Frame from "Senate Energy and Natural Resources (Murkowski): Business meeting to consider S.365 and H.R.1729, bills to amend the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act to allow for additional entities to be eligible to complete the maintenance work on Bolts Ditch and the Bolts Ditch Headgate within the Holy Cross Wilderness, Colorado, S.764, to provide for the designation of certain wilderness areas, recreation management areas, and conservation areas in the State of Colorado, S.791, to establish the Justice Thurgood Marshall National Historic Site in the State of Maryland as an affiliated area of the National Park System, S.888, to designate certain land administered by the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service in the State of Oregon as wilderness and national recreation areas, to withdraw certain land located in Curry County and Josephine County, Oregon, from all forms of entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws, location, entry, and patent under the mining laws, and operation under the mineral leasing and geothermal leasing laws, S.945, to amend the Smith River National Recreation Area Act to include certain additions to the Smith River National Recreation Area, to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate certain wild rivers in the State of Oregon, S.1088, to provide that the memorial to commemorate the sacrifice and service of the women who worked on the home front to support the efforts of the United States military during World War II may be located on the National Mall, S.1175, to amend section 6903 of title 31, United States Code, to provide for additional population tiers, S.1341, to amend the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993 to add certain land to the Sarvis Creek Wilderness, S.1349, to withdraw the National Forest System land in the Ruby Mountains subdistrict of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and the National Wildlife Refuge System land in Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Elko and White Pine Counties, Nevada, from operation under the mineral leasing laws, S.1413, to authorize additional funding for the San Joaquin River Restoration Settlement Act, S.1476, to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate certain segments of the Gila River system in the State of New Mexico as components of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, to provide for the transfer of administrative jurisdiction over certain Federal land in the State of New Mexico, S.1737, to designate and expand wilderness areas in Olympic National Forest in the State of Washington, and to designate certain rivers in Olympic National Forest and Olympic National Park as wild and scenic rivers, S.1870, to adjust the boundary of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area to include the Rim of the Valley Corridor, S.2554, to provide for the recognition of certain Alaska Native communities and the settlement of certain claims under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, S.2754 and H.R.5911, to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey to the City of Ouray, Colorado, certain land managed by the Forest Service, together with a reservoir, S.3526, to provide for the protection of and investment in certain Federal land in the State of California, S.3725, to require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study to determine the feasibility of constructing a project to supply municipal, rural, and industrial water to expand the capacity and reach of the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System, Inc. (doing business as "Lewis & Clark Regional Water System"), in the States of Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota, S.3732, to amend the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act to authorize assistance under the storage program, H.R.249, to redesignate certain facilities at Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park in honor of Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr, and the nominations of William Hague, of Washington, to be an Assistant Secretary, Kevin Lilly, of Texas, to be Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife, both of the Department of the Interior, and Kaveh Farzad, of Maryland, to be an Assistant Secretary of Energy (International Affairs)."
Senate committee advances bill to give land to five landless SE Alaska Native communities
About 35,000 Alaska Natives in five Southeast Alaska communities have waited more than 50 years for land entitlements every other community covered by the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act has already received. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted July 16 to advance the Alaska Native Landless Equity Act, which supporters say would address that longstanding omission, sending the bill to the full Senate floor.
The five communities are Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, and Wrangell. "Nobody really knows why," Sen. Lisa Murkowski said of the original exclusion. The committee passed the bill by voice vote. Sen. Martin Heinrich and Sen. Maria Cantwell asked to be recorded as no votes.
Murkowski noted the committee has held seven hearings on the issue since 2013 and that a similar bill was reported in the 118th Congress. She said the legislation specifies exact parcels of land vetted through local input and ensures that valid existing rights, including fishing, hunting, and recreation, are protected.
What the Bill Would Do
Under the legislation, the Department of the Interior would convey 23,040 acres of federal land to each of the five new urban corporations, roughly 115,000 acres total and less than 0.7 percent of the 17 million-acre Tongass National Forest. The bill would also allow the five communities to form urban Native corporations comparable to those established under the original 1971 law.
Former opponents including the Wilderness Society and the Nature Conservancy have written letters of support. Some conservation advocates remain opposed, arguing the bill would privatize old-growth Tongass forest.
A Path Still Being Negotiated
The House passed its companion bill by voice vote with no recorded opposition. "The full chamber has now passed it on suspension by a voice vote with no recorded opposition. So I'm just going to remind you, no opposition in the House, in this current House where we don't see a lot of measures that particularly lands measures that go without that," Murkowski said.
Heinrich did not close the door. "While we are not yet in a place where I can vote yes today, I am committed to working with Senator Murkowski to find a path forward, and I look forward to our continued conversations," he said. Murkowski said her goal is to bring him to full support before the bill reaches the floor.
The bill now awaits action by the full Senate.
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