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