The Alaska U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan were angry about a policy that leaves 28 acres of land in Alaska under federal control. They said it was another attack by the Biden administration on the state.
The Bureau of Land Management said it would not follow through with an environmental impact statement from January 2021 that would have lifted a public land order and given the land back to the state. After the Biden administration had done its own environmental impact statement, the move was made.
Murkowski said that no other state would allow that to happen.
Murkowski said, “The Biden administration missed a chance to do the right thing by Alaska by refusing to lift a single acre of a single PLO anywhere in our state. Instead, they kept all of these lands in a restricted status.” “This is a new way for the government to take back land, even though most PLOs in Alaska have done their job and are no longer needed.”
Sullivan said that the final EIS is part of a trend by the Department of Interior that wrongs Alaska Native veterans of the Vietnam War.
“Three years ago, the Secretary promised me twice that the Alaska Native Vietnam Veteran Allotment Program would be carried out quickly, in line with the part of the 2019 Dingell Act that I wrote.” At every turn, though, she has done the exact opposite, causing endless delays and pointless problems and greatly reducing the number of places that these brave Americans who served our country can choose from. So far, only 29 of them have gotten the land that was supposed to be theirs under a program ordered by Congress. Many of them may not live long enough to see the land that is their birthright.
It’s the second time in less than a week that Alaskan officials have questioned a decision made by the Biden administration.
Attorney General Treg Taylor said in a lawsuit to the U.S. District Court of Federal Claims that Alaska would have made billions of dollars in royalties if the DOI hadn’t canceled nine oil and gas leases. Officials said the federal government should answer to the state and pay them.
“Oil and gas production from those leases could make a big difference in the economy of our state and the energy independence of our country,” Gov. Mike Dunleavy said. “This change of heart by the federal government goes against what Congress said should happen and takes away Alaska’s rights to natural resources.”
Along with that, the state also sued the Biden administration in Alaska’s U.S. District Court over a new rule that stops oil and gas development in more than half of the National Petroleum Reserve.
The head of the Department of Natural Resources, John Boyle, said, “The inmates are really running the Biden Administration asylum.” “This rule about the National Petroleum Reserve is just a reward for the extreme environmentalist groups that were upset by the Willow decision.” The people of Alaska are left to carry the terrible results.
Not only the government is against the Biden administration.
People who live on Alaska’s North Slope sued, saying that the new rules that limit oil and gas exploration there would hurt their income.
“For example, the North Slope Borough was created to ensure that the local people would benefit and be provided services from the oil and gas industry through the ability to tax industry,” it said. “These tax receipts provide the vast majority of revenue for the North Slope Borough, which is then used to provide a wide range of essential public services, including sewer, water, heat, sanitation, schools, clinics, hospitals, wildlife and fisheries management and research, infrastructure, and social and cultural programs.”
The group wants the judge to throw out the rule and say it isn’t legal.
