02/26/2014 03:30 PM Senate RESOURCES

          HJR 15-FEDERAL CONTAMINATION OF ANCSA LANDS                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
3:45:26 PM                                                                                                                    
CHAIR GIESSEL announced HJR 15  to be up for consideration [CSHJR
(RES), version 28-LS071\U, was before the committee].                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
VASILIOS GIALOPSOS,  staff to Representative Millett,  sponsor of                                                               
HJR 15, explained that the  resolution urges the U.S. Congress to                                                               
pass  legislation  to  hold the  federal  government  financially                                                               
responsible  for  contaminated sites  that  were  found on  lands                                                               
conveyed to Native corporations  through the Alaska Native Claims                                                               
Settlement Act (ANCSA). Though the  intentions were good, several                                                               
encumbrances  occurred in  the late  1980s and  early 1990s  that                                                               
culminated in  the U.S. Congress  passing legislation in  1995 to                                                               
have a  report commissioned by  the U.S. Department  of Interior.                                                               
That report  identified 650 such  contaminated sites  that ranged                                                               
in size  and from  a variety  of agencies  and departments  and a                                                               
variety  of  contaminants  (PCPs, arsenic,  mercury,  petroleum);                                                               
many  of the  sites are  in the  area of  living settlements  and                                                               
cultural habitats.                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
3:46:06 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR DYSON joined the committee.                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
MR. GIALOPSOS explained  that lands were conveyed  for a specific                                                               
societal  purpose, but  now have  an additional  encumbrance upon                                                               
the  corporations  and  shareholders. Remediation  costs  in  the                                                               
range from tens of millions to  tens of tens of millions. But the                                                               
main  motivation  was   just  the  hypocrisy  that   there  is  a                                                               
consideration for  wildlife in in  one decision in one  aspect of                                                               
the Department of  the Interior or another  federal department or                                                               
agency and yet the situation is allowed to perpetuate.                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
3:48:31 PM                                                                                                                    
REPRESENTATIVE  MILLETT,  sponsor  of  HJR  15,  said  these  are                                                               
similar  to the  legacy wells  except that  these are  lands that                                                               
were  given to  Native with  the right  to develop,  live on  and                                                               
subsist.  You can't  live  on contaminated  lands  or subsist  on                                                               
them.                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
3:50:05 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR FAIRCLOUGH  said that when  they refer to  "legacy wells"                                                               
that  "travesty" strikes  closer to  the  mark of  what they  are                                                               
trying to say  as far as devastation of the  lands that have been                                                               
left behind.                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
3:51:30 PM                                                                                                                    
MAVER CAREY,  President and CEO, Kuskokwim  Corporation, an ANCSA                                                               
corporation  comprised of  ten villages  upriver from  Bethel all                                                               
the  way up  to Stony  River, said  she is  also Chairman  of the                                                               
Board  of  the Alaska  Native  Village  CEO Association  that  is                                                               
comprised of other village corporations  and their executives and                                                               
9 out  of 13 regional  corporations. When the  federal government                                                               
conveyed millions  of acres of  land to ANCs they  included lands                                                               
contaminated   with    arsenic,   asbestos,    PCBs,   unexploded                                                               
ordinances,   mining  waste   chemicals,  spilled   diesel  fuel,                                                               
petroleum and oil, solvents, toxic  metals, and mercury. As ANVCA                                                               
gathers more data  about these sites, they are  finding even more                                                               
than 650 and contamination in  drinking water and drums of toxins                                                               
buried  in soil  saturating the  tundra and  infecting the  local                                                               
food and water sources. White  Alice sights that were left behind                                                               
after  the Cold  War are  leaking contaminants  such as  PCBs and                                                               
PCEs.  The known  health effects  of these  specific contaminants                                                               
include  cancer, miscarriages,  attacks  on  the central  nervous                                                               
system,  suppression   of  the  immune  system   to  neurological                                                               
learning disabilities. Clearly contaminated  land can result in a                                                               
significant health  risks to  residents of  the State  of Alaska,                                                               
the animals and the environment.                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
3:53:54 PM                                                                                                                    
MS. CAREY  said that almost 20  years after ANCSA was  passed and                                                               
signed  into  law the  Alaska  Native  community has  raised  the                                                               
concern  that  the  Department of  Interior  (DOI)  had  conveyed                                                               
contaminated lands to ANCs.                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
In 1995, Congress  directed the Secretary of  Interior to prepare                                                               
a report on these specific  contaminated lands that were conveyed                                                               
to  ANCs; so  in  December 1998  the DOI  submitted  a report  to                                                               
Congress  entitled "Hazardous  Substance Contamination  of Alaska                                                               
Native Claims  Settlement Act  Lands in  Alaska." In  that report                                                               
the DOI  acknowledged conveying 650  contaminated sites  to ANCs;                                                               
the  report   identified  numerous  types  of   hazardous  wastes                                                               
including  the   ones  she  spoke  of   earlier  recognizing  the                                                               
unjustness of conveying these lands  to ANCs in the Settlement of                                                               
the  aboriginal  rights  and recommended  an  approach  to  fully                                                               
identify these  sites and to  clean them up. The  report included                                                               
six recommendations almost 20 years ago and none have been done.                                                                
                                                                                                                                
The  conveyance  of  these significant  amounts  of  contaminated                                                               
lands to ANCs  is unjust and although Congress did  not intend to                                                               
stick Alaska Natives with them BLM  has spent over $10 million on                                                               
cleaning  them up  and  the  job is  not  done.  This would  have                                                               
bankrupted the corporation.                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
3:57:27 PM                                                                                                                    
She had  five recommendations on  how the state could  assist the                                                               
situation.                                                                                                                      
1. Pass this resolution                                                                                                         
2.  Push the  federal government  to acknowledge  their financial                                                               
responsibility   to  clean   up  the   contaminated  lands   they                                                               
transferred to ANCs.                                                                                                            
3. Urge Alaska's governor to include  this as one of the lobbying                                                               
priorities of his Washington, D.C. office staff.                                                                                
4.  Conduct  high  level  meetings   with  all  relevant  federal                                                               
agencies and  identify which lead  agency is responsible  for the                                                               
timely remediation.                                                                                                             
5. Help ANVCA identify these sights and prioritize them.                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
3:58:27 PM                                                                                                                    
CHAIR GIESSEL said  that Senator McGuire would  be in Washington,                                                               
D.C. related to Arctic issues and would carry that message.                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
3:58:55 PM                                                                                                                    
BRENNAN KANE,  Chair, Land Committee,  Alaska Native  Village CEO                                                               
Association,  Anchorage,   Alaska,  supported  HJR  15   and  its                                                               
companion SJR 12. He said he  was also Vice President and General                                                               
Counsel of Eyak Corporation.                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
He said  that Representative Millett's  staff mentioned  the 1998                                                               
Interior Department report, a copy  of which was being emailed to                                                               
the committee right  now. The report was a "solid  piece" of work                                                               
that  included   six  recommendations.  Three   bear  mentioning:                                                               
establishing a  forum for ANCSA  land owners and  federal, state,                                                               
local  and tribal  agencies to  collaborate on  cleanup of  these                                                               
contaminated  sites,  compiling   a  comprehensive  inventory  of                                                               
contaminated  sites  and  recommending  further  cleanup  federal                                                               
actions.                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
In the report  the department said they were  going to coordinate                                                               
the  implementation of  these  six  recommendations, but  nothing                                                               
happened over  the next 15  years, Mr. Kane said.  It's important                                                               
to  note  that  BLM's  people are  "solid  people"  and  recently                                                               
informed them that they will now  review those 650 sites that are                                                               
listed and  see which  ones had  been remediated.  But additional                                                               
sites  have   been  found  since   1998.  ANVCA  wants   to  work                                                               
collaboratively with everyone to  address these sites. This issue                                                               
needs   attention  and   this  resolution   will  give   it  that                                                               
visibility.                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
MR. KANE  said the cost  to clean  up these sites  would bankrupt                                                               
most native corporations  and HJR 15 addresses  the unjustness of                                                               
Alaska Native  Corporations being  subject to legal  exposure for                                                               
contamination   caused  by   the  federal   government.  And   as                                                               
landowners,  Alaska Native  Corporations  are  subject to  strict                                                               
liability under federal and state  law for contamination on their                                                               
lands,  even  if  that  land  was  contaminated  by  the  federal                                                               
government prior to conveyance.                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
So HJR  15 proposes a  solution to  this problem: if  the federal                                                               
government  conveyed  contaminated  land   to  an  Alaska  Native                                                               
Corporation through  ANCSA the federal government  is financially                                                               
responsible for the remediation of that land.                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
4:04:04 PM                                                                                                                    
P.J. SIMON,  Second Chief, Allakaket,  Alaska, said he  also sits                                                               
on the  Tanana Chief's Executive  Board and he supported  HJR 15.                                                               
He lives in  Allakaket next to Hughes that has  had a White Alice                                                               
early warning  site since  the Cold  War called  Indian Mountain.                                                               
The planes are in a museum  and Air Force personnel have retired,                                                               
but  right now  this site  has contamination;  remediation is  in                                                               
order to protect the natural resources up there.                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
He said they  support the military at Alatna and  Hughes and hope                                                               
they  can bring  the White  Alice  site behind  Hughes where  600                                                               
truckloads     of    contamination     needs    to     go    out.                                                               
This would also add an economic boost for the area.                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
4:06:02 PM                                                                                                                    
CURTIS MCQUEEN,  Chief Executive Officer, Eklutna,  Inc., said he                                                               
has the  authority to  testify on  behalf of  the Tribe  and Cook                                                               
Inlet Regional, Inc.  (CIRI). They are in strong  support of this                                                               
resolution, but  are in a  bit of  a different situation  in that                                                               
contamination has  been being  cleaned up  on some  Eklutna lands                                                               
for the last  six or seven years through Army  Corps of Engineers                                                               
funds. They even recently found a  large diesel spill from an old                                                               
motor pool and were able to  cook that gravel into asphalt, which                                                               
ended up in the Anchorage road system.                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
They are also due 17,000 acres  of JBER land, however some of the                                                               
lands  that have  had contamination  identified on  them and  are                                                               
looking for  funds to try  to clean  those lands before  they are                                                               
delivered. Some other communities are not as lucky.                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
4:08:34 PM                                                                                                                    
MICHELE  METZ,  Lands   Manager,  Sealaska  Corporation,  Juneau,                                                               
Alaska,  supported HJR  15. Their  issue was  community landfills                                                               
that were conveyed with their  land. She had also been authorized                                                               
to  convey that  the  ANCSA  regional CEOs  had  met earlier  and                                                               
passed a motion in support of  this issue and getting it resolved                                                               
at the federal level.                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
4:09:45 PM                                                                                                                    
CHAIR  GIESSEL,  finding  no   further  comments,  closed  public                                                               
testimony.                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR GIESSEL offered Amendment 1, labelled 28-LS0717\U.1.                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
                                                 28-LS0717\U.1                                                                  
                                                       Nauman                                                                   
                                                      2/25/14                                                                   
                          AMENDMENT 1                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
     OFFERED IN THE SENATE                   BY SENATOR GIESSEL                                                                 
     TO:  CSHJR 15(RES)                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
     Page 2, following line 9:                                                                                                  
     Insert new clauses to read:                                                                                                
          "WHEREAS, in that report, the United States                                                                         
    Department    of    the     Interior    proposed    six                                                                     
     recommendations to "fully identify contaminated sites                                                                      
     and clean-up needs of Alaska Native Claims Settlement                                                                      
     Act lands"; and                                                                                                            
          WHEREAS the United States Department of the                                                                         
       Interior has not fully implemented any of the six                                                                        
        recommendations it proposed to the United States                                                                        
     Congress; and"                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
     Page 2, line 22, following "Act":                                                                                          
          Insert "; and be it                                                                                                   
          FURTHER   RESOLVED    that   the    Alaska   State                                                                  
     Legislature urges the United States Department of the                                                                      
     Interior to fully implement the six recommendations in                                                                     
     its 1998 report to the United States Congress"                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  MILLETT said  she fully  supported the  amendment                                                               
and agreed  with two  whereas clauses and  one resolve  that were                                                               
inserted. The  other body had  some consideration about  who they                                                               
had  addressed the  resolution  to  and decided  not  to fill  in                                                               
names, since  a new Department  of Interior Secretary  people was                                                               
being appointed.                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
4:11:40 PM                                                                                                                    
She  introduced  three  Kuskokwim  Student  Education  Foundation                                                               
Scholarships students  who are  shareholders in  the contaminated                                                               
lands.                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR GIESSEL moved Amendment 1.  There were no objections and it                                                               
was adopted.                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR DYSON  moved to  report HJR  15, version  28-LS0717\U, as                                                               
amended, from  committee to the  next committee of  referral with                                                               
attached fiscal notes and individual recommendations.                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
There  were  no  objections  and SCS  CSHJR  15(RES)  moved  from                                                               
committee.