01/26/2012 08:00 AM House STATE AFFAIRS

             SCR 11-WALTER HICKEL DAY OF THE ARCTIC                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
8:34:50 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR LYNN announced  that the next order of  business was SENATE                                                               
CONCURRENT  RESOLUTION NO.  11, Designating  August 18,  2011, as                                                               
Walter J. Hickel Day of the Arctic.                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
8:35:13 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  KELLER   moved  to   adopt  the   proposed  House                                                               
committee  substitute  (HCS)  for SCR  11,  Version  27-LS0774\M,                                                               
Wayne,  1/20/12, as  a work  draft.   There  being no  objection,                                                               
Version M was before the committee.                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
8:35:44 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR  HOLLIS FRENCH,  Alaska  State  Legislature, as  sponsor,                                                               
said SCR 11 would establish August  18, 2012, as Walter J. Hickel                                                               
Day of  the Arctic.  He  noted that August 18  is former Governor                                                               
Hickel's birthday.   Senator French  stated that  Governor Hickel                                                               
was an  influential proponent of  statehood, was  Alaska's second                                                               
governor in 1966,  and appointed Ted Stevens to  the U.S. Senate.                                                               
He said  Governor Hickel resigned  from his post as  Secretary of                                                               
the Interior  before getting  fired by  then President  Nixon for                                                               
having  "pushed  back against  President  Nixon  in a  remarkable                                                               
display  of conscience  and forward  thinking."   Senator  French                                                               
noted that Governor Hickel served  again as governor in 1990, and                                                               
he was a highly successful businessman in Anchorage.                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
8:37:42 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR  FRENCH read  an excerpt  from  former Governor  Hickel's                                                               
book, Crisis In The Commons:  The Alaska Solution, as follows:                                                                
                                                                                                                                
     If  you or  I were  to  travel the  world's great  open                                                                    
     resource regions,  too often  we would see  poor people                                                                    
     living  on  rich land,  and  many  of these  lands  are                                                                    
     commons.  We  the people of this world own  most of the                                                                    
     planet in  common.  Our  future depends on  learning to                                                                    
     use and develop this commons  for the good of the total                                                                    
     and not  just for the  few.  Here  in the Far  North we                                                                    
     built  a new  state based  on that  concept.   It's the                                                                    
     only place  like it.   The Alaskan people,  through our                                                                    
     state  government, won  ownership of  much of  our land                                                                    
     and  our  natural  resources.   Using  neither  classic                                                                    
     capitalism nor  socialism, we have developed  a new way                                                                    
     to prosperity  based on common ownership  and rooted in                                                                    
     constitutional  democracy.    We  Alaskans  have  often                                                                    
     disagreed  among ourselves.   We  have fought  over our                                                                    
     personal  visions, ambitions,  and  interests, but  our                                                                    
     land came  first; it  was so much  bigger than  any one                                                                    
     person.    The  land  welded us  into  one  people  and                                                                    
     brought a  new kind of state  into the world:   a state                                                                    
     powered  democratically by  its commonly  owned natural                                                                    
     resources.                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR LYNN said he has been inspired by former Governor Hickel.                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
8:39:44 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR  FRENCH, in  response to  Representative Gruenberg,  said                                                               
Version M  changes the date proposed  as Walter J. Hickel  Day of                                                               
the Arctic from  [August 18, 2011], which has  already passed, to                                                               
August 18, 2012,  and he confirmed that he  supports that change.                                                               
In response to another question,  he told about Governor Hickel's                                                               
perseverance in  building hotels  after the 1964  earthquake that                                                               
devastated  Anchorage, even  though others  discouraged him  from                                                               
doing so.                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  GRUENBERG related  details illustrating  Governor                                                               
Hickel's involvement in revamping  Alaska's court system from one                                                               
involved in scandal to one of the finest in the country.                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
8:43:33 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE JOHANSEN,  regarding the previously  read excerpt,                                                               
indicated  that   during  Ketchikan's  pulp  mill   battles,  its                                                               
citizens  were frustrated  by  outside  interests claiming  equal                                                               
ownership  in  the  forests  surrounding  Ketchikan.    He  asked                                                               
Senator French what  he thinks Governor Hickel meant  in terms of                                                               
common ownership of state resources.                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
8:45:02 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR FRENCH  responded that  the question is  a good  one, but                                                               
said he  will not speak  for the governor.   He pointed  out that                                                               
throughout his  life, Governor  Hickel had  "fascinating chapters                                                               
of extreme  pro-development," such as  the Hickel Highway  to the                                                               
North  Slope, which  turned  out to  be  an ecological  disaster.                                                               
Conversely, he noted  that following the oil spill  off the coast                                                               
of Santa  Barbara, he had  a hand in  finding the legal  tools to                                                               
shut  down all  off-shore  drilling in  waters  that touched  the                                                               
United States.   He said he does not know  what Governor Hickel's                                                               
views  were concerning  the Southeast  forests, and  he indicated                                                               
that  he  understands  the frustration  of  those  in  Ketchikan,                                                               
because "it's your livelihood."   He said he thinks that Governor                                                               
Hickel  was  a pro-development  person  who  knew that  resources                                                               
should  be  used  beneficially,  and he  surmised  that  Governor                                                               
Hickel would  not ever have  stood in the way  of "a wise  use of                                                               
the land."  In response to a follow-up question, he stated:                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
     To the extent that my  views are relevant to the Walter                                                                    
     Hickel  resolution that  you have  in front  of you,  I                                                                    
     would say that  if it's a state resource, we  own it in                                                                    
     common,  and  we  develop that  resource  through  this                                                                    
     process right  here, and try to  allocate the resources                                                                    
     as wisely as we can through the political process.                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  JOHANSEN  stated  his support  for  the  proposed                                                               
legislation.                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
8:47:18 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  KELLER  told  committee  members  that  he  knows                                                               
people who served  as Governor Hickel's cabinet  staff during his                                                               
second term, and they were supported by the former governor.                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
8:48:09 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  PETERSEN  shared  that  he had  read  a  book  by                                                               
Governor Hickel, which  influenced his later decision  to move to                                                               
Alaska.  He stated his support of the proposed legislation.                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
8:49:06 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON  opined that  Governor Hickel's  concept of                                                               
the owner state has been vital  in the development of Alaska.  He                                                               
further related  that he  has attended  several Institute  of the                                                               
North meetings,  which are nonpartisan,  including a  policy trip                                                               
to  Norway, to  expand  vision  and have  a  good background  for                                                               
decision making.  He expressed  his appreciation for the proposed                                                               
legislation.                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
8:50:49 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
NILS  ANDREASSEN,  Managing  Director, Institute  of  the  North,                                                               
stated  that  a   hero's  measure  of  greatness   is  found  not                                                               
necessarily  in what  he/she has  done,  but in  what he/she  has                                                               
inspired  in others.   He  posited that  Governor Hickel  lived a                                                               
life  of greatness,  and he  will  live on  through the  proposed                                                               
legislation.   He  listed the  following  values:   fearlessness,                                                               
indomitability,   imagination,   unswerving   passion   for   and                                                               
commitment  to  the people  of  Alaska,  and  belief that  it  is                                                               
possible to change the world with an idea.                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
MR.  ANDREASSEN  highlighted  some  recent  developments  in  the                                                               
North:    settlement of  a  40-year  dispute between  Russia  and                                                               
Norway over a  large portion of the Bering  Sea; Norway announced                                                               
two of  the largest finds in  its history in its  portion; Canada                                                               
recently released its Northern strategy,  reaffirming the U.S. as                                                               
a premier partner;  a U.S. Secretary of State has,  for the first                                                               
time, attended an  Arctic Council meeting; China  is building its                                                               
first  ice  breaker;  gas  has   been  found  off  the  coast  of                                                               
Greenland;  and  shipments to  the  Northern  Sea route  and  the                                                               
Bering Strait  are increasing.   Mr. Andreassen said  clearly the                                                               
Arctic  is central  to global  affairs, and  Alaska is  America's                                                               
Arctic.                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
MR. ANDREASSEN  stated his support  in the  proposed legislation,                                                               
and  suggested that  Walter J.  Hickel  Day of  the Arctic  could                                                               
remind the world that Alaskans have a voice in the decision-                                                                    
making taking place at international levels.                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
8:53:12 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE KELLER  moved to  report HCS  SCR 11,  Version 27-                                                               
LS0774\M,  Wayne,  1/20/12,  out  of  committee  with  individual                                                               
recommendations  and the  accompanying zero  fiscal note.   There                                                               
being no objection HCS SCR 11(STA)  was reported out of the House                                                               
State Affairs Standing Committee.