ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE  HOUSE RESOURCES STANDING COMMITTEE  February 10, 2014 1:06 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Representative Eric Feige, Co-Chair Representative Peggy Wilson, Vice Chair Representative Mike Hawker Representative Craig Johnson Representative Kurt Olson Representative Paul Seaton Representative Scott Kawasaki Representative Geran Tarr MEMBERS ABSENT  Representative Dan Saddler, Co-Chair COMMITTEE CALENDAR  HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 15 Supporting the introduction and enactment of federal legislation acknowledging that the federal government is financially responsible under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act for the remediation of contaminated land subject to conveyance under the Act. - MOVED CSHJR 15(RES) OUT OF COMMITTEE PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION  BILL: HJR 15 SHORT TITLE: FEDERAL CONTAMINATION OF ANCSA LANDS SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) MILLETT 03/27/13 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS 03/27/13 (H) RES 02/10/14 (H) RES AT 1:00 PM BARNES 124 WITNESS REGISTER REPRESENTATIVE CHARISSE MILLETT Alaska State Legislature Juneau, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: As the sponsor, introduced HJR 15. VASILIOS "Akis" GIALOPSOS, Staff Representative Charisse Millet Alaska State Legislature Juneau, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: On behalf Representative Millett, provided additional details regarding HJR 15. JAELEEN ARAUJO, Vice President & General Counsel Sealaska Corporation Juneau, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Spoke in support of HJR 15. CYNTHIA BERNS, Vice President of Corporate Affairs Old Harbor Native Corporation Anchorage, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Spoke in support of HJR 15. DELBERT REXFORD, Vice President of Land Fulfillment Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation Barrow, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Spoke in support of HJR 15. DOROTHY SHOCKLEY, President Bean Ridge Corporation Manley Hot Springs, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Spoke in support of HJR 15. MAVER CAREY Chair, Alaska Native Village CEO Association (ANVCA) President & CEO, The Kuskokwim Corporation (TKC) Anchorage, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Spoke in support of HJR 15. BRENAN CAIN, Chair, Land Committee Alaska Native Village CEO Association (ANVCA) Anchorage, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Spoke in support of HJR 15. JULIANNA SHANE Tanadgusix (TDX) Corporation Anchorage, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Spoke in support of HJR 15. ACTION NARRATIVE 1:06:21 PM CO-CHAIR ERIC FEIGE called the House Resources Standing Committee meeting to order at 1:06 p.m. Representatives Olson, Johnson, Seaton, Hawker, and Feige were present at the call to order. Representatives P. Wilson, Tarr, and Kawasaki arrived as the meeting was in progress. HJR 15-FEDERAL CONTAMINATION OF ANCSA LANDS  1:06:43 PM CO-CHAIR FEIGE announced that the only order of business is HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 15, Supporting the introduction and enactment of federal legislation acknowledging that the federal government is financially responsible under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act for the remediation of contaminated land subject to conveyance under the Act. 1:07:05 PM REPRESENTATIVE CHARISSE MILLETT, Alaska State Legislature, noted that the [1971] Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was passed to settle land claims between Alaska Natives and the federal government. However, due diligence on many of the lands transferred to the Native corporations did not include a guarantee that the land was uncontaminated. Of the lands now in custody of Native corporations, 650 sites are contaminated; for example, some were White Alice sites, some were atomic bomb testing sites, and some were testing for different oil drilling methods. Liability for cleanup of these sites is now in the hands of the Native corporations, which is not just, right, or fair. This does not embody what ANCSA was designed to do, which was to give the lands to the Native people so they could profit and benefit from them. If Native corporations are held responsible for cleaning up these lands, they will be greatly in the hole [financially]. 1:09:34 PM REPRESENTATIVE MILLETT said HJR 15 asks the federal government to take responsibility for the 650 contaminated sites or to make the [corporations] whole through a transfer of uncontaminated lands. Most of the village and tribal corporations selected lands surrounding the areas they were from to benefit their shareholders through subsistence and other things. It would therefore be tough for some of the areas to have a land switch because it would not be in close proximity to the villages or corporation locations. This resolution asks the federal government to take responsibility, hold harmless the Native corporations, and to clean up the 650 contaminated sites so profits can be seen by the shareholders. REPRESENTATIVE MILLETT related that last year she spent a week in Washington, DC, with Alaska Native village chief executive officers (CEOs). A contingent of about 25 people having contaminated lands travelled to speak with members of Congress as well as [the new Secretary of Interior], Sally Jewell. The federal government and the U.S. Department of Interior have not been too friendly to Alaska. The federal government has treated Alaska as the bastard child and she will continue to fight the federal government on this issue that is incredibly valuable to first nation people, she said. Indigenous people deserve to have clean lands to live on and to profit from, as ANCSA was intended to do. 1:12:52 PM VASILIOS "AKIS" GIALOPSOS, Staff, Representative Charisse Millet, Alaska State Legislature, explained that the introductory analysis states what ANCSA intended, what transpired that brought about the 1998 US Department of Interior report that listed the 650 sites, and the quote from Congressman Don Young saying that it was never the intent of ANCSA to extinguish Native claims for the purpose of conveying contaminated sites. The "Be It Resolved" clause mentions the support that [federal] legislation would need from the [Alaska State Legislature] in terms of urging Congress to pass legislation that would hold the federal government financially responsible for the cleanup of these lands. Regarding to whom copies of HJR 15 should be sent (page 2, line 23), Mr. Gialopsos pointed out that Sally Jewell has replaced Ken Salazar as Secretary of Interior. 1:14:19 PM REPRESENTATIVE MILLETT reported that US Senator Lisa Murkowski, US Senator Mark Begich, and Congressman Don Young have written letters to the Department of Interior urging the department to update its 1998 report in order to ensure no contaminated sites have been overlooked. She further reported that Pat Pourchot of the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has promised to make updating the report a priority as soon as funding is received. 1:15:39 PM REPRESENTATIVE TARR asked whether any of the remediation costs incurred by the corporations are available to share with the committee. REPRESENTATIVE MILLETT responded some corporations have done some of the cleanup themselves because they were tired of waiting for the federal government. Included in the committee packet is information about Tanadgusix (TDX) Corporation of St. George and St. Paul islands which is doing its own remediation at a cost so far of $76 million. A request has been submitted asking the US Department of Interior to survey sites and provide cleanup cost estimates. However, it is hard to get an estimate of cleanup costs because many times it is unknown what the contamination is, how widespread it is, and whether it needs to be a summer or winter cleanup. Given there are 650 sites, she imagined that the cost is in the billions. 1:17:22 PM REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI, regarding the third "Whereas" clause, understood the sponsor is not claiming that the federal government knew or intentionally gave contaminated lands. REPRESENTATIVE MILLETT replied she does not believe it was done out of malice; those were the lands selected by the corporations and there was no due diligence. She said she is not going to say it is either the federal government's fault or the Native corporations' fault for not doing due diligence. However, when one receives land in an agreement between the federal government and a Native corporation as a final repayment, one would expect the land to be useable and in good condition. While she has no reason to believe this was done knowingly or with malice, it was done 650 different times. She said she is leaving judgment to committee members about how serious the federal government was about fulfilling its promise to the Native corporations. 1:18:51 PM CO-CHAIR FEIGE asked whether it is fair to say the contamination may have occurred in the 1950s and 1960s, but the environmental laws that require cleanup were changed subsequent to that. REPRESENTATIVE MILLETT agreed that technology has advanced over the past 70 years and that cleanup done in the 1940s was much different than what it is today. Chemicals may not have been thought of as being toxic until 30 years later when the impacts were felt by the communities. 1:19:45 PM REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI agreed there is a moral obligation for cleanup by the federal government, but asked whether there is a legal obligation. He noted that in ongoing legal cases around the state, it is looking like the last landowner is the most responsible party. REPRESENTATIVE MILLETT answered the federal government owned all of Alaska prior to the transfer of lands to the state and Native corporations. There was no other owner prior to the transfer. REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI observed that the third "Whereas" clause talks about the activities that were allowed or permitted [by the federal government]. He pointed out that the State of Alaska allegedly allowed certain activities to happen on the "Flint Hills" property, which used to be "Williams," and there is a question about who is legally responsible for the cleanup in that case. On the transferred lands there were spills and materials used that are now being classified as hazardous and he therefore wants to understand the legal implications. REPRESENTATIVE MILLETT responded all the testing done in Alaska on federal lands was done by the federal government. Whether or not that was contracted out, it was still the federal government. The atomic bomb tests were done by the federal government, US Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) schools were paid for by the federal government, and the White Alice sites were paid for by the federal government. There was no other property owner or person involved other than the federal government doing the contamination to those lands prior to transfer. CO-CHAIR FEIGE remarked that it is a short title search. 1:22:27 PM CO-CHAIR FEIGE opened public testimony on HJR 15. 1:22:59 PM JAELEEN ARAUJO, Vice President & General Counsel, Sealaska Corporation, spoke in support of HJR 15 on behalf of Sealaska as well as some of its village corporations in which Sealaska owns the subsurface of the surface estate in the villages. She said Sealaska does not know that it has any type of contamination, such as radioactive sites, but several landfills were conveyed through ANCSA to either Sealaska or its village corporations. Because the villages wanted to receive property in their villages they did receive landfills. These landfills pre- existed ANCSA and there are questions about some of the things that were put into these landfills prior to conveyance. For some time Sealaska has been dealing with this and who is responsible for some of these things that pre-existed ANCSA. Therefore, Sealaska supports HJR 15. 1:24:04 PM [CO-CHAIR FEIGE transferred the gavel to Vice Chair P. Wilson.] 1:24:31 PM CYNTHIA BERNS, Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Old Harbor Native Corporation, spoke in support of HJR 15 on behalf of Old Harbor Native Corporation and Carl Marrs, Chief Executive Officer. She said the federal government contaminated the land and needs to be responsible for remediation. The corporation expects the federal government to live by its own policies that it enforces on states and private industry. The contaminations on these lands are causing financial hardship and health concerns to Alaskans. This sensitive issue should not be disregarded. Aboriginal lands have been contaminated and must be cleaned up by the responsible party, which is the federal government. She offered Old Harbor Native Corporation's appreciation for the legislature's support of the people of Alaska to address this sensitive issue. 1:25:44 PM DELBERT REXFORD, Vice President of Land Fulfillment, Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation, noted that Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation is a direct recipient under ANCSA and has five contaminated sites that are under a monitoring program. Within the former Naval Petroleum Reserve Four that was received by the corporation, extensive exploration was done, and contaminants and unknown substances were left all across the tundra. In the mid-1970s to early 1980s, he participated with the labor union on cleanup of the Naval Petroleum Reserve Four. Many of his fellow employees over time have died from different cancers contracted due to exposure and contact with the contaminants. He is concerned about the environmental injustice of the contaminated sites. Today the corporation has 935 acres and is pursuing the balance of its land conveyance entitlements. Because of the contaminated sites, the BLM will not release or make the lands available which are in close or immediate proximity to corporation lands. These lands include the Navy runway, the US Geological Survey (USGS) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) facilities, the former National Weather Service, and the former Indian Public Health Service lands. These lands include contaminants and are a continued health threat to people in the community and people working in those environments. On behalf of the corporation and its 2,500 shareholders, he strongly urged the committee to pass HJR 15. He noted that tomorrow evening is the recognition of a former colleague who passed away of pancreatic cancer and who grew up subsisting in one of the former legacy well areas. These are issues of concern in the villages. 1:29:03 PM REPRESENTATIVE HAWKER thanked Mr. Rexford for pointing out that this issue is far more than just selection of the land itself that was subject to contamination. This systemic and neglectful act by the federal government has truly affected the lives and health of the Inupiat community. 1:29:36 PM VICE CHAIR P. WILSON inquired about the percentage of people who have passed away from cancers resulting from exposure to the contaminants. MR. REXFORD responded that in the Aiken family, Mrs. Aiken has passed away of cancer, her oldest daughter has died of cancer, her second oldest daughter is now fighting cancer, her third daughter has survived cancer, Johnny Lee Aiken passed away last summer, and two other siblings have contracted cancer. This is just one family that did a lot of subsistence in proximity to former legacy wells. He noted he works for Husky Oil at Camp Lonely. With his labor union he has done a lot of tundra cleanup and it is unknown what the workers have come in contact with. Many of his former labor union members have passed on and he feels fortunate to be here today. VICE CHAIR P. WILSON thanked Mr. Rexford for bringing up this issue. 1:31:14 PM DOROTHY SHOCKLEY, President, Bean Ridge Corporation, said she supported HJR 15 on behalf of Bean Ridge Corporation, a village corporation from Manley Hot Springs. She requested an amendment be added that addresses a contaminated area located about a mile from the village where she grew up and is an area where children used to pick berries. The Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (DOT&PF) stored dioxins there that were used for killing weeds along the highways. The Department of Environmental Conservation took away the drums, but the soil remains and was capped this last year because it was too expensive to remove it. She said she would like to see more funding from either the state or federal government to help communities in removing drums. Over the years the legislature has heard so many stories about the many people who are sick with cancer or other diseases. Her father worked for DOT&PF and she assumes he sprayed these dioxins not knowing the danger. He contracted lung disease and was gone within eight months. Northway, Galena, and White Alice are other sites where people have contracted cancer. Much more needs to be done to clean up the state. 1:35:02 PM VICE CHAIR P. WILSON asked how many areas have drums located in them in addition to Northway and Galena. MS. SHOCKLEY replied a lot of stories have been heard from Northway. People have been told that these areas have been cleaned and that tests of the streams and area are negative in regard to contamination. However, the people who live there have stories. In addition, there is Galena and Fort Yukon. Research can be done to look at where the state and federal governments did road or military activities and had White Alice sites. People in these communities did not realize their areas were contaminated and children were playing in them. 1:37:15 PM VICE CHAIR P. WILSON queried about the area cleaned up and capped by DEC. MS. SHOCKLEY answered that Utah is the only place where this type of dioxin is stored. Moving the dirt to Utah was too expensive and too dangerous to move. She said that the area of contaminated dirt is approximately 40 by 20 feet in size. She related that personnel from the company cleaning up the site told her the contaminated dirt is secure, but she questions whether this will be so in 100 years. She understood that to cap the soil, the company dug down about two feet, put down a sheet, put the [contaminated] dirt back in, added more dirt on top followed by another sheet, and then more dirt on top of that. While she has not been back to the site since that work was done last fall, she said she understands it was going to be fenced off. 1:40:52 PM VICE CHAIR P. WILSON inquired whether contaminants could run off the area if it rains. MS. SHOCKLEY posited the contaminant could move downhill when it rains because the site is located on a hill and has been there 50 years or more. When she expressed her concerns to company personnel she was assured that capping would be safe. However, she is not happy about having this contaminated area on the corporation's land. VICE CHAIR P. WILSON requested Ms. Shockley to contact her office so she can ask Ms. Shockley further questions. MS. SHOCKLEY urged that HJR 15 be expanded to include other agencies besides the federal government. VICE CHAIR P. WILSON replied that since the resolution is being sent to the federal government, it should be kept as is. However, a separate bill could perhaps be done for the state. 1:43:25 PM MAVER CAREY, Chair, Alaska Native Village CEO Association (ANVCA); President & CEO, The Kuskokwim Corporation (TKC), stated she is Yupik Eskimo and Athabaskan Indian, and she is the founder and chair of the Alaska Native Village CEO Association (ANVCA), a statewide nonprofit that provides services, training, and advocacy for Alaska Native village corporations. She noted that The Kuskokwim Corporation is comprised of 10 villages along the upper Kuskokwim River upriver from Bethel and represents 3,400 Alaska Native shareholders. She thanked Representative Millett on behalf of both organizations, concurring that the millions of acres of land conveyed by the federal government to Alaska Native corporations included contaminated lands. These lands had several types of hazardous waste and toxic material, such as arsenic, asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), unexploded ordinances, mining waste, chemicals, spilled diesel fuel, petroleum and oil solvents, mercury, and toxic metals. As ANVCA gathers more data about these contaminated sites, it is clear that these sites are contaminating drinking water. Drums of toxics buried in soil are saturating the tundra and infecting the local food and water sources. Former White Alice sites are leaking contaminants such as PCBs and trichloroethylenes (TCEs). The known health effects of these contaminants include cancer, miscarriages, attacks on the nervous system, depression of the immune system, and learning disabilities. These contaminated lands can result in significant health risk to residents, animals, and environment of the state of Alaska. 1:45:45 PM MS. CAREY pointed out that contaminated ANCSA lands have in many instances resulted in significant delays to economic development projects and business investments in Alaska by Native corporations. Almost 20 years after ANCSA was signed into law, the Alaska Native community raised these concerns to the US Department of Interior, the department that conveyed these lands to the Alaska Native corporations. In 1995, Congress directed the Secretary of Interior to prepare a report on these contaminated lands. Entitled "Hazardous Substance Contamination of Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Lands in Alaska," the report was submitted in December 1998 and acknowledged conveying approximately 650 contaminated sites to Alaska Native corporations. It identified numerous types of hazardous waste, such as carcinogens, on the conveyed lands. It recognized the unjustness of conveying contaminated lands to Alaska Native corporations and recommended an approach to thoroughly identify the sites and then clean them up. The report included six specific recommendations in moving forward, but after nearly 20 years none have been carried out. The report has basically sat on a shelf collecting dust. 1:47:32 PM MS. CAREY said the conveyance of significant amounts of contaminated land to Alaska Native corporations is unjust and a smack in the face as to the purpose of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Surely Congress did not intend to stick Alaska Natives with contaminated lands, saturating subsistence foods and compromising the health of Natives. She related her firsthand experience, noting that Red Devil is an abandoned cinnabar and mercury mine at the mouth of Red Devil Creek. This creek flows into the Kuskokwim River where many Kuskokwim Corporation shareholders reside. For more than four decades, Red Devil's piles of mine tailings, underground fuel tanks, and abandoned processing chemicals have been leaking mercury, arsenic, and other toxins into the groundwater and surrounding river systems. Mercury can cause brain damage in infants and young children. People have been told not to eat certain pike and other fish due to the mercury they contain. In this instance, the BLM is responsible for cleaning up Red Devil, which has been sporadic over the last 20 years. Despite the BLM spending over $10 million on cleanup, Red Devil is still not cleaned up. This cost would have bankrupted The Kuskokwim Corporation, given its revenue of only $1.2 million just 10 years ago. Assistance of the Alaska Congressional Delegation has been sought to put pressure on BLM to finalize the cleanup. 1:49:36 PM MS. CAREY said The Kuskokwim Corporation and the Alaska Native Village CEO Association support by HJR 15. The Alaska Delegation has been very supportive of this issue, she reported, and today she is seeking the committee's support. The State of Alaska has an important role in ensuring that these contaminated lands are cleaned up. Specifically, her organizations are asking for five things: 1) pass HJR 15; 2) push the federal government to acknowledge its financial responsibility to clean up the contaminated lands transferred to Alaska Native corporations; 3) urge Alaska's governor to include this as a lobbying priority of his Washington, DC, office; 4) conduct high-level meetings with all relevant federal agencies and identify a lead agency responsible for the timely remediation of each site; and 5) help ANVCA identify sites posing the greatest health risk to Alaska residents. 1:51:01 PM REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI inquired whether the Red Devil mine operator has ever been held responsible or liable for some of the cleanup. MS. CAREY responded she does not know who the operators were because the mine was in operation between 1933 and 1971. She does know, however, that the federal government owned that land. Conveyance of that land has not been taken because it has not been cleaned up and ownership will not be taken until that land is cleaned up. 1:51:54 PM BRENAN CAIN, Chair, Land Committee, Alaska Native Village CEO Association (ANVCA), stated he is testifying in his capacity as chair of the Alaska Native Village CEO Association's Land Committee, but is also Vice President and General Counsel for the Eyak Corporation. He said ANVCA supports HJR 15. The 1998 Department of Interior report is a very significant report, he noted, that includes several good recommendations on pages 35- 36. These recommendations include establishing a forum for ANCSA landowners and federal, state, local, and tribal entities to collaborate on the cleanup of contaminated sites; compiling a comprehensive inventory of contaminated sites; and recommending further cleanup programs and actions. In the report the department states it is going to coordinate the implementation of those recommendations. Yet, 15-20 years later nothing has happened and it is known nothing happened because ANVCA decided to address the lingering issues of contaminated lands. 1:53:12 PM MR. CAIN shared that during 2012 and 2013, ANVCA members met with representatives from the Bureau of Land Management, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of Interior. Those representatives candidly stated that none of the recommendations from the 1998 report had been implemented. The [federal employees] in Alaska that ANVCA has met with and continues to meet with are solid people. The BLM folks have informed ANVCA that BLM is undertaking a review of the 650 contaminated sites to see which are still contaminated. The Alaska Congressional Delegation has been very helpful on this issue. However, this issue has not been resolved and to get the attention it deserves in Washington, DC, it needs visibility and HJR 15 will provide visibility. More significantly, HJR 15 addresses the unjustness of Alaska Native corporations being subject to legal exposure for contamination caused by the federal government. Under federal and state law, Alaska Native corporations are subject to strict liability for contamination on their lands, even if the federal government caused the contamination. Suing the federal government to clean up a site is very difficult because of sovereign immunity. The cost to clean up one of these sites can very easily exceed a million dollars, an amount that can bankrupt most Alaska Native village corporations. A solution to this problem is proposed by HJR 15. The federal government conveyed contaminated lands to Alaska Native corporations through ANCSA; the federal government is financially responsible for the remediation of that land. He reiterated that ANVCA supports HJR 15 and believes this resolution will move this issue forward. VICE CHAIR P. WILSON offered her appreciation for each person's testimony. 1:56:03 PM JULIANNA SHANE, Tanadgusix (TDX) Corporation, testified that Tanadgusix (TDX) Corporation of St. George Island was a good part of the agreement to have its lands cleaned up. The federal government did not phase out St. Paul until 1984. During that time, TDX negotiated with NOAA to have cleanup done on the Pribilof Islands prior to NOAA's leaving; thus, funds came from the federal government to clean up the islands. So far, the total cost for cleaning up both islands is $76 million. Contaminants that were cleaned up came from the federal government as well as the military and included PCBs, asbestos, lead, buildings, and buried equipment. She reported that St. Paul holds the record in Alaska for the highest rate of cancer per capita. She personally has lost family members to brain, stomach, and kidney cancer. In 2013 she lost her husband to lung cancer. Contamination on the islands was extensive with some contamination found 40 feet down to bedrock and some that included a mile of contaminated soil. The corporation trained its own people to do the hazardous waste cleanup, having 99 percent local hire. The corporation grew companies that started on St. Paul and now work nationwide cleaning up contamination. Over this last year the corporation is finally getting lands conveyed back to it and is now potentially able to offer land for lease in the Pribilof Islands for commercial use. Major cleanup was done over a period of 12 years and was completed in about 2000. The reports were completed in about 2003. It is an extensive program, and TDX Corporation understands what the other tribes and villages are looking for and speaks on their behalf that this has to be done for the benefit of their people. The TDX Corporation did its cleanup on behalf of its tribe which is the Aleut people of St. Paul and St. George. This is an urgent cause -- work needs to start today, not tomorrow. 2:00:40 PM VICE CHAIR P. WILSON thanked the witnesses and closed public testimony after ascertaining no one else wished to testify. 2:01:01 PM REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON moved to adopt Conceptual Amendment 1 as follows: Page 2, line 23: Delete "Ken Salazar" Insert "Sally Jewell" REPRESENTATIVE HAWKER objected for discussion purposes. He said he supports the conceptual amendment but suggests expanding it to grant Legislative Legal and Research Services the latitude to review all the names in the resolution because there are other pending appointments. REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON concurred and withdrew Conceptual Amendment 1. 2:02:17 PM REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON moved to adopt Conceptual Amendment 2 as follows: Page 2, line 23, "Ken Salazar" be replaced with "Sally Jewell" and that Legislative Legal and Research Services make other conforming amendments in light of potential changes to the list [of recipients of HJR 15]. There being no objection, Conceptual Amendment 2 was adopted. 2:02:51 PM REPRESENTATIVE HAWKER moved to report HJR 15, as amended, out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying zero fiscal note. REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI objected for discussion purposes. He pointed out Ms. Shockley's statement that DOT&PF is responsible for spilling dioxins. It is easy to bash the federal government and, while this is obviously one of them, members should also focus on the state having responsibilities as well. This could be conferred down the line; for example, a bad operator of a mine that ceases to operate and leaves a mess that needs to be cleaned up. That should not become a Superfund site just for taxpayers to eventually pay. He withdrew his objection. There being no further objection, HJR 15(RES) was reported from the House Resources Standing Committee. 2:04:24 PM ADJOURNMENT  There being no further business before the committee, the House Resources Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at 2:04 p.m.