[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 200 (Thursday, December 7, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7906-S7909]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Order of Procedure

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that following 
the disposition of the Balash nomination, the Senate proceed to the 
consideration of Executive Calendar No. 167, as under the previous 
order.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, today I am gratified to be finally 
debating and voting on the nomination of Joe Balash to be the U.S. 
Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Lands and Minerals.
  I have been coming to the floor, as have a lot of my colleagues, 
making the case about how it has taken too long to get good people into 
the Federal Government. I am sure I will have to give that speech maybe 
a few more times--I hope not--to finally get people who want to serve, 
who have been nominated by the President, to be confirmed by the 
Senate, to move them. It doesn't help the American people that we just 
delay well-qualified Americans who want to serve their country just for 
the sake of delay. It is happening, but I am not going to focus on that 
today.
  I actually want to thank the Democratic Whip, Senator Durbin, who was 
actually very helpful in trying to move this nomination, which has been 
stalled on the Senate floor for many weeks now. Joe Balash was 
nominated by the President in July. I appreciate the cooperative spirit 
from my colleague from Illinois, and I thank him again for that.

  This is a very important position in the U.S. Government. The 
Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management entails 
supervision and overseeing the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of 
Ocean Energy Management, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental 
Enforcement, and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and 
Enforcement. It is very important for the entire country. It is 
particularly important for my State, the great State of Alaska, and for 
so many others where Federal lands make up an enormous part of the 
State.
  Yesterday, my colleague and friend, Senator Lee from Utah, talked to 
a number of us about how much Federal lands constitute different States 
in terms of the overall percentage. A lot of Americans don't know this. 
Usually, if you live on the east coast, you don't have Federal land as 
a big part of your State, but in Alaska, it is 61 percent; Idaho, 61 
percent; Utah, 63 percent; Nevada, almost 80 percent. These positions 
in the Department of the Interior are enormously important.
  This is a very important job, and I am glad to see we are finally 
getting to vote on it because it is important to help manage resources 
that we have in abundance but also protect the environment. We all love 
our environment. Alaska has the most pristine, beautiful environment in 
the world, and we know how to protect it. We also have enormous 
opportunities for jobs in energy on public land. What is in all the 
Federal statutes that Joe is going to be in charge of implementing is 
that you can do both. You can do both. You can protect the environment 
of this great Nation, and you can also utilize these incredible 
resources that we have on public lands. In essence, that is what his 
job is going to be all about.
  I encourage my colleagues to look at Joe Balash's confirmation 
hearing and his background because he is probably one of the most 
qualified people to hold this job in the entire country--in the entire 
country. Joe Balash comes from a long, distinguished career of public 
service in Alaska. He was the commissioner of natural resources in 
Alaska, and he was the deputy commissioner of natural resources in 
Alaska, which manages one of the largest portfolios of land, water, 
minerals, oil, gas, and timber of anyplace in the world--not just in 
the country, in the world. Very few countries have more resources than 
we do in Alaska, and for years, Joe Balash was in charge of managing 
those. That makes him super well qualified for this job.
  As DNR commissioner, he oversaw 100 million acres of uplands, State 
land in Alaska--this is obviously bigger than most States in America; 
40 to 60 million acres of submerged lands and tidelands; and resources 
that included managing over half a million barrels of oil production a 
day. Joe oversaw a workforce of over 1,100 people as the commissioner 
of natural resources and a budget of $170 million a year.
  Joe understands how to build consensus, how to navigate State and 
Federal lands issues and interests, and, importantly, how to work to 
responsibly develop our resources and grow our economy, while always 
understanding that our lands sustain us and that stringent 
environmental safeguards are absolutely necessary for all Americans.
  Let me say one other thing about Joe Balash. You can look at the bio, 
you can look at the experience, but you

[[Page S7907]]

also need to know the man. When I was the commissioner of the 
department of natural resources, Joe Balash worked for me as my deputy, 
and for the past almost 3 years, he has worked as my chief of staff 
here in the Senate.
  Perhaps more than any other issue--experience, a super hard worker--
he is a man of integrity, a man of character, and a man who cares 
deeply about his country and wants the best for Americans and for 
Alaskans.
  I can't think of anyone more qualified--experience, character, 
integrity, knows the issues, cares about the environment--so I am 
strongly encouraging my colleagues to vote for Joe. He was voted out of 
the Environment and Natural Resources Committee in September with the 
support of every Senator in that committee, with the exception of one. 
When the committee looked at his experience and background and they 
heard about his integrity and character, there was enormous bipartisan 
support for Joe. I am hoping we will see that here in a few minutes 
when we come to vote.
  I understand that one of my colleagues, unfortunately, is going to 
come down to the floor soon and encourage a vote against Joe. I am 
still not sure why. Maybe it is something related to a recusal issue 
between State and Federal lands in Alaska. I will be interested to hear 
what the recusal issue is.
  Most recusal issues, by the way, as we look at confirmations in the 
Senate, relate to people who have interests in the private sector, and 
perhaps those private sector interests impact policy decisions. But 
when you have someone who has worked on lands issues in a State, the 
idea of being recused because you have expertise in policy from your 
State job when you go into a Federal job, to me, seems, well, 
outrageous. We will see what that argument is.
  I do know that Joe Balash will follow the rules and regulations as 
they relate to ethics and conflicts in a steadfast way because I know 
who he is. So I again encourage all of my colleagues to vote in favor 
of this extremely well-qualified nominee who has the character, 
knowledge, expertise, and experience for a very important job for the 
country and someone who is going to do a great job for Secretary Zinke 
and President Trump.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, the Department of the Interior is the 
steward and guardian of our public lands--our national parks, wildlife 
refuges, and wilderness areas. As the Supreme Court said more than a 
century ago, it is the Secretary of the Interior's responsibility to 
see that none of the public domain is given away to anyone who is not 
entitled to it.
  As the steward and guardian of the public lands, the Secretary must 
represent the government and the people of the Nation as a whole, not 
the special interests or even the interests of a single State. But the 
Secretary does not do his job alone; he has delegated his authority and 
responsibility for land and minerals management to the Assistant 
Secretary for Land and Minerals Management. The Assistant Secretary 
exercises the Secretary's direction and supervision over the Bureau of 
Land Management. The Assistant Secretary needs to be someone who can 
discharge this important duty fairly and impartially. Equally 
important, though, he must be seen by the American people as someone 
capable of being a good steward of their public lands and not as 
someone who comes to the job with a predisposition to dispose of their 
public lands to special interests.
  An impartial and unbiased decision-maker is a core element of the due 
process. The principle that no one can be the judge in his own case has 
been a hallmark of Anglo-American law for over 400 years. I believe 
confirming Mr. Balash to be Assistant Secretary of Land and Minerals 
Management would be contrary to this principle.
  In 2014, Alaska's Department of Natural Resources filed a claim for 
20,000 acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge with the Bureau of 
Land Management. Alaska's Department of Natural Resources sought to 
remove the long-recognized boundary of the Refuge. It asked the Bureau 
of Land Management to convey the 20,000 acres of Refuge land that would 
then be outside the Refuge's boundary to the State of Alaska so that 
those lands could then be leased for oil and gas development.
  Mr. Balash was the head of Alaska's Department of Natural Resources 
at the time it made its claim to the Bureau of Land Management. The 
Bureau of Land Management properly rejected Alaska's claim. Alaska 
appealed the Bureau's decision to the Interior Board of Land Appeals, 
where the appeal is now pending. If the Senate confirms Mr. Balash to 
be the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, he will be 
overseeing the Bureau of Land Management. He will exercise the 
Secretary's direction and supervision over the Bureau of Land 
Management. He will be in a position of reversing the Bureau of Land 
Management's decision which originally denied Alaska's claim.
  Moreover, Secretary Zinke has the authority to take jurisdiction of 
the case away from the Board of Land Appeals and to delegate that 
authority to decide the case to Mr. Balash. Mr. Balash may become the 
Interior Department's judge in the case that he initiated as Alaska's 
commissioner of natural resources.
  That is my main concern. I asked Mr. Balash his plans to recuse 
himself from participating in the Department's consideration of 
Alaska's claim. I believe Mr. Balash thinks that he will comply with 
whatever the department's ethics office says the rules are--which is 
basically a 1-year recusal from being involved in that situation. That 
said, Mr. Balash, even under these current rules, could be in the 
position of being the final arbiter on a case he previously brought on 
expanding Alaska's claim to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He 
alone could make the decision. He alone could reverse the decision on 
the State of Alaska's claim to the Bureau of Land Management--a claim 
that was turned down. He could reverse that. For that reason, I am not 
supporting Mr. Balash's nomination to this position today.
  There are so many things that we have right now that are an 
unrelenting assault on our public lands and our environment by this 
administration, and there are many on the other side of the aisle who 
are supporting that. We have seen an unprecedented use of the 
extraordinary procedures of the Congressional Review Act to nullify 
carefully crafted rules to protect the public lands and environment. We 
have seen the Secretary of the Interior unlawfully postpone 
implementation of other lawful rules. We have witnessed and seen 
legislation on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge run through here 
without the proper processes and procedures. We saw the majority use 
the extraordinary procedure of budget reconciliation not to balance the 
budget, as it was intended, but to circumvent regular order. Only this 
week, we witnessed President Trump launch an unprecedented and unlawful 
assault on our national monuments. Mr. Balash, I fear, will become 
maybe an unwilling but nonetheless a participant in these assaults on 
our public lands. That is why I cannot at this point give my support to 
this nomination.
  I know my colleague from Alaska has worked with him. I respect his 
opinion on this position. I hope he will respect mine. I do not think 
that at this point in time, without a better recusal, I can support Mr. 
Balash's nomination.
  I thank the Presiding Officer.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, President Trump has nominated Joseph 
Balash to be Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals at the 
Department of the Interior. In that role, Balash will oversee the 
Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Bureau of 
Safety and Environmental Enforcement and the Office of Surface Mining 
Reclamation and Enforcement, and head ``Interior's management of all 
federal lands and waters, and their associated mineral and non-mineral 
resources, as well as the appropriate regulation of surface coal 
mining.''
  Balash has worked for years in Alaska politics, including as the 
former commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.
  In 2013, as the acting commissioner of the Alaska Department of 
Natural Resources, Joe Balash advocated for exploration in the Arctic 
National Wildlife Refuge. Balash petitioned the U.S.

[[Page S7908]]

Fish and Wildlife Service ``to reconsider its decision to bar [Alaska] 
from conducting seismic studies in the Arctic National Wildlife 
Refuge.''
  Also, Balash has stated that he supports the Trump administration 
rewriting the 5-year plan for the offshore oil and gas leasing plan, 
which could likely lead to new areas being opened up to offshore 
drilling.
  I am a strong supporter of protecting the Arctic National Wildlife 
Refuge and oppose opening up new areas of the Atlantic to offshore 
drilling. For these reasons, I oppose his nomination for Assistant 
Secretary for Land and Minerals at the Department of the Interior.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I am here with my colleague from the 
State of Alaska, Senator Sullivan. We have heard his comments, his very 
strong support of the nomination of Joe Balash to be the Assistant 
Secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals Management. As he has 
indicated, he speaks as one who has great insight and knowledge, having 
worked with Mr. Balash for a period of years.
  As we think about those who are willing to step up and serve in this 
new administration, I think it is particularly telling that when we 
have personal knowledge, when we have had these relationships, when we 
know intimately of a person's work ethic, of their dedication to issues 
and their willingness to serve, we pay particular attention to that.
  I, too, stand in strong support of Joe Balash for this position, and 
I thank the Secretary of the Interior for placing his trust, placing 
his confidence in Mr. Balash to serve on his team at the Department of 
the Interior.
  We have an individual who knows intimately the subject area to which 
he has been appointed. Joe is from a community by the name of North 
Pole. We are all thinking about the North Pole as we get closer to 
Christmas. I suggest that just being from Alaska is enough to convince 
me that he is qualified for this position, but, honestly, the breadth 
and depth of his experiences and his commitment, his care, his passion, 
his dedication to serving not only the people but the lands that we 
hold so dear is a great tribute to Joe Balash.
  I have known and worked closely with him for years now, from the time 
that he was at the department of natural resources with then-
Commissioner Sullivan to the time that he served as the chief of staff 
for Senator Sullivan. Both of those jobs have allowed Mr. Balash to 
demonstrate time and again his competence, his expertise on a wide 
range of issues, particularly the stewardship of our public lands.
  We had an opportunity while in the Energy and Natural Resources 
Committee to listen to a little bit of his background, his upbringing, 
and how he became so personally involved and intertwined with our 
public lands. Then, if you think about the role he played when he was 
at the State as commissioner of natural resources, he had direct 
responsibility, management, and protection of 101 million acres of the 
State of Alaska. This is larger than the entire State of California--
101 million acres. He also had control of a State park system 
containing 3.3 million acres of land, more than twice the size of 
Delaware. He is used to dealing with large areas of land and the 
complicated and complex issues that are associated with them. He 
genuinely understands how we can develop our natural resources while 
protecting the environment and sustaining the health of wildlife and 
ecosystems.
  He is able to balance, he is able to understand people, and he is 
able, as he has demonstrated as a manager, to manage land--managing 
energy, minerals, timber, water, and renewable energies in a State as 
diverse as Alaska.
  In our State--I am sure that Senator Sullivan has noted this--we have 
a constitutional mandate. It is written into our State's constitution 
that we manage lands for the maximum benefit of our people. That means 
working with folks from all different sorts of backgrounds; you don't 
get to pick and choose. We all have our opinions and many competing 
points of view. Joe was able to do that and do that well.
  It is not easy to navigate, but I think Joe Balash has proven time 
and again that he is capable and is willing to work with everyone. 
Whether they are hunters, whether they are Tribes, whether they are in 
the environmental community, the conservation community, his ability to 
work with folks from all sides has been proven. Now he is ready to take 
this next step--to take it up a notch to the broader Federal level. I 
believe that he will make an exemplary Assistant Secretary, not just 
for those of us from Alaska but for our entire country.
  He will oversee the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Ocean 
Energy Management, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, 
and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. He will, 
largely, be the Department's point person for the management of our 
Nation's working lands, those lands that are not reserved for 
conservation purposes. It will be his responsibility to strengthen our 
energy and our mineral security for generations to come.
  There is no doubt in my mind that he is the right person to take this 
on. I mentioned he is from North Pole. He was a two-time State 
wrestling champion. That takes a little bit of discipline. I think he 
will be well suited and will be an able partner with Secretary Zinke 
but, really, an advocate for the American people.
  He has proven that he has the work ethic to produce the value that 
Americans need and deserve from their public lands. I know that his 
management of the Department's assets--whether it is promoting 
responsible energy development or ensuring access to Federal lands for 
sportsmen's activities--will be carried out with a dedication to 
transparency, to accountability, and to results.
  On the sportsmen's side, I do understand he is an accomplished buck 
hunter, and we recognize him for that.
  Mr. Balash was considered by those of us----
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent for 2 more 
minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. Balash was considered by those of us on the Energy 
Committee at a hearing in early September. He was reported out 2 weeks 
later with strong bipartisan support. He has done everything that 
Members on both sides of the aisle have asked him to do. He has waited 
patiently over the course of nearly 3 months, as we seek to confirm 
him.
  It was just mentioned by the ranking member that she has concerns 
about his ability and the recusal process. It was made very clear in 
committee with questions to Mr. Balash, as well as the follow-on with 
questions for the record, about some of the issues that Senator 
Cantwell has raised. I think it is important to note that Mr. Balash 
pledged very clearly to consult with and follow the counsel of the 
agency's ethics office. He did that in committee, in a statement. He 
provided the same response in his QFRs. He said: I will consult with 
the Department's designated agency ethics official regarding this 
matter and fully comply with the ethics rules of the agency.
  These are issues that have been asked, and they have been answered, 
certainly to the satisfaction of the Energy and Natural Resources 
Committee and to this chairman, and to those who reported favorably on 
him from the committee. We are at the point where the Senate has now 
asked to confirm Mr. Balash. I wish it had come a little bit earlier, 
but we are where we are.
  Again, I thank the Secretary for nominating Joe Balash for this very, 
very important and key role at the Department of the Interior. I thank 
Joe for being willing to continue his service to our Nation. I join 
Senator Sullivan, and a lot of Alaskans, in being tremendously proud of 
him. I urge all Members to support Mr. Balash's nomination to be our 
next Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals 
Management.
  I yield back all debate time and ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Balash 
nomination?
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.

[[Page S7909]]

  

  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Minnesota (Mr. Franken) 
is necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sasse). Are there any other Sentors in the 
Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 61, nays 38, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 310 Ex.]

                                YEAS--61

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Burr
     Capito
     Carper
     Cassidy
     Cochran
     Collins
     Coons
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Donnelly
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Flake
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hatch
     Heitkamp
     Heller
     Hoeven
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     King
     Lankford
     Lee
     Manchin
     McCain
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Paul
     Perdue
     Portman
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Schatz
     Scott
     Shelby
     Strange
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Warner
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--38

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Casey
     Cortez Masto
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Gillibrand
     Harris
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Kaine
     Klobuchar
     Leahy
     Markey
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Peters
     Reed
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--1

       
     Franken
       
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to 
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the President 
will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

                          ____________________