00                       SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 7                                                                     
01 Opposing former United States Secretary of the Interior Babbitt's rescission of a United                                
02 States Department of the Interior directive prohibiting the United States Bureau of                                     
03 Land Management from considering Alaska land for designation as wilderness and                                          
04 urging the reinstatement of that directive.                                                                             
05 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
06       WHEREAS, in 1981, then United States Secretary of the Interior James Watt issued a                              
07 directive that prohibited the United States Bureau of Land Management from considering any                              
08 of the 80,000,000 acres the bureau manages in Alaska for designation as wilderness under the                            
09 National Wilderness Preservation System; and                                                                            
10       WHEREAS, on January 18, 2001, on one of his last days in office, United States                                
11 Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt rescinded this 19-year-old directive without public                             
12 comment or consultation with Alaska; and                                                                                
13       WHEREAS the rescission is improper without public comment and the participation                                 
14 of Alaska, is not in the best interests of the state, and should be reinstated by the incoming                          
15 administration;                                                                                                         
01       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature opposes the rescission of this                                 
02 Department of the Interior directive; and be it                                                                         
03       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the swift                                              
04 reinstatement of the directive by the administration of President George W. Bush.                                       
05       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable George W. Bush, President                              
06 of the United States; the Honorable Gale Norton, United States Secretary of the Interior-                               
07 designee; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S.                                      
08 Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska                                       
09 delegation in Congress.