Landless Bill Advances from Senate Committee

Landless Bill Advances from Senate Committee

Washington, DC-U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) today announced that her bill allowing five Alaska Native communities to form urban corporations and receive land entitlements under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) passed out of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee (ENR) by voice vote. The legislation, which would remedy a decades-long inequity for Haines, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, and Tenakee, now heads to the Senate floor for consideration.

Senator Murkowski's bill, S.2554, the Alaska Native Landless Equity Act, would amend ANCSA to allow these five communities to form Alaska Native urban corporations and receive 23,040 acres-or one township-of federal land. The communities were excluded from ANCSA when it was enacted on December 18, 1971. Last month, H.R. 41, Congressman Nick Begich's (R-Alaska) companion legislation, passed the House of Representatives with bipartisan support and no recorded opposition.

Click here to watch Senator Murkowski's remarks

Click here to see the one-pager on Senator Murkowski's legislation.

Some of the strongest advocates for protecting the Tongass National Forest have weighed in with their support for this legislation.

TRANSCRIPT

Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Indeed, we are trying to fix this.

Again, this has been one of those efforts that, when you think about legislation you have worked over the course of a legislative career, the engagement that goes on within the communities, the engagement that goes on with different groups, the engagement that goes on with legislators...

This dais changes from time to time, and from Congress to Congress. I've had the opportunity to work with various ranking members on this, and now with Senator Heinrich, as we work to again educate and try to reinforce the wrong that we are attempting to right here.

I think oftentimes when you think about the Alaska Native Claims Settlement (Act), you think, "Okay, a settlement is a settlement. 50 years ago. One and done." And in fairness, it is all about ensuring that the terms of the settlement, as were agreed to, actually translate into the opportunities that settlement was intended to provide.

I mentioned the outreach that we have been engaged in. At the beginning, it was very much viewed as a fight (over) giving back federal land into the hands of individuals. Environmental concerns were expressed that we were going to allow untrammeled environmental degradation of the land. (There were) lots of concerns, and I think a lot of scare tactics that were there.

There are no better stewards of our Alaska's lands than the people who have lived on them for thousands of years. We have been able to not only to engage with but turn the views of many of the initial opponents to this legislation, among them The Wilderness Society, The Nature Conservancy, some of the strongest protectors of environmental values in the Tongass. Both have written letters of support for this bill, recognizing that we need to find this balance while also addressing the inequities (faced by) the Native people who were left out.

I added the letters from The Nature Conservancy and The Wilderness Society to our hearing record in February, so I don't feel like I need to add them here. But I'll just remind (people) that this should not be the controversial measure it has historically been viewed as.

I think all you need to do is look at the House and their recent actions on this. They worked on this bill, together, across the aisle, reported it from full committee… and the full chamber 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, particularly lands measures, (move without opposition). I think there's good reason for that, because it comes back to the inequity that we have seen and an effort to do right by the Alaska Native people who were excluded so many decades ago.

Again, I want to thank all who have worked with us, and I especially want to thank Senator Heinrich for your engagement on this. I understand your views toward conservation, and we respect them. The concern we hear from so many back home is that, when we're (talking) about an area where so much of the land is already federally owned and so much is already in conservation status, there's just not a lot left over. So, again, making sure we can get ourselves to a good place on this is deeply appreciated.

I appreciate your willingness to have this measure move out by voice today. I acknowledge that you have asked to be recorded as a "no," and my goal, and my ambition, and that of (my) team, is to help you and your team get to a place where we can all be supportive of rectifying this long-overdue wrong.

With that, I thank the committee, and I look forward to further engagement and moving this (legislation) and passing it into law.

Thank you very much.

Background: ANCSA transferred 44 million acres of land to more than 200 regional, village, and urban corporations to resolve land claims throughout Alaska-but did not include the five Southeast communities of Haines, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, and Tenakee.

The lands selected for conveyance to the new ANCSA Native Corporations in the bill were chosen by the landless communities in consultation with the Alaska Native communities, affected communities, local stakeholders, the U.S. Forest Service, and the public to allow for consideration of existing land uses.

Consistent with ANCSA, each community will form an urban corporation and receive approximately 23,040 acres identified on the maps referenced in the legislation. The total amount of land to be transferred equals roughly 115,000 acres and will account for less than 0.7% of the Tongass National Forest's 17 million acres.

The Alaska delegation has introduced landless legislation since the early 1990s with Congressman Don Young leading the fight. In 2020, the delegation pivoted and introduced legislation with proposed land selections identified on maps. In December 2023, ENR favorably reported the Alaska Delegation's Landless legislation.

Click here to view maps of proposed land selections that would be conveyed to the five communities through the legislation.

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