Legislature(2017 - 2018)BUTROVICH 205
04/09/2018 03:30 PM Senate RESOURCES
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| Adjourn |
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| *+ | SR 9 | TELECONFERENCED | |
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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE RESOURCES STANDING COMMITTEE
April 9, 2018
3:30 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Cathy Giessel, Chair
Senator John Coghill, Vice Chair
Senator Bert Stedman
Senator Kevin Meyer
Senator Bill Wielechowski
Senator Click Bishop
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Natasha von Imhof
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 9
Relating to management of public land and resources in the
state.
- MOVED SR 9 OUT OF COMMITTEE
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: SR 9
SHORT TITLE: PUBLIC LAND/RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
SPONSOR(s): RESOURCES
04/04/18 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
04/04/18 (S) RES
04/09/18 (S) RES AT 3:30 PM BUTROVICH 205
WITNESS REGISTER
RANDY RUARO, Staff to the Budget and Audit Committee (LB&A) and
Senator Stedman
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on SR 9.
CHAD HUTCHISON, Staff to Senator Majority and Senator Coghill
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on SR 9.
ACTION NARRATIVE
3:30:09 PM
CHAIR CATHY GIESSEL called the Senate Resources Standing
Committee meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. Present at the call to
order were Senators Stedman, Meyer, Bishop, Coghill,
Wielechowski, and Chair Giessel.
SR 9-PUBLIC LAND/RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
3:30:44 PM
CHAIR GIESEL announced consideration of SR 9, introduced by the
Senate Resources Committee. Alaska's lands are the focal point
of contention for fish, wildlife, development, access, and other
issues affecting Alaska's families, businesses, and jobs and the
Citizen's Advisory Commission on Federal Areas (CACFA) has been
the mainstay in protecting Alaska's interests. Today they would
hear a resolution that calls on this organization's
recommendations to be heeded and cautions about the unique
issues and opportunities the federal government presents.
3:31:45 PM
CHAD HUTCHISON, Staff to the Senate Majority and Senator
Coghill, Alaska State Legislature, said the primary focus of SR
9 is to talk about the good work related to the Citizens
Advisory Commission on Federal Areas (CACFA). He would also talk
about one of its special subcommittees known as the Alaska State
Lands Advisory Group (ASLAG). The petition is a work product of
both of those organizations talking about some of the
state/federal relationships as they have developed over the
years and some of the action points moving forward that may be
helpful from a state sovereignty perspective.
A brief history: CACFA was originated in 1981 right after the
adoption of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act
(ANILCA) in 1980. The commission is made up of 12 commissioners:
6 appointed by the governor and 6 appointed by the legislature:
3 each from the Senate and House. Why? ANILCA added over 100
million acres of federal conservation system units (CSU) in
Alaska, and that included refuges, parks, and forests. The key
distinction with ANILCA lands is they are all supposed to be
managed differently in the State of Alaska than they were in the
Lower 48. Once the 100 million acres were added, the federal
CSUs added up to 222 million acres. One of the predominant
promises given to the State of Alaska when this occurred was
that Alaskans were still allowed access and the continued
ability to develop its natural resources. The question post-1980
has always been if the federal government has adhered to those
promises. The answer in many cases is no.
3:34:15 PM
Some of the land management designation plans have restricted
access as it relates to ATV travel. The Sturgeon case is a great
example of the questions over jurisdiction of navigable waters
in federal park system units and there are many other examples,
Kantishna for one, of regulations making development cost-
prohibitive.
MR. HUTCHISON said the broken promises can be seen in the
petition that was filed by ASLAG, and CACFA is the organization
that monitors both. It is the agency that would take action in
coordination with the Department of Law (DOL) to ensure there is
a conduit for the voices of every-day Alaskans on these issues.
CACFA provides a valuable service that works with the federal
delegation on crafting policy, law, and amendments, and with the
administration on lawsuits and things of that nature.
3:36:20 PM
He said that Senator Coghill had been on CACFA for a couple of
years. The reality is that a lot of the federal agencies have to
go through an education process; for one thing, a lot of the
decision makers live in Washington, D.C., or Seattle, and the
ones based on Anchorage would be from Montana or Washington. So,
their analysis as to federal land management in their previous
home state is different from how it exists in Alaska.
CACFA is a good conduit to help educate the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) and U.S. Park Service staff who administer and
implement ANILCA at the federal level and who would be learning
about ANILCA for the very first time, so they could get it right
more often than not. Education is a continual process because of
staff turnover.
MR. HUTCHISON said the reason CACFA is so effective is that they
routinely work with DNR and DOL to bring forward historical
knowledge related to how federal land management is implemented
in Alaska. Some of these successes are issues related to the
Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) leasing, leasing in the National
Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), and the road through the
Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. They do this by using the
Congressional Review Act (CRA) to overturn what are essentially
unilateral U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service policies on refuges.
Even when CACFA didn't exist, many advocates were making sure
the federal delegation was aware of some of the problems that
occurred on the lands managed by BLM.
3:39:55 PM
Another outstanding issue relates to the "no more clause" in
section 13.26 of ANILCA. Many view the BLM as managing areas of
critical environmental concern as "defacto wilderness
designations." Of course, they are supposed to be managed for
multi-use.
He said one of the bigger action points regarding the petition
is that a large portion of the lands managed by BLM are is
supposed to be for multi-use. Those conveyances have state
oversight in order for it to develop natural resources - whether
it be timber or mines - and to ensure that development is
responsible. By ensuring that the state has control, one avoids
the political dynamics that may exist within the current
national executive administration and have less unilateral
movement by the federal agency as it relates to the land in
question: for instance, predator control in refuges, the mirror
image of ongoing litigation in the preserves, and the Sturgeon
navigable waters issue.
3:44:10 PM
RANDY RUARO, staff to Senator Stedman, Alaska State Legislature,
added that an overwhelming amount of federal agency activities
need to be watched and CACFA performs that function. The most
obvious way the federal government can affect Alaska is through
its formal land management plans that usually involve an
environmental impact statement (Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS). Just during the Obama administration, they had outer
continental shelf (OCS) planning, ocean zoning, National
Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), the eastern Interior, Alaska
National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), and the Tongass. On top of
those land management plans, add the danger from the Endangered
Species Act (ESA) and Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).
Taking all of those acts together, probably not much of Alaska
isn't affected by federal land management plans.
MR. RUARO said the state also has to watch out for policy
changes that affect Alaska land use in a manual that is
basically a secretarial order that has no notice: for example,
the Wildlands Initiative by Department of the Interior Secretary
Salazar and the Sturgeon case that came out of a land management
plan in 1996, the Earthworks lawsuit affecting federal mining
claims across the United States. In 2016, the Federal Register
had 97,000 pages of filings and the Sturgeon case changed the
entire management structure for submerged lands in 30 words on a
single page of regs. It's an incredibly large and diverse amount
of agency action to watch and CACFA does that.
3:47:18 PM
In conclusion, he said CACFA's vigilance is needed to keep track
of the sheer volume and ways that federal land management can
affect Alaska; the consequences can be very significant for not
keeping up with them and bringing challenges where appropriate.
SENATOR COGHILL related that Alaska was purchased by the federal
government, then it had the Territorial and Organic Acts.
Congress has been in control of Alaska for all these years, and
while all other states have only a statehood compact which they
get to appeal to as their singular document, Alaska also has
ANCSA and ANILCA, which play out how conservation lands would be
used. Now Congress, instead of looking at a statehood compact,
sees Alaska through a series of laws. The trouble is that they
can change the whole compact by changing a regulation or just
putting forth a guidance that can overrule a compact. Then
there's the Endangered Species Act. Congress has to give
Alaskans better protection, because of the various guidances
which are all very unique. He said ASLAG is a subcommittee of
CACFA and proposes some far-reaching questions: either let us
co-manage it with you, close it off, or give it back, "but this
death by a thousand definitions has got to quit."
3:52:59 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL said that ASLAG petition is posted on-line and it
is a great historic document in terms of our land management.
She asked what kind of funding CACFA had that has gone away.
MR. HUTCHISON answered the last time CACFA was allocated funding
was in the 2016 operating budget. It was funded for $272,000 for
one permanent full-time position and one permanent part-time
position. By the time CACFA had run its course, achieving
efficiencies on the way, there was only one full-time position,
so if funding was ever to start back up again it would probably
be for less than the $272,000.
3:54:26 PM
SENATOR COGHILL said he and Senator Bishop tried to get that
into the budget, but the $200,000 wasn't entirely for the
executive director who knew the structure and the laws; it was
primarily for facilitating citizens to have input into federal
issues. They could enlist a broader constituency, a huge benefit
for Alaska for that small dollar amount.
3:55:42 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL asked when the joint land use council went away.
MR. HUTCHISON replied the joint land use council between the
federal and state governments and the regional Native
corporations went away in 1990, 10 years after ANILCA.
SENATOR COGHILL said there was a strong disagreement between the
governor who was not getting information from the federal
government at that point, although there is probably more to the
story. But significant issues have been identified that need to
be dealt with because someone from Indiana, for instance, has
the same standing on an Alaska issue as an Alaskan resident. So,
the state is trying to elevate its voice with the federal
agencies.
3:57:21 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL asked committee members if they had any possible
amendments to this resolution and noted that a longer version
wasn't moving on the House side. Consequently, she asked the
sponsor it they could condense it to a shorter version, and that
is how they arrived at this document with Senator Coghill's
assistance.
3:57:58 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL, finding no committee comments, opened public
comment. Finding no comments, she closed public testimony.
SENATOR MEYER asked if the Laundry House supports this.
SENATOR COGHILL answered yes.
SENATOR COGHILL moved to report SR 9, version 30-LS1541\A, from
committee with individual recommendations and attached zero
fiscal note(s). There were no objections and it was so ordered.
3:59:24 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL adjourned the Senate Resources Standing Committee
at 3:59 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| Senate Resources Hearing Agenda - 4 - 6 - 18.pdf |
SRES 4/9/2018 3:30:00 PM |
|
| SR9 - Version A.PDF |
SRES 4/9/2018 3:30:00 PM |
SR 9 |
| SR9 - Fiscal Note - Senate Resources - 4 - 6 - 18.pdf |
SRES 4/9/2018 3:30:00 PM |
SR 9 |
| SR9 - Supporting Document - ASLAG Report.pdf |
SRES 4/9/2018 3:30:00 PM |
SR 9 |