04/17/2018 12:30 PM Senate SPECIAL CMTE ON THE ARCTIC

         HJR 33-DEVELOP: ARCTIC INFRASTRUCTURE/DEFENSE                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
12:31:36 PM                                                                                                                   
CHAIR GIESSEL announced the consideration  of HJR 33, which urges                                                               
the Coast  Guard to establish  a port  in the Arctic  and bolster                                                               
defense  capabilities in  the  Arctic.  [Version 30-LS1350\J  was                                                               
before the  committee.] She noted  that this  was a key  topic of                                                               
discussions for  the Alaska Arctic  Policy Commission,  which she                                                               
and Senator Olson were on several years ago.                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
MICHAEL  LOWE, Staff,  Representative  Chris  Tuck, Alaska  State                                                               
Legislature, presented HJR 33 on behalf of the sponsor.                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
12:32:44 PM                                                                                                                   
CHAIR  GIESSEL  shared  that on  the  Arctic  Policy  Commission,                                                               
former Admiral Tom Barrett said the  thing that kept him awake at                                                               
night was concern about the  lack of infrastructure to respond to                                                               
any accidents  involving passage  vessels and cruise  ships going                                                               
through the Bering Strait. All those  lives that would need to be                                                               
rescued with  no means  to execute  that, to  say nothing  of the                                                               
fuel, and so forth. The resolution has zero fiscal note.                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
12:33:28 PM                                                                                                                   
CHAIR GIESSEL opened public testimony.                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
12:33:34 PM                                                                                                                   
RICHARD  BENEVILLE, Mayor,  City of  Nome, supported  HJR 33.  He                                                               
said his remarks  would be brief but passionate.  Nome is working                                                               
to expand  its port  into a deep-draft,  strategic port.  He just                                                               
returned from  Norway from an Arctic  Frontiers presentation. The                                                               
people  of  Norway, Finland,  Sweden,  and  even Russia  are  not                                                               
looking at the future. They are  dynamically in it. He would like                                                               
to see Alaska, the  United States, more in it. He  grew up in the                                                               
Air Force and just outside of town  when he was a kid was a White                                                               
Alice site, part  of defense during the Cold War.  The reason for                                                               
its presence  in Alaska  was proximity to  the Bering  Strait and                                                               
Russia. Although  the Coast  Guard and  the Russians  are working                                                               
together now,  which is  wonderful news,  he grew  up in  the Air                                                               
Force and  remembers the Cold War.  He looks forward to  a series                                                               
of port  infrastructure going  north to put  Alaska in  the game.                                                               
Senator [Lisa] Murkowski  was brilliant to get a  $1 billion into                                                               
a  DoD [Department  of Defense]  bill for  a new  icebreaker. The                                                               
country should  have three.  It is so  outnumbered. He  loves the                                                               
country. He  loves Alaska. It is  so important to speak  with one                                                               
voice.  An  incredible half  of  the  country's coastline  is  in                                                               
Alaska.                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
12:36:19 PM                                                                                                                   
SENATOR OLSON asked Mayor Beneville where else he has lived.                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
12:36:31 PM                                                                                                                   
MAYOR BENEVILLE  replied that he has  been in for Nome  30 years.                                                               
Before that Barrow,  now Utqiagvik, for eight years  and he loved                                                               
it. Before that, he was in New York City, the Upper West Side.                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR OLSON asked  him to remind the members of  what he did in                                                               
Barrow, or what his mother told him he would be doing in Barrow.                                                                
                                                                                                                                
12:37:18 PM                                                                                                                   
MAYOR BENEVILLE  replied that he will,  but he has to  preface it                                                               
by saying that this  is the truth and he does  not mean to insult                                                               
the Inupiaq people  at all. He has told it  many times. They know                                                               
the story  and appreciate  the irony  in the  story. When  he was                                                               
little,  his grandmother  used  to chide  him  during the  subway                                                               
baseball series  because he rooted  for the Yankees just  to make                                                               
her angry  because she was  born in  Brooklyn. She would  turn to                                                               
him, look  at him with her  steely blue eyes, shaker  her finger,                                                               
and say,  "Dick, you  know, one  of these  days with  your mouth,                                                               
you're  going to  end up  selling freezers  to the  Eskimos. And,                                                               
sir, I  proudly worked for Alaska  Commercial up there and  had a                                                               
wonderful time." That  changed his life. The  people of Utqiagvik                                                               
allowed him  to improve his life  to where it is  today, which he                                                               
is very happy about.                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
12:38:25 PM                                                                                                                   
CHAIR GIESSEL closed public testimony.                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
12:38:34 PM                                                                                                                   
SENATOR BISHOP said he was in full support.                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR GIESSEL called the committee's  attention to Summary of the                                                               
2018 National  Defense Strategy of  the United States  of America                                                               
in their packets. She entertained a motion.                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
12:38:58 PM                                                                                                                   
SENATOR  OLSON   moved  HJR  33,  Version   30-LS1350\J,  out  of                                                               
committee.                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
12:39:14 PM                                                                                                                   
There being  no objection,  CSHJR 33(AET)  moved from  the Senate                                                               
Special Committee on the Arctic.