Bill S. 660 (Murkowski) would grant the University of Alaska 250,000 acres of federal land outright in exchange for just 12,000 acres of University-owned land within three national parks and two national wildlife refuges. Up to another 250,000 acres would go to the University if the State matches each additional federal acre selected.
The University, which is facing severe budget cuts by a hostile Alaska Legislature, would quickly dispose of the federal land to support its day-to-day operations. Its Regents' land management record is embarrassingly bad, featuring clearcutting of its forest lands, a subdivision sale in the heart of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, and buying patented mining claims in Glacier Bay National Park Wilderness. It must be emphasized that it is not necessary to sell public lands in order to meet higher education needs. With $23 billion in the bank - all of it from oil and gas revenues from state-selected former federal lands, the State is quite capable of taking care of its own university. This state responsibility was recognized by Senator Ted Stevens recently when he suggested to the Alaska Legislature that it should consider tapping the $23 billion Permanent Fund for a university endowment.
Although S. 660 would not allow University selections within national parks, refuges, wild and scenic rivers, and Congressionally protected "LUD II" (no-logging) areas in the Tongass National Forest, other very valuable federal lands would be exposed to University selection:
** National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, including three Congressionally authorized Special Areas of internationally important wildlife habitat, and areas of suspected high oil and gas potential;
** Outer Continental Shelf lands, including lands currently under federal oil and gas leases, areas qualified for national marine sanctuary or other protected status, and OCS lands off the shores of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska;
** Chugach National Forest, the nation's second-largest, including the 1-million-acre Nellie Juan-College Fiord Wilderness Study Area awaiting Congressional review;
** Most of the Tongass National Forest, including areas qualified for addition to national conservation systems;
** BLM-administered Steese National Conservation Area, White Mountains National Recreation Area, Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, and large management blocks buffering national conservation system units;
** Trans-Alaska Pipeline Corridor lands managed by BLM, including highly sensitive lands north of the Yukon River adjacent to the Gates of the Arctic National Park and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
This bill would set a dangerous precedent and place many other public lands at risk. By giving away up to 500,000 acres of exceptionally valuable public land, S. 660 would dramatically reverse existing Congressional policy for retention of the public lands as expressed in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, and in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, among other major public land bills. If this irresponsible measure were to become law, all federal lands anywhere in the nation could be vulnerable to such disposal and development by private interests.
S.660 has no basis in law or policy. Congress has fully met its obligations to this original land grant college with separate land grants and with the Statehood Acts's 104 million acre onshore general land grant, plus another 60 million acres of offshore submerged lands.
Although there is not yet a companion bill in the House for S.660, please ask your representative to vote against any legislation that would transfer public lands to private interests.
Also tell your senators and representative that you want to see our public lands given the protections they deserve, and that they should never be sold off to private interests. Please tell them how much you value these and other public lands, and how outraged you are that again and again some in Congress would destroy our children's heritage. Tell them that these lands belong to our children and all the generations that follow.
Please forward this alert to your e-mail lists and post it to listservers and electronic bulletin boards. Make paper copies and pass them out to your friends.
Thank you,
David Mortensen
Sierra Club Task Force to Keep the Public Lands Public
dmortnj@aol.com
Scott Silver, Executive Director,
Wild Wilderness
248 NW Wilmington Avenue, Bend OR 97701
Phone (541) 385-5261 E-mail: ssilver@wildwilderness.org