Legislature(2015 - 2016)BARNES 124
03/30/2015 01:00 PM House RESOURCES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HJR18 | |
| HB153 | |
| Confirmation(s): Fisherman's Fund Advisory and Appeals Council | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HJR 18 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 153 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
HJR 18-LIMIT DECLARATION OF NATL. MONUMENTS
1:35:00 PM
CO-CHAIR TALERICO announced that the first order of business is
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 18, Urging the United States Congress
to pass the Improved National Monument Designation Process Act.
1:35:23 PM
JEFF TURNER, Staff, Representative Charisse Millett, Alaska
State Legislature, explained that HJR 18 urges the U.S. Congress
to pass the Improved National Monument Designation Process Act,
S. 437, sponsored by U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski and co-
sponsored by U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan. He said S. 437 creates
new requirements and limits the authority of the President of
the United States to expand monuments under the 1906 Antiquities
Act. Passed under the administration of Theodore Roosevelt, the
Antiquities Act grants the President of the United States the
power to create national monuments that protect and preserve
important landmarks and environmentally sensitive areas using
the smallest area necessary to preserve and protect the place
under the monument. While the Antiquities Act has been used
wisely to preserve some of America's most pristine and important
areas, many things have changed over the last 100 years. There
are more demands on public lands than ever and state and local
economies need to be taken into consideration. Tourism,
hunting, commercial and sport fishing, and natural resource
development all take place on public lands. The time has come
to make the process for creating national monuments more
comprehensive. Senator Murkowski's bill, S. 437, makes three
significant changes to the Antiquities Act. First, it requires
specific authorization by an act of Congress to designate a
national monument. Second, it requires approval by the state
legislature where the monument would be located and, for marine
national monuments, approval by each state legislature within
100 miles of the proposed monument. Third, it must conform to
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
1:37:29 PM
MR. TURNER said S. 437 is important to Alaska because there are
currently 142 national monuments. Ten of these monuments were
created, and two more expanded, under the Obama Administration
since starting its second term in January 2013. All of that
happened without the approval of Congress or of the states where
the monument was created. The last monument created in Alaska
was by President Carter in 1978. Senator Murkowski filed this
legislation because she is concerned about the potential for new
monuments in Alaska that restrict or outright prohibit critical
economic activity. Two possible sites are the Aleutian Islands
and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). It is known
that President Obama will be in Alaska this summer, but it is
unknown whether the purpose of the trip is to announce the
creation of a new national monument. Alaska's two U.S. senators
are so worried that this might happen that they have filed S.
437, which is the legislation that HJR 18 supports.
MR. TURNER directed attention to two articles in the committee
packet, one an editorial from the Deseret News in Utah and the
other from the Fairbanks News Miner, in which Senator Murkowski
is quoted expressing her fear that President Obama will put the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge into permanent wilderness status
and lock it up. He pointed out that Alaska does not have a Wall
Street or a Silicon Valley, but it does have Prudhoe Bay,
Kuparuk, Bristol Bay fisheries, Fort Knox, Greens Creek, and
other natural resource extraction areas that fuel the state's
economy and provide necessary resources like energy, minerals,
and nutrition for the entire nation. He said S. 437 and HJR 18
are not seeking to stop new national monuments from being
created; they are about improving the process for creating
national monuments so the Alaska legislature and everyday
Alaskans are made part of the public policy process when a new
national monument is considered.
1:40:13 PM
REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPHSON recalled Mr. Turner mentioning hunting
as one of the diversity of needs. He pointed out that Southeast
Alaska's Admiralty Island is a national monument where there is
a huge annual brown bear hunt, mostly commercially guided. He
therefore surmised that hunts are allowed on some national
monuments.
MR. TURNER replied he believes there is, but said there is
always the potential under National Park Service rules or
regulations where additional restrictions could be put in place.
REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPHSON pointed out that the Alaska National
Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) is from 1980, while the
Antiquities Act is 1906. He asked whether ANILCA trumps the
Antiquities Act given that ANILA is 74 years later and has a "no
more" clause. He further asked whether there really is a risk
of a monument designation in the 1002 Area within the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge.
MR. TURNER responded that Representative Millett, Senator
Murkowski, and Senator Sullivan believe it is a real possibility
and that is why they filed S. 437 and HJR 18. Even if it
doesn't happen, there has been a lot of discontent in the
western states regarding how the national monument process has
been going forward. Currently in this country of 300 million
people, 1 person can make this decision. While that person is
the President of the United States, a lot has changed since the
Antiquities Act was put in place in 1906. This seeks to improve
the process for creating national monuments.
1:42:53 PM
REPRESENTATIVE TARR inquired whether any other U.S. senators
have co-sponsored S. 437.
MR. TURNER answered it has one co-sponsor, Senator Sullivan.
The bill, filed February 10, 2015, was referred to Senator
Murkowski's U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources, but hasn't yet been scheduled for a hearing. He said
he assumes that some other western senators will sign on to the
bill once the hearing process starts.
1:43:41 PM
REPRESENTATIVE HAWKER drew attention to HJR 18, page 2, line 10,
which states: "... in February 2015, United States Senator Lisa
Murkowski introduced ...." He inquired what the sponsor's
thought would be to recognize that S. 437 was introduced by both
Senator Murkowski and Senator Sullivan.
MR. TURNER replied he is sure Representative Millett would be
fine with such an amendment.
1:44:39 PM
REPRESENTATIVE HAWKER moved to adopt Conceptual Amendment 1 to
insert language on page 2, line 10, recognizing that S. 437 was
introduced by Senator Lisa Murkowski and Senator Dan Sullivan.
There being no objection, Conceptual Amendment 1 passed.
1:45:40 PM
CO-CHAIR TALERICO opened public testimony on HJR 18, then closed
it after ascertaining that no one wished to testify.
1:46:23 PM
REPRESENTATIVE HAWKER moved to report HJR 18, as amended, out of
committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying
zero fiscal note.
1:46:44 PM
REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPHSON objected for purposes of discussion,
saying he agrees with Mr. Turner's statement that logically as
the nation's population grows over 300 million there is less
land and more economic pressure. Some of these designations
don't really impact economic development that severely, he said,
and he thinks that this could really politicize passage of
those. It is something that began with one of the greatest
Republicans, President Theodore Roosevelt, who might see this
differently. He recalled that while in law school he spent time
studying the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and
remarked he would be interested to see what the objection is to
that monument now, if any. He said there was objection when the
monument was established by President Clinton because it stopped
a French-owned coal mine, but he suspects there is a lot of
tourism there. This is a special privilege of Presidents,
Democrats and Republicans, he continued, and while this power
should be used carefully it has been a great power and he thinks
the United States is better for it. For example, there is
Devil's Tower, the Statue of Liberty, Death Valley, Zion, and
Arches. Some of these are now national parks that started as
monuments. He said he has mixed feelings about HJR 18.
1:48:52 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON pointed out that the second to last
paragraph in the sponsor statement states that S. 437 would
require approval by each state legislature, and for marine
national monuments, approval by each state legislature within
100 miles. However, he noted, this is not included within HJR
18 so it isn't quite parallel with the federal bill. He said he
supports moving HJR 18.
1:49:47 PM
REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPHSON withdrew his objection. There being no
further objection, CSHJR 18(RES) was reported from the House
Resources Standing Committee.