HB 272-TANGLE LAKES STATE GAME REFUGE  10:43:41 AM CHAIR STUTES announced that the next order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 272, "An Act establishing the Tangle Lakes State Game Refuge; and providing for an effective date." 10:44:09 AM REPRESENTATIVE ANDY JOSEPHSON, Alaska State Legislature, stated that HB 272 was presented two weeks ago, and a PowerPoint described the nature of the bill. He briefly recapped the bill, noting the bill was introduced because of an interest in creating the Tangle Lakes State Game Refuge by people along the highway corridor. He stated that he received an e-mail yesterday from Marty Parsons, DNR, and read a quote from the email, as follows, "Our research indicates that there are no active claims in the Tangle Lakes area under consideration in Representative Josephson's current legislation." His staff presented a PowerPoint that showed a handful of claims in the Southeast Alaska corner of the proposed TLSGR, but those are not currently active. 10:46:36 AM REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPHSON referred to a memo from Mr. Robert Tobey, Division of Wildlife Conservation, Alaska Department of Fish & Game (ADF&G), dated December 19, 2002 to the Copper Country Alliance. He read a portion of the last paragraph of the memo [in members' packets], which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: It is my position that the importance of the Denali Block as wildlife habitat, tourist destination, sport fishing, subsistence food gathering and trapping area exceeds all mining value. All these uses except mining have minimal impact on the land and are renewable yearly. Certainly an impact study and cost benefit analyses are warranted in view of the high value of current uses compared to an unknown mining value. REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPHSON suggested that this was a "friendly letter" from Governor Murkowski's administration. He referred to a letter of March 2008 from Cliff Judkins, Chairman, Board of Game [in members' packets], who asked for immediate discussion and immediate consideration of a game refuge in this area. REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPHSON emphasized that the concept of a state game refuge in the Tangle Lakes area has been considered for some time and continues to be requested. 10:47:48 AM CHAIR STUTES opened public testimony on HB 272. 10:48:32 AM CARL PORTMAN, Deputy Director, Resource Development Council (RDC), testified in opposition to HB 272. The RDC encourages the exploration and responsible development of Alaska's natural resources, he said. He stated that creating a new refuge would restrict or eliminate the potential opportunities in the Tangle Lake area, including mineral development. Further, it would create new restrictions to land use at a time when the state faces fiscal and other challenges. MR. PORTMAN pointed out that Alaska already contains 70 percent of the federal national park lands, 85 percent of the federal national wildlife refuges, and two of the largest parks in the nation, and many other state conservation units such as game refuges. The RDC supports multiple use of lands, such as recreational use and other potential uses. The state must focus on ways to show that Alaska is open for business. He urged the committee to reject HB 272. 10:50:09 AM BARRY WHITEHILL, Board Member, Alaska Chapter, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers (AKBHA), stated that the AKBHA has long supported the Tangle Lakes State Game Refuge (TLSGR). He stated that this area has been the breadbasket for Southcentral Alaska for subsistence and recreational hunting, fishing, and berry picking. Many members know that the Denali Highway has been the premier route for tourist destinations. It certainly has the archeological protections in place for some of the segment, and some Fairbanksans travel to the area to hunt and fish. He acknowledged the importance of hunting and fishing to Alaskans. He offered the AKBHA's support for the TLSGR. 10:51:48 AM DEANTHA CROCKETT, Executive Director, Alaska Miners Association (AMA), stated that the sponsor's statement states the potential for nonrenewable activities in the region could irreparably damage the environment. A century of experience shows this premise, that one must choose between renewable and nonrenewable resources to be false. MS. CROCKETT said the Denali Highway region around the proposed refuge has been the subject of mineral exploration since the turn of the century and modern mining exploration increased in this region in the 1990s. While most of the activity occurred outside the proposed refuge area, work has occurred within and substantial exploration has taken place to the north where access would be impeded by the refuge. History has shown that nearby large mines have not created long-term impacts asserted by the sponsor, and have, in fact, avoided the impact through the mining industry's expensive regulatory process. Most of the recent exploration has been helicopter supported with little ground impact. Neither DNR or ADF&G have found that exploration has caused significant effects on recreational wildlife. MS. CROCKETT said that when the same refuge was proposed about ten years ago, the DNR stated that very few people using the Tangle Lakes area, or the Delta Wild and Scenic River even knew that metal exploration was occurring in the area. Most of the proposed refuge area was within DNR's Tangle Lakes Archaeological District Special Use Area, enacted in 2003. At the time, DNR assessed the area and concluded that unrestricted motorized recreation had the greatest potential to cause significant impact to cultural and heritage sites in the area. For that reason, DNR enacted rules to manage recreation in the area, which is a vehicle for additional rules if they become necessary. 10:53:30 AM MS. CROCKETT stated that if the area is not closed it was likely to be explored again. She characterized the area as highly mineralized host to the incredibly rich Kennecott copper deposits. The significant potential of minerals has been included in the recently published list by the US Geological Survey (USGS) of minerals that are critical to national defense and the economy. A secure supply of domestic sources of these minerals is a priority for our country and it should be for Alaska, as well, she said. MS. CROCKETT said that it has been proven in Alaska that the state does not need to make a choice between the environment and resource development. The AMA strongly opposes the proposed refuge in HB 272. 10:54:20 AM JOEL ELROD, Greater Copper Valley Chamber of Commerce (GCVCC), stated that the GCVCC offered its opposition to HB 272, for many of the same reasons that Mr. Portman mentioned. 10:54:55 AM CHAIR STUTES, after first determining no one wished to testify, closed public testimony on HB 272. 10:55:06 AM REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN asked for further clarification on the health of the Nelchina Caribou herd and if the numbers were increasing or decreasing. REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPHSON answered that he did not know. He commented that at least 40 people have written in support of HB 272, expressing their concerns about the health of the Nelchina caribou herd. This was also referenced in the previous letter mentioned by the Chairman of the Board of Game in 2008 and the Division of Habitat, ADF&G in 2002. He stated that this bill was about protecting that herd. 10:56:06 AM REPRESENTATIVE CHENAULT pointed out that the bill had no Finance Committee referral and had two zero fiscal notes; however, both fiscal notes referred to absorbing the costs of the bill into current budgets. He said that state agencies have complained that they cannot accomplish their responsibilities within current budgets. He stated that any costs associated with the bill should be reflected in the fiscal notes and offered that the legislature needed quality fiscal notes from the administration in order to accurately formulate a budget. 10:58:20 AM JOE MEEHAN, Coordinator, Division of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), Alaska Department of Fish & Game (ADF&G), answered that as the fiscal note stated, the division would add the new duties associated with the proposed refuge into the division's existing workload. 10:58:43 AM REPRESENTATIVE CHENAULT asked at what point in time the ADF&G would absorb so much work that the department could no longer absorb more and would require additional funding. MR. MEEHAN said he could not answer that question. He explained that the management plan development permit applications were prioritized based on public interest and needs. He acknowledged that the division would need to prioritize requests. 10:59:29 AM REPRESENTATIVE CHENAULT further asked what would be left off the current workload to make this happen. MR. MEEHAN said that the current workload includes administering management plans, permit reviews, and field operations. He stated that primarily field operations deal with monitoring resources, encouraging public use and education. He could not specifically identify what would be dropped if the new refuge was created. He further stated that the division would obviously have to juggle priorities dealing with the type of field activities that the ADF&G engage in for refuge areas. 11:00:35 AM CHAIR STUTES asked about the earlier question regarding the Nelchina caribou herd. MR. MEEHAN offered to respond back to the committee with information on the Nelchina caribou herd. 11:01:00 AM REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN offered his concerns about the herd by the ADF&G 16 years ago were probably dated. He related his understanding that the state had taken steps to address those concerns. He also expressed concern that potential revenue from mining in the proposed region would be lost, which concerned him because the state currently faces a fiscal crisis. He characterized this bill as looking through the lens of supporting mining or opposing mining. Those who think mining is good for Alaska would not likely support the bill but those who oppose mining would probably find HB 272 to be a "great bill." 11:02:24 AM CHAIR STUTES said that the committee received a lot more support for the bill than opposition to the bill. She related that the bill has two zero fiscal notes and it has come to light that there are no mining claims in the area. 11:02:55 AM REPRESENTATIVE CHENAULT asked for further clarification as to whether there were no mining claims within the proposed TLSGR or if there were no active mining claims. REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPHSON responded that there were mining claims in the Amphitheater area north of the border of the refuge. He further responded that yesterday Mr. Marty Parsons, Deputy Director, Division of Mining, Land & Water, DNR stated, "There are no active claims in the Tangle Lake Area under consideration in the current legislation." 11:04:13 AM REPRESENTATIVE EDGMON moved to report HB 272 out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN objected. A roll call vote was taken. Representatives Stutes, Edgmon, Kreiss-Tomkins, and Tarr, voted in favor of reporting HB 272 from committee. Representatives Chenault, Neuman, Eastman voted against it. Therefore, HB 272 was reported from the House Special Committee on Fisheries by a vote of 4-3.