Statements On Introduced Bills And Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

By Ms. MURKOWSKI:

S. 784. A bill to provide for the recognition of certain Native communities and the settlement of certain claims under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise to introduce a bill to allow five Southeast Alaska communities to finally be allowed to form urban corporations under the terms of 1971's Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, the Unrecognized Southeast Alaska Native Communities Recognition and Compensation Act.

At the very beginning of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 there are a series of findings and declarations of congressional policy that explain the underpinnings of this landmark legislation.

The first clause reads, ``There is an immediate need for a fair and just settlement of all claims by Natives and Native groups of Alaska, based on aboriginal land claims.'' The second clause states, ``The settlement should be accomplished rapidly, with certainty, in conformity with the real economic and social needs of Natives.''

Mr. President, 37, going on 38, years have passed since the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act became law and still the Native peoples of five communities in Southeast Alaska--Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Tenakee and Haines--the five ``landless communities'' are still waiting for their fair and just settlement.

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act awarded $966 million and 44 million acres of land to Alaska Natives and provided for the establishment of Native Corporations to receive and manage such funds and lands. The beneficiaries of the settlement were issued stock in one of 13 regional Alaska Native corporations--12 based in Alaska. Most beneficiaries also had the option to enroll and receive stock in a village, group or urban corporation.

For reasons that still defy clear explanation the Native peoples of the ``landless communities,'' were not permitted by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to form village or urban corporations. These communities were excluded from this benefit even though they did not differ significantly from other communities in Southeast Alaska that were permitted to form village or urban corporations under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. For example, Ketchikan had more Native residents in 1970, the year of a member census, than Juneau, which was permitted to form the Goldbelt urban corporation. This finding was confirmed in a February 1994 report submitted by the Secretary of the Interior at the direction of the Congress. That study was conducted by the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska.

The Native people of Southeast Alaska have recognized the injustice of this oversight for more than 34 years. An independent study issued more than 12 years ago confirms that the grievance of the landless communities is legitimate. Legislation has been introduced in the past sessions of Congress to remedy this injustice. Hearings have been held and reports written. Yet legislation to right the wrong has inevitably stalled out. This December marks the 38th anniversary of Congress' promise to the Native peoples of Alaska, the promise of a rapid and certain settlement. And still the landless communities of Southeast Alaska are landless.

I am convinced that this cause is just, it is right, and it is about time that the Native peoples of the five landless communities receive what has been denied them for so long.

The legislation that I am introducing today would enable the Native peoples of the five ``landless communities'' to organize five ``urban corporations,'' one for each unrecognized community. These newly formed corporations would be offered and could accept the surface estate to 23,040 acres of land--one township as granted all other village corporations. Sealaska Corporation, the regional Alaska Native Corporation for Southeast Alaska, would receive title to the subsurface estate to the designated lands. The urban corporations would each receive a lump sum payment to be used as start-up funds for the newly established corporation. The Secretary of the Interior would determine other appropriate compensation to redress the inequities faced by the unrecognized communities.

It is long past time that we return to the Native peoples of Southeast Alaska a small slice of the aboriginal lands that were once theirs alone. It is time that we open our minds and open our hearts to correcting this injustice that has gone on far too long and finally give the Native peoples of Southeast Alaska the rapid and certain settlement for which they have been waiting.

By Ms. MURKOWSKI (for herself and Mr. Begich):

S. 785. A bill to establish a grant program to encourage retooling of entities in the timber industry in Alaska, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise to speak about a bill that I have introduced, the Southeast Alaska Timber Industry Retooling and Restructuring Act, which is intended to stimulate employment in Southeast Alaska, by helping firms that have focused on the region's timber industry to modernize or branch out into new industries.

In 1954, the US Department of Agriculture encouraged the development of a sawmill and pulp mill timber industry in the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska, which at 16.98 million acres is the largest national forest in America. From the startup of the pulp mills in Ketchikan and in Sitka in 1961 to passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act in 1980, the Tongass was producing about 600 million board feet of timber a year, generating 3,500 direct and 2,500 indirect jobs and providing the largest number of year-round jobs in the region.

But following passage of ANILCA that created 14 wilderness areas covering about 4.9 million acres and the follow up Tongass Timber Reform Act of 1990 that placed another 727,762 acres into protected non-roaded status and created another 12 wilderness areas containing 300,000 acres, the timber harvest and thus timber industry-related employment plummeted in the region--an area nearly the size of Maine. While the two pulp mills closed in the mid 1990's, sawmills have tried to survive on the then anticipated 268 mmbf of allowable timber harvest. But a litany of Federal forest policy changes from the Clinton-era roadless policy, to changes in Forest Service sale and road policies, to sale delays caused by litigation have resulted in harvest levels falling to 28 million board feet from Federal lands and less than 50 million from private lands in 2008. That harvest level is far below the 192 mmbf reached in 2006 and about half of the 144 mmbf of 2007. Recent years have been drastically down from the 495 million board feet harvested from all lands as recently as 1997.

Year round timber employment, according to U.S. Forest Service in 2007, the last year of current full data, was 402 jobs, just 13 percent of the employment of a decade earlier. The impacts on the region's economy have been clearly documented. According to a report by The McDowell Group consultants, total timber-related payroll in 2007 hit just $17 million, compared to $300 million in 1990. Currently, according to the State of Alaska, unemployment in December 2008 has reached 16.5 percent on Prince of Wales Island, the resource base for traditional southern timber operations, and 24.6 percent in the Hoonah and Angoon area, the former resource base for central timber
operations--three times the rising national average.

This bill is a measure that calls on the Federal Government to finally acknowledge its role in the reduction of economic activity in the region. By the act, the Government would on a one-time basis, allow the Secretary of Agriculture to provide grants to allow existing timber facilities to retool either to adopt new timber production practices that can operate profitably on far smaller harvests or to convert timber plants to totally new types of manufacturing/business operations, leaving timber-dependent work. Firms--sawmills, logging companies and road construction companies involved in timber work for at least a decade--that seek funding for ``retooling projects'' must submit business plans and demonstrate the likelihood of success. More importantly they must commit to the ``extent practicable'' to continue to employ substantially the same number of employees for a ``reasonable'' period after completion of a retooling project. To limit the impact of the aid, grants may only go to businesses hat operated in the Tongass for not less than 10 years prior to Jan. 1, 2009. The program sunsets within 2 years with the maximum authorization of aid being $40 million subject to appropriation.

The bill would allow companies that used to build Forest Service timber roads, for example, to buy more appropriate equipment to bid on Federal highway work and water and sewer line work. It could help firms move into sand and gravel operations. It could allow sawmills with water access to be converted to marine repair facilities or into wood treatment plants. And it might allow some mills to convert to higher value-added products requiring less raw materials, like door and window sash manufacturing.

The changes would ease environmental pressures on timber stands, while aiding the economy by helping to replace the former year-round jobs in a region now nearly solely dependent on fishing and tourism income, besides government-sector spending, for employment. In a region where non-government jobs are precious, it could stimulate job retention and help create new employment. At a time when Congress is contemplating spending nearly $1 trillion to stimulate employment, this measure is a reasonable expenditure to help potentially transition employees to 21st century jobs. The Federal Government was the leading advocate for the establishment of a pulp-timber industry in the region following World War II. It is more than fitting that it provide more assistance to help the region transition to a new era of reduced timber harvests--an era prompted by major environmental legislation that this Congress passed in 1980 and 1990 that is largely responsible for the sharp drop in timber harvests. I hope this body will give fair and swift consideration to this measure.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source