04/06/1998 03:40 PM Senate RES

                                                                               
             HJR 52 - OPPOSE AMERICAN HERITAGE RIVERS                          
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN HALFORD called the Senate Resources Committee meeting to              
order at 3:40 p.m. and announced HJR 52 to be up for consideration.            
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE JEANNETTE JAMES, Sponsor of HJR 52, said the                    
American Heritage River initiative is a wolf in sheep's clothing.              
It is something we don't need more of in Alaska, because we already            
have enough federal designation over some of our lands and waters.             
She said that President Clinton issued Executive Order 13061                   
directing agencies to establish and implement the initiative. It               
was touted as a method to give us money to clean up our rivers, but            
it also includes the entire watershed. John Schuller killed a                  
grizzly bear in his own backyard and was found to be at fault                  
because he was in the zone of imminent danger according to the                 
Endangered Species Act.  We don't want to allow the federal                    
government to come in and put a blanket over our rivers and call               
them American Heritage Rivers.                                                 
                                                                               
SENATOR TORGERSON proposed to change the last "Whereas" to "Be It              
Resolved."                                                                     
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE JAMES said she supported that.                                  
                                                                               
There were no objections to the adoption of the amendment and it               
was so ordered.                                                                
                                                                               
MS. MEL KROGSENG said she was speaking on her own behalf as a Kenai            
River property owner and that although the majority of property                
owners objected to being included in the American Heritage Rivers,             
the Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board chose to                
make a motion to nominate the river as an American Heritage River.             
The statute clearly states that their authorization is purely to               
hold meetings on the Comprehensive Management Plan for the river               
and to make recommendations to the Commissioner.  There was a lot              
of discussion on the matter and they came very close to being                  
nominated, but the Kenai Peninsula Assembly defeated that action.              
She wanted them to know that the Kenai River Special Management                
Area Advisory Board seems to be taking actions that she believes               
are inappropriate with their mission.                                          
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN HALFORD asked if they should be added to the list this                
resolution is sent to.                                                         
                                                                               
MS. KROGSENG answered that it wouldn't be inappropriate for them to            
send a copy to all the other 49 states.                                        
                                                                               
MR. STAN LEAPHART, Citizens Advisory Commission on Federal Areas,              
said in August last year they submitted comments on the initiative             
to Katie McGinty, who is chairperson of the Council on                         
Environmental Quality, urging that the proposed initiative not be              
adopted.  But it was adopted over those objections.  There are                 
currently 126 rivers that have been nominated for designation and              
it's expected that the President will make his decision on the                 
first 10 within the next two weeks.  Their analysis indicated that             
at best its goals and objectives remain poorly defined and is a                
duplication of existing programs designed to provide assistance to             
local governments.  At worst, it represents an entirely new federal            
program with no statutory authority for its creation which is a                
threat to state and local government authority, as well as the                 
rights of private property owners.  Although there have been some              
improvements to the initiative, there are still a lot of problems              
with it.                                                                       
                                                                               
One of the stated goals is to improve the delivery of services by              
the 12 departments and agencies that constituted the American                  
Heritage Rivers' Interagency Committee.  He asked why it takes the             
creation of a new federal program to compel these 12 agencies to do            
their job.  The answer, of course, is that it does not.  The                   
Department is not currently performing as it should under existing             
statutory mandates and regulatory guidelines and they fail to see              
how this initiative would change that.  On the contrary, by                    
requiring agencies to focus on this new program, they will have                
fewer resources available for more important and legitimate                    
programs.  Better agency performance is not what this initiative is            
all about.  It truly represents an effort to create, by executive              
fiat, a program that Congress refused to create in 1996 when it                
rejected a number of bills which would have created a National                 
Heritage Area Partnership Program.  His commission is also highly              
skeptical of the claim that designation of a river would only occur            
if there is "broad community support," particularly in light of the            
extremely lose definition of the term community.  He used the                  
example of the creation of the 1.7 million acre Grand Staircase                
Escalante National Monument over the objection of local communities            
by Utah's congressional delegation.                                            
                                                                               
Designation of a river would require adherence to a wide array of              
program guidelines and requirements in order to maintain the                   
designation and qualify for federal funds.  This would come at some            
cost to local control or loss of opportunity for the private                   
property owner.  The carrot and stick approach by the federal                  
government means some special interest group gets the carrot and               
private property owners and businesses get the stick, usually in               
the form of more regulations and restrictive programs.                         
                                                                               
Number 229                                                                     
                                                                               
SENATOR TAYLOR asked which six rivers were on the short list to be             
designated.                                                                    
                                                                               
MR. LEAPHART answered that there are actually 126 rivers which are             
primarily in the eastern states, but the Columbia, the Rio Grande,             
and portions of the Upper Mississippi are some.                                
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN HALFORD asked Representative James if she considered                  
opposing the entire program, as well as being exempted.                        
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE JAMES said she thought about it, but decided they               
might be stepping on some other people's toes.                                 
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN HALFORD said he didn't think they could do it under the               
current title and he didn't think it was appropriate to go through             
the process of a title change.                                                 
                                                                               
SENATOR LINCOLN said under the process for nominating a river it               
says the communities in coordination with state, local, or tribal              
governments can nominate the river stretch and individuals living              
outside the area cannot nominate a river.  This resolution says the            
Alaska State Legislature opposes a nomination or designation of any            
river in Alaska and asked if that does not preclude anyone in a                
community who wants to nominate their river.                                   
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE JAMES said the intent of the President's initiative             
was to have the people who live along the river make the nomination            
which is part of the problem.  Along with allowing your river to be            
identified as an American Heritage River, you get money to clean it            
up and that's an inviting thing.  She thought the nomination should            
also be agreed to by the State, because the rivers are under the               
power of the state, not the local people.  They do not want local              
people to have that authority.                                                 
                                                                               
SENATOR LINCOLN asked if someone chooses to nominate a river in                
their community, would they need the state's blessing, the local               
blessing, and the tribal blessing.  If that is so, by this                     
resolution, that will never happen.  She asked if that was correct.            
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE JAMES said that was the purpose.                                
                                                                               
SENATOR TORGERSON said he knows from experience that it does not               
come to the legislature for approval or to a local government.                 
Their problem initially is that the advisory group to the                      
Commissioner  nominated it in the first place and that could be two            
people.  To the Commissioner of Natural Resources it could be one.             
                                                                               
SENATOR LINCOLN said she wanted to understand if it says all the               
different bodies could nominate, but the State would not give their            
blessing.                                                                      
                                                                               
SENATOR TAYLOR said it goes beyond that, because the federal                   
government has no jurisdiction over the navigable waters of the                
United States.  There is not one single court case that indicates              
that isn't right.  He thought the President was trying to use the              
initiative as leverage against the people who own property along               
rivers and the states who have all the rights to those waters.  The            
Dinkum Sands case clearly indicates who has control over those                 
navigable waters.                                                              
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE JAMES supported Senator Taylor's comments and then              
added that the communities can nominate the rivers; and it says the            
federal role will be solely to support community based efforts to              
preserve and protect the resource.                                             
                                                                               
SENATOR TAYLOR moved to pass SCSHJR 52 (RES) from Committee with               
individual recommendations.  There were no objections and it was so            
ordered.