Legislative Hearing: Hearing on Four Bills

Subcommittee on Federal Lands Date: Wednesday, April 5, 2017 Time: 02:00 PM Location: Longworth House Office Building 1324

Republicans held a hearing on Rep. Don Young’s (R-Alaska) bill to build a habitat-destroying road through Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Alaska decades after the failed idea was first proposed and years after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) formally declared the idea not in the national interest. Izembek is the nation’s first designated Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention and home to more than 200 species of wildlife.

Young’s bill is the latest move in a decades-long Republican attempt to build a road through Izembek to the settlement of King Cove. FWS has found multiple times, most recently in a 2013 environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act, that the costs of building the road and swapping associated Refuge land for state and private property heavily outweigh any potential benefits. (Read More)

Legislative hearing on the following bills: 

  • H.R. 218 (Rep. Don Young), To provide for the exchange of Federal land and non-Federal land in the State of Alaska for the construction of a road between King Cove and Cold Bay. “King Cove Road Land Exchange Act,”
  • H.R. 497 (Rep. Paul Cook), To direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain public lands in San Bernardino County, California, to the San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District, and to accept in return certain exchanged non-public lands, and for other purposes. “Santa Ana River Wash Plan Land Exchange Act,”
  • H.R. 1157  (Rep. William Keating), To clarify the United States interest in certain submerged lands in the area of the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge, and for other purposes
  • H.R. 1728 (Rep. Mike Simpson), To modify the boundaries of the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, and for other purposes.

Witnesses

Panel 1

  1. The Honorable Don Young
    Member of Congress, Alaska's At-Large District
  2. The Honorable Mike Simpson
    Member of Congress, Idaho's 2nd District
  3. The Honorable Bill Keating
    Member of Congress, Massachusetts's 9th District
  4. The Honorable Paul Cook
    Member of Congress, California's 8th District
  5. The Honorable Pete Aguilar
    Member of Congress, California's 31st District

Panel 2

  1. Mr. Seth T. Taylor
    Selectman
    Town of Chatham, Massachusetts
    Chatham, MA
  2. Mr. Myron Naneng
    Chair
    Sea Lion Village Corporation Board
    Bethel, AK
  3. Mr. Daniel B. Cozad
    General Manager
    San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District
    Redlands, CA
  4. Ms. Della Trumble
    Business Manager
    King Cove Native Corporation
    King Cove, AK