Legislature(2017 - 2018)BUTROVICH 205
02/06/2017 03:30 PM Senate RESOURCES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HJR6 | |
| Overview: Alaska's Primacy Program for Water and Air | |
| SB3 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | HJR 6 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | SB 3 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HJR 6-SUPPORT ROAD: KING COVE & COLD BAY
3:31:15 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL announced consideration of HJR 6 [CSHJR 6(RES) am,
labeled 30-LS0329\J.A was before the committee]. It relates to a
small one-lane gravel road access to an all-weather airport in
nearby Cold Bay that people of the Alaskan Village of King Cove
have been requesting for decades. According to the Alaska
delegation, that request has been met with "secretarial
antipathy."
Specifically, HJR 6 asks the legislature to support efforts by
Alaska's congressional delegation to achieve a land exchange
authorized by Congress in which the federal wilderness area
surrounding King Cove would receive approximately 43,000 acres
of state land to add to it. In return, less than 400 acres for a
road corridor would be opened for access between the two
settlements.
3:32:15 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI joined the committee.
CHAIR GIESSEL said the sponsor of HJR 6 is the Speaker of the
House, Representative Bryce Edgmon.
3:32:35 PM
REPRESENTATIVE EDGMON, Speaker* Alaska State Legislature,
Juneau, Alaska, sponsor of HJR 6, said HJR 6 basically expresses
the legislature's appreciation and support for the legislation
that Senator Murkowski and Representative Young have introduced
that would allow the land exchange necessary to complete what is
essentially a 30-mile road connecting King Cove and Cold Bay.
About 18 miles of that road has already been constructed and is
sitting there unused because of the remaining 12 miles that need
to be constructed. This issue has been lingering for 30 years.
The measure that created the land exchange in 2010 passed the
Alaska Legislature unanimously with no opposition and most
recently this resolution passed the House by a vote of 39-0.
Being a resolution, it has no fiscal note.
3:34:29 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL said she appreciated the number of folks he
provided in the resolution who were negatively affected by the
lack of the road.
3:34:59 PM
SENATOR COGHILL noted the many letters of support.
SENATOR MEYER said even though everyone supports this issue, the
State of Alaska (SOA) is in litigation over it and he wanted to
know its status.
3:35:31 PM
TIM CLARK, staff to Representative Edgmon, Alaska State
Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, said the SOA is in ongoing
litigation with the Department of Interior over several issues
related to the authorization for the land exchange and road that
dates from the Public Lands Act of 2009. One is whether the
authority for the exchange that was created in 2009, and through
the state's reciprocating legislation in 2010, is still valid.
In fact, this resolution was amended slightly to make sure it
wasn't treading on any of the concepts under discussion, so now
the last whereas clause refers to the new bills introduced by
Alaska's delegation as ensuring the continuing authorization for
the exchange and the road.
3:37:07 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL opened public testimony.
3:37:25 PM
WILLIAM DUSHKINS, SR., representing himself, King Cove, Alaska,
supported HJR 6 saying if it saves one life, the state and
federal government are paid in full. It didn't seem fair that
the federal government is demanding so much land from the King
Cove Corporation, because the military had installed 100 miles
of road already and it didn't hurt anything. This road would
open the gates to King Cove that has one of the biggest fish
processing plants in the world.
3:39:15 PM
JENNIFER HARRISON, CEO, Eastern Aleutian Tribes, King Cove,
Alaska, supported HJR 6. She said this organization manages the
health clinics in King Cove and Cold Bay and that the 55
emergency evacuations and 17 Coast Guard incidents are numbers
from her tracking system. She related two incidents that
happened to her just this weekend when she tried to fly out of
King Cove. The plane hadn't flown out for three days, because of
a soft gravel runway, not because of bad weather. She finally
found a fisherman who was willing to take her to Cold Bay. She
got to climb "that ladder," saying it was windy and cold and you
had to hold on for your life. An elderly who had already missed
two health appointments was willing to go on the boat and climb
up that ladder with her. Another man was medevacked from King
Cove a half-hour later for all the same reasons.
3:41:54 PM
MIKE SALLEE, representing himself, Ketchikan, Alaska, opposed
HJR 6. He asked what it is about King Cove that justifies
expending that amount of political effort to get an exception to
long standing environmental protections in order to punch a road
across a critical habitat of a national wildlife refuge.
Although he hadn't heard but "bits and pieces" of this issue, he
thought this was an attempt to set the precedent of allowing
development in wildlife refuges in order to weaken protections
for places like the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
He related that his mother lived in a remote homestead by choice
for the last 15 years of her life. She had only a 14-foot skiff
for transport to the Ketchikan road system and accepted the cost
of operating and maintaining that skiff, as well as the risks
and difficulty dictated by weather and sea conditions. But for
her it was a fair trade-off for living in a place she loved.
"She did not ever demand that her community or government
provide her with a means to travel comfortably and safely to a
remote home of her own choosing," he said. People are scattered
all over Alaska living in remote settings where quick and ready
access to medical services simply does not exist.
3:45:17 PM
HENRY MACK, Mayor, City of King Cove, Alaska, supported HJR 6.
He was on the City Council back in 1976 when the first
resolution was adopted identifying the need for road access to
the Cold Bay Airport, which is their primary connection to the
outside world. They have winds in excess of 50 mph on a regular
basis. The small King Cove Airport is precariously perched
adjacent to volcanic mountains and about 30-40 percent of the
time single-engine planes cannot make their scheduled flights in
and out of the community. This road will resolve their access
problems so King Cove residents can have safe and dependable
access to the Cold Bay Airport.
He remarked that a mother and new born came home from a check-up
in Anchorage on the same boat that Jennifer Harrison went out
on. The Mom had to wrap the baby inside of her coat and go down
the same 20-foot ladder. He said even though they are fishermen
used to bad weather, they don't like traveling with kids and
families in bad weather.
3:49:38 PM
GARY HENNIGH, representing himself, King Cove, Alaska, said he
was available for questions on HJR 6.
CHAIR GIESSEL closed public testimony on HJR 6.
SENATOR COGHILL moved to report CSHJR 6(RES) am, labeled 30-
LS0329\J.A, from committee with individual recommendations and
attached zero fiscal note. There were no objections and it was
so ordered.