5, and referred to a
document in members' packets which he said contained a
detailed explanation of that amendment. Amendment E.5, he
explained, contained three substantive provisions: The
first of these, he said, was a land management provision;
second was a public interest safeguard provision; and third,
a definition of unrestricted general fund revenues. The
land management provision, he said, was the "meat" of the
amendment. It requires, he explained, the trust to take
original mental health trust lands back subject to existing
third party interests, such as leases, contracts, and land
use permits.
MR. JOHANSSEN said amendment E.5 also requires that the
Department of Natural Resources (DNR) manage the lands under
the rules and regulations that the third parties bargained
for. He likened that provision to a grandfather clause that
protects third party interest holders' contract rights.
MR. JOHANSSEN continued his explanation by saying that in
exchange for allowing their properties to go back to the
reconstituted trust, the third party interest holders, such
as the owners of coal leases and mining claims, would be
guaranteed the rules of the game would not change as long as
the third party interests remained in effect. Alaska
Statutes 38.04 and 38.05, he said, and the corresponding DNR
regulations, would continue to apply to those lands. All
other original mental health trust lands, he added, being
returned to the reconstituted trust, which are vacant,
unappropriated and unreserved, and not subject to any third
party interest, would be managed under whatever land
management standard the trust authority might adopt.
Number 275
MR. JOHANSSEN addressed the second of the three substantive
provisions of amendment E.5, the public interest safeguards
provision. Reconstituted trust lands not grandfathered
because there were no existing third party rights, he
explained, could be managed by the trust authority or by the
DNR as the trust authority's contractor, without compliance
to AS 38.04 and 38.05, including the public interest
safeguards in those statutes. To protect HB 201 from
constitutional challenges because the constitution prohibits
land disposal without prior public notice, amendment E.5
would require multiple purpose use of trust lands, while
recognizing that with respect to non-grandfathered land,
trust principles must take priority if they conflict with
the objectives of multiple purpose use.
MR. JOHANSSEN added that the amendment also requires public
notice of land disposals. He then addressed the third
substantive provision of amendment E.5 to HB 201. This
provision, he explained, defined unrestricted general fund
revenues. The definition ties the meaning of the phrase to
the current manner in which money is categorized under the
statewide accounting system. No limitation, he said, is
placed on the power of the people or the legislature to
restrict general fund revenues. Any such future
restrictions, he said, would be disregarded for purposes of
calculating the amount that is paid to the trust income
account.
MR. JOHANSSEN noted that the three percent provided in HB
201 would be calculated based on the way state funds are
categorized today, even though the state accounting
categorizations might change for other purposes in the
future. He commented that the coalition had done its best
to keep the other plaintiffs and the Department of Law
informed of its positions and activities. He said the
coalition fully recognizes that any dispute as complicated
as this would generate differences of opinion and
misunderstanding. He said the coalition would welcome the
comments of the other plaintiff's attorneys and of the
Department of Law.
Number 342
MR. JOHANSSEN addressed a third amendment to HB 201,
referred to as amendment E.6, and described it as making no
substantive alteration to the provisions of the bill or the
E.1 or E.5 amendments.
CHAIRMAN WILLIAMS asked Mr. Johanssen to comment on a
reference in a press release from the governor's office that
set a 60-day deadline to reach agreement on releasing third
parties from the case. Specifically, he asked how that
deadline would affect HB 201.
Number 359
MR. JOHANSSEN replied that HB 201 also relieves third
parties. The press release, he explained, pertains to the
"moms and pops" and under HB 201, the land they owned would
not be reconstituted to the trust. As to whether or not the
attorney general's actions with respect to those parties,
obviates the need for legislation, the answer, he said, was
no. Legislation, he said, was necessary to protect the
other parties tied up in the litigation in the Superior
Court. Without legislation, he predicted litigation would
go on and on.
REPRESENTATIVE PAT CARNEY commented that in order to solve
the problem of the mental health trust, a bilateral
agreement by both parties would be needed. He asked Mr.
Johanssen whether he had talked with members of the mental
health group about the proposed amendments to HB 201.
MR. JOHANSSEN responded that two of those plaintiffs's
representatives were in the coalition, and other parties
were kept informed. Regarding the other representatives,
David Walker and Jim Gottstein, Mr. Johanssen said the
coalition had done its best to keep them informed, and hoped
to have substantive comments from them soon. He said the
coalition would like to work with those other parties to
resolve the dispute.
Number 383
VICE CHAIRMAN HUDSON referred to amendment E.5, page 2, and
the definition of unrestricted revenues. He asked Mr.
Johanssen to explain the effect in terms of allocated funds
and whether they were excluded from the unrestricted general
funds.
Number 397
MR. JOHANSSEN believed that was the intent, especially with
the budget reserve fund. He viewed that as a restricted
fund, and said the percentage calculation was based only on
unrestricted general funds. It would not include money
deposited into the budget reserve fund, he said. Regarding
the state's recent oil company settlement receipt, and the
question of whether that money would by law be required to
be deposited into the budget reserve fund, he said the
percentage would not be calculated using those numbers if
the money did go into the budget reserve fund.
Number 410
VICE CHAIRMAN HUDSON asked about the earnings reserve
account of the permanent fund and whether that would figure
into calculations of the percentage called for in HB 201.
MR. JOHANSSEN replied that it would not.
BRIAN BJORKQUIST, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, testified from
Anchorage by teleconference. He said the state had received
the amendments submitted by the coalition and was in the
process of reviewing them. He noted that the DNR was
reviewing the amendments to look for any technical problems
that could hinder the coalition accomplishing its goals, and
would prepare a memorandum in response by Tuesday, March 23,
1993.
Number 430
MR. BJORKQUIST remarked that the memorandum would address
ambiguities in the amendments as to who would be responsible
for different types of management authority and decision-
making authority. He said the amendments to HB 201 left
some overlapping management and decision-making amendments
which would require some technical amendments to alleviate
those concerns.
CHAIRMAN WILLIAMS announced the committee would next take
testimony from Fairbanks.
ROGER BURGGRAF testified by teleconference from Fairbanks.
He spoke in support of the proposed amendments to HB 201,
and stated that Chapter 66 was dead if left as it was. He
cautioned that without fast action, resolution of the mental
health lands trust issue could be dragged out for years.
Number 495
CHARLIE BODDY, USIBELLI COAL CO., testified by
teleconference from Fairbanks. He said he was in agreement
with the comments of Mr. Johanssen, and supported the
efforts for resolution of the issue.
Number 502
HAROLD GILLAM, testified from Fairbanks, and suggested that
the committee seek resolution of the mental health lands
trust issue. He felt the state had come to the best
decision that was in keeping with the dictates of the
Supreme Court. He expressed distress over the activities of
lawyers and the failure to reach an agreement.
Number 539
CHAIRMAN WILLIAMS, hearing that no others wished to testify
by teleconference, announced that HB 201 would be taken up
again on Wednesday, March 24, 1993.
VICE CHAIRMAN HUDSON noted that there were still parties to
the issue who had not yet been heard, including David Walker
and Jim Gottstein.
Number 561
REPRESENTATIVE JEANNETTE JAMES echoed Representative
Hudson's remarks and stressed the need for everyone to agree
to a solution.
REPRESENTATIVE CARNEY suggested that as follow-up to the
comments made during the meeting, committee staff should
contact Mr. Walker and Mr. Gottstein to get their comments
on HB 201 and the proposed amendments.
CHAIRMAN WILLIAMS agreed that this would be done for the
March 24th meeting.
Number 580
ANNOUNCEMENTS
CHAIRMAN WILLIAMS announced that on Monday, March 22nd, the
committee would meet to hear HB 213 and HB 238. He also
announced that he was waiving HB 191, having to do with cost
recovery by contract operators of state-owned hatcheries.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before the House
Resources Committee, Chairman Williams adjourned the meeting
at 9:35 a.m.
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