[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 25 (Tuesday, February 8, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S555-S558]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EXECUTIVE CALENDAR--Continued The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from
Montana.
Unanimous Consent Request--Executive Calendar No. 650
Mr. TESTER. Madam President, I rise today to speak in support of
Martha Williams to be the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
I represent a State that goes by many names. Most of you know it as
Montana, but it is often called Big Sky Country, the Last Best Place,
and even the Treasure State. Montana has earned these names through an
abundance of beauty and natural resources, and as a result we have
fostered a robust outdoor economy that relies on responsible forest
management. Folks come to Montana from all over the world to enjoy all
that our State has to offer. Thousands of folks make their living by
working the land and showing folks the best way to enjoy it.
But the key to preserving our multibillion-dollar outdoor economy is
proper stewardship and oversight of our natural resources. That means
talking to folks on the ground. It means bringing competing interests
to the table to find the most sustainable ways to manage our public
lands. Not only do our forests and rivers create thousands of good-
paying jobs, but they also create countless memories for families in
our country. So it is critically important that we have balanced
oversight in place to guarantee that Montana's outdoor economy remains
vibrant for generations to come.
The Director of Fish and Wildlife Service plays a central role in
this oversight, and that is why I am proud to support Martha Williams'
nomination today. As Director, she will be tasked with the management
and recovery of our Nation's fish and wildlife and overseeing a large
chunk of our public lands--89 million acres, to be exact, from
Montana's own Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge all the way to
the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
As a Montanan and a former Director of the Montana Fish, Wildlife,
and Parks, Ms. Williams has demonstrated time and time again her
ability to bring folks together to find lasting solutions, to
collaborate to find common ground. She always leads with science and
has developed State management plans for issues ranging from grizzly
bears to aquatic invasive mussels, and she has done it with input from
all the relevant stakeholders.
She also has a profound respect and understanding of the bedrock laws
that guide responsible land and wildlife management. She will be
bringing with her over a decade of legal experience with the Montana
Fish, Wildlife, and Parks as well as a well-regarded legal scholar at
the University of Montana.
She has spent her entire career standing up for our public lands and
proven herself to be a thoughtful, nonpartisan steward who works
collaboratively with folks on the ground to make positive change. Her
top-notch ability to find common ground between sportsmen and
conservationists alike and her skills as an exceptional problem-solver
will make her an outstanding Director at the Fish and Wildlife Service.
She has strong support from sports men and women, biologists, and
academics alike and has already received strong bipartisan support from
the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. She was passed out
of committee on a 16-to-4 vote.
Make no mistake about it, we will miss her leadership in the Treasure
State, but I am looking forward to seeing her effective management
skills at the Federal level. This position is very important for the
stewardship of our land and our waters, and I would urge my colleagues
to support her confirmation today.
And in that vein, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider
the following nomination: Calendar No. 650, Martha Williams, of
Montana, to be Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; that the
nomination be
[[Page S556]]
confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon
the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
The Senator from Alaska.
Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, reserving the right to object, I would
like to talk a little bit about not just Ms. Williams--who as my friend
from Montana has mentioned--I actually think she is qualified--but the
issues that are in front of the Fish and Wildlife Service, as we speak,
that relate to my State, the great State of Alaska.
Unfortunately, it has been one Executive order, Executive action,
delay targeting Alaska--some from the Fish and Wildlife Service that
has had an enormously negative impact on my State.
I agree with the Senator from Montana. Fish and Wildlife Service is
important. He mentioned that it manages 89 million acres nationwide.
Well, 77 million acres of that 89 are in Alaska. Eight-five percent of
Fish and Wildlife Service land that is managed is in one State, the
great State of Alaska, a size bigger than the State of New Mexico, just
for Fish and Wildlife Service land control.
So this Agency, this nominee will have an enormous impact on my
constituents and, indeed, right now is having an enormous impact on my
constituents, and I can't get them to do anything constructive for the
people I represent.
Let me give you two, and perhaps my colleague from Montana can help
me out with this. These are two directly--directly--in the jurisdiction
of the Fish and Wildlife Service that we have been asking for support
on and haven't gotten it. One is the Russian River land exchange. This
is a vital exchange that needs to happen for a highway project on
Alaska's Kenai Peninsula.
Here is the thing about this land exchange. It has been in the works
since 1975--44 years, to be exact. We believe it is the longest running
federally led environmental impact statement in the history of America,
which is actually what happens a lot in the great State of Alaska.
Groups come up; they don't want any resource development; they don't
want any access to land and they sue and they stop and they try to
delay things. This one has been delayed, in one form or another, for 44
years.
Now, the previous administration, to its credit, heard the voices of
Alaska, responded to the input from different stakeholders, and
actually put forward a reasonable land exchange that was approved by
the Federal Government. The regional office of the Fish and Wildlife
Service sent the approved package to headquarters in Washington, DC, in
November, where it sits--where it sits.
So one thing I would like to do before this nominee moves forward is
get a commitment to approve that. It is very simple--44 years. I don't
think we are asking too much, but it is delayed.
Let me give you another one. Many of you have heard about the King
Cove road. You are going to hear about it again because it is an issue
that every Alaskan, even those who don't live out on the Aleutian
Island chain, are passionate about. Only in Alaska could this happen.
It is an 11-mile, single-lane gravel road that will save lives for
people in the community of King Cove--primarily Alaska Native--and they
need approval of that through another land exchange. We have been
working on that for over 40 years--40 years. People in my communities
in that part of the State have died because there is no road to access
an airport. There are a lot of storms in that part of the world, the
Aleutian Islands. When they need access to get out on a plane, they
often don't have it because we can't build a single lane, 11-mile
gravel road.
We have a land exchange approved by the previous administration. This
administration has said they are looking to approve it too. That is
great news, but the Secretary of the Interior has said she is not going
to fully endorse it until she goes out to King Cove and sees it
herself. OK. We have been waiting for that visit for a year--for a
year.
There is a theme here. With the new administration, if there is
something that has been helpful to my State, primarily by the previous
administration, the Trump administration, on so many issues, bipartisan
issues for Alaska, which has helped us in historic ways--on those
helpful things, the new administration comes in, and they say: We are
going to delay it. We are going to delay it. We have to relook at it.
We don't know. If the Trump administration did it for Alaska, it must
have been bad. That is their thing.
But on things that harm my State, this administration on day 1 has
expedited so many things. Day 1, the President is in office for 1 hour,
and he issues an order dealing with ANWR, which this body approved in
2017. If it helps Alaska, they delay it. If it hurts Alaska, they are
all over it.
What we have in the first year of the Biden administration--first
year--are 21 Executive orders and Executive actions negatively
impacting my State across the board on every topic you can imagine:
access to lands, tourism, fishing--21 Executive orders or actions.
I gave a speech on this before the holidays, and it was 20--now it is
21--solely focused on Alaska. There is no other State in the country
that is getting this kind of attention from this administration. I am
sure the great State of Montana isn't.
It is not just about resource development. These actions are hurting
the ability of my constituents to put food on the table, lights on in
their homes, jobs, cultures.
And one area that doesn't nearly get enough attention, these actions,
so many of them, are actually negatively impacting the Alaska Native
community of the great State of Alaska. The Native people of my State
are targeted. Let me give you one example. The previous administration,
working with this body in a bipartisan way, finally passed a bill that
provided justice to Alaska Native Vietnam veterans who served their
country during Vietnam. The Alaska Native community is one of the most
patriotic communities in the country. They serve at higher rates in the
military than any other ethnic group in the country.
When many of them went to fight in Vietnam, they came home, and a law
that had been on the books since 1906--the ability to get a Native
allotment--had expired. They came home and said: Wait, I can't get my
native allotment? So we finally fixed that almost a half century later.
Of course, a lot of radical enviros hated it because it is giving land
in Alaska to people.
The No. 1 issue I raised with Secretary Holland during her
confirmation process was to make sure the Executive order to get these
lands to Vietnam veterans--Alaska Native Vietnam veterans--stays on
track. The Trump administration did all they could to make it happen.
All they had to do was hit ``send.'' She delayed it for 2 years--
delayed it for 2 years. She wasn't even going to tell the delegation. I
guarantee you, in the next 2 years, as this is being delayed, a lot of
these Vietnam vets--Alaska Vietnam vets--will die before they even get
their lands. So we are starting to hear it.
I want to make one final point. This is very important. This
administration talks a lot about racial justice, environmental equity.
They talk about it all the time, but it comes with a caveat. They say
they want to help disadvantaged communities, minority communities. I
think that is a good goal, but it comes with a caveat--racial justice,
environmental equity, unless it is for the indigenous people of Alaska,
and then they get targeted.
A lot of these Executive orders are targeting them. I have a whole
list where some of the most disadvantaged Americans in the country are
being targeted--in my view, because of their race--by this
administration.
I have submitted these before, but I am going to submit them again
for the Record, several letters from Alaska Native groups talking about
this unwarranted lack of consultation and targeting of their interests
in my State.
I ask unanimous consent to have one of these letters printed in the
Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Voice of the Arctic Inupiat,
December 10, 2021.
Re Executive Order 13985
Dear Secretary Haaland: My name is John Hopson Jr., and I
am President of Voice of the Arctic Inupiat (VOICE). VOICE is
a nonprofit corporation whose members include representatives
from Alaska's North Slope tribal councils, municipal
governments, Alaska Native Corporations, our local school
district, regional health organization, and the tribal
college from the North Slope
[[Page S557]]
of Alaska. I am writing today to provide comments on
Executive Order 13985 calling on federal agencies to advance
equity by identifying and addressing barriers to equal
opportunity that underserved communities face due to
government policies and programs.
The North Slope region is one of the most remote areas in
the United States and all eight communities in our region are
considered ``underserved.'' We see many barriers and
challenges when addressing equity in government policies and
action. The focus areas identified in EO 13985 around
contracting, recreating on public lands and tribal
discretionary grants are part of a larger problem when
addressing the issue for native communities that we see, in
addition to recent decisions by this administration around
resource development and the economy our region relies on.
As an organization built on inclusiveness, we emphasize the
importance of addressing equity in several ways: most
importantly, with continued dialogue because we still see and
feel the effects of a federal government that treated our
people as a burden and an impedance. Several of our
communities are still dealing with the cleanup of toxic
materials leftover from military occupation and the
development of Distance Early Warning--``DEW line''--sites
during the Cold War. One of our communities, Kaktovik, was
forced to relocate three times in recent history and their
homes and gravesites were bulldozed to flatten out a runway
for Air Force activity without restitution or even an
apology. Trust in our federal government is still being
built, and the basis of that relationship is meaningful
consultation, collaboration and only then can greater equity
be seen for underserved communities like ours.
In terms of equity, we understand that the Biden
Administration has made promises domestically and
internationally to curb this country's emissions and we, as
Inupiat people whose homelands are on the front lines of
climate change, can understand the need to move in that
direction when it comes to address government policies. What
we cannot support, however, is that those efforts are made on
the backs of indigenous peoples without even a conversation,
that is not how more equity is achieved. The federal
government must allow us the time and resources for a
thoughtful, deliberate, and sustainable transition of our
economy but instead we have seen secretarial and executive
actions that threaten our way of economic sustainability and
therefore our way of life.
Our most pressing concern is the imminent threat to the
North Slope Borough economy that started on day one of this
administration, with little warning nor communication through
reversing Records of Decision, halting new projects, and a
reductionist climate agenda that singles out and vilifies the
oil and gas industry as an alternative to creating a
realistic, multi-dimensional climate strategy. The State of
Alaska has some of this highest and most rigorous
environmental protection policies in the country with respect
to oil and gas development. Our regional government, the
North Slope Borough (NSB) is a home-rule government
responsible for more territory than any other local
government in the nation, an area roughly the same size as
the state of Indiana. The NSB receives 96% of their revenue
from property taxes that are levied on oil and gas industry
infrastructure on the North Slope, which enables them to
provide services that were historically inaccessible in the
Arctic. The Borough School District provides vocational and
academic education for people of all ages; NSB health clinics
provide modern medicinal services to residents in even the
smallest and remote of villages. The Municipal Services
Department operates water, sewer, and electric utilities,
plows roads and runways, and maintains landfills. The
Planning Department provides a third level of oversight to
the oil industry within our region on top of State and
federal oversight and regulations. Other NSB departments
provide housing, police and fire protection, search and
rescue, and other critical services to our communities. They
do this independently, without assistance from state nor
federal government. The benefits of modern American
civilization, common in the rest of the nation, have been
built on the foundation of the North Slope oil industry.
In terms of equity for our region and as economies
transition, the U.S. government must work to create as much
stability as possible and make every effort to not leave our
residents to deal with the volatility and instability that
will likely result from policy changes made in the name of
decarbonization. Fossil fuel usage will no doubt decrease
over time as renewable resources become more widely available
and affordable. However, renewable resource technology has
not developed to a place where it can be widely applicable in
our region; charging an electric car is not easy in villages
that experience blackouts or still rely on diesel generators
for power. Instead of trying to score short term political
capital by drastically changing oil and gas extraction and
ignoring local perspectives, a long-term realistic outlook
and working with the people in the places that currently rely
on these resources is not only the right thing to do, but an
obligation of the government under its trust responsibility
with its indigenous peoples. Without that cooperation and
relationship, equity will be impossible to achieve as
indigenous and local voices will ignored.
Contracts for Businesses with Characteristics that Align with the
Definition of Underserved Community
Impacts on equity seen through the contracts and businesses
awarded by federal agencies are visible in many ways. Our
region has had little investment or resources put in place to
develop businesses that can help build capacity to provide
the ability to search for, apply and win government
contracts. If a local business has an economic development
arm, most are not comparable to outside larger firms who have
an advantage and can adjust their business models easily to
bid and be awarded government contracts. The businesses that
do get contracts typically do not align with local traditions
and practices or rarely have the potential to bring tangible
economic return to the community beyond short-term labor
positions. When and if activity does occur, some larger
businesses fail engage with local tribes, and sometimes even
the awarding agency fails to communicate with residents on
what project or business opportunities are upcoming in their
own community. The Department of the Interior
(``Department'') can use power of procurement to contract
with and support businesses that align and respect native
communities, particularly small and disadvantaged businesses
that align with local traditions.
We recommend that the Department find more creative ways to
distribute information via social media and local media in
addition to helping facilitate matching programs for small
businesses to become teaming partners. The Department can
also do better by communicating opportunities that are
available to tribal businesses by facilitating additional
networking through conferences, forums or meet and greets.
Another way would be for the Department to implement
additional policies requiring large businesses to work with
smaller businesses on contracting opportunities, like the
small businesses acting as a sub-contractor to a prime
contractor, allowing for partnership and mentorship between
the companies of different sizes. Regional non-profits can
help facilitate this partnership and have capacity that
smaller tribes and communities may not.
Another way to improve the process and relationships around
federal contracting would be to help provide clearer
communication channels for businesses to access the
Department's point of contacts. As most interactions with the
federal government, it is difficult finding answers to
questions in a timely manner, creating additional issues for
smaller and tribal businesses who are trying to navigate the
application process.
We also see barriers surrounding the application processes
themselves. No two agencies have the same procurement or
application requirements. This builds additional stumbling
blocks into the system and requires local businesses, often
an incredibly small team of people, to do significant
additional work. Streamlining federal grants and contracts to
have similar requirements would greatly improve equity and
the ability of small indigenous companies or entities to be
successful through these processes.
Recreation Access to DOI-managed Lands for Underserved Communities
The Inupiat people and the residents who call the Arctic
home have a unique relationship with the lands and water.
Historically our people regularly roamed hundreds of miles in
search of game and hunted up and down our coastlines to
survive. But many of our communities continue to have a
strained relationship with the federal government and
agencies with the Department because of historical slights
and being denied access to lands that were historically used.
On top of that, additional burdensome Departmental and agency
regulations and policies have created additional barriers
when trying to access and recreate on across our homelands
that are now public lands which surround many of our
communities. Two communities in our region, Anaktuvuk Pass
which lies inside the Gates of the Arctic National Park and
Kaktovik which lies within the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge are impacted by Department agencies that have not
implemented their rights under the 1980 Alaska National
Interest Lands Conservation Act (``ANILCA''). There are
several provisions under ANILCA that have either not been
implemented or have been partially implemented that restricts
these communities access to their subsistence resources
through restrictions. Section 1110(b) was intended to protect
the traditional overland travel for these communities to
allow for summer access however the appropriate documentation
of traditional access has not been completed for Kaktovik
over 40 years after the passage of ANCSA. The regulation of
motorized vehicles on public land makes it harder for native
communities to access their own lands, let alone public lands
in the federal land system. The agencies have not worked with
either community in implementation of Section 1307 with
respect to tourism in either the park or the refuge. This is
the opposite of the question, in that the Department agencies
are issuing permits over the homelands of our people yet not
providing either Anaktuvuk Pass or Kaktovik the ability to
control tourism to their economic benefit by not following
Section 1307.
Climate Change
Climate change appears in many different forms across
Alaska. It is well known that the Arctic is ``ground zero''
for climate change; on Alaska's North Slope, increased
[[Page S558]]
ice-free seasons have resuIted in greater coastal erosion and
difficulty accessing some of our subsistence resources;
melting permafrost has exacerbated this erosion in addition
to creating infrastructure damage that is expensive to
repair, ruining our traditional sigduaqs (ice cellars where
meat is stored) through flooding, and is making travel across
tundra more difficult. Elsewhere in Alaska, other regions are
also struggling with an increase in wildfires, the warming of
rivers that leads to stresses in the fish populations that
they rely on to subsist, flooding, and the introduction and
expansion of invasive plants and insects. Any response
mechanisms that the government introduces must be flexible
and robust enough to cover the varying changes that we are
seeing across our region and the State as a whole.
VOICE's overarching recommendation is that the Department
consider--in lieu of new ``top down'' policies that, while
well intentioned, don't always serve communities as they are
intended--setting up a grant program that allows affected
communities the flexibility and empowerment to respond to the
impacts that they are facing in a culturally responsible way
that fits their local environment and community. Overall, we
have not seen very many examples of government responses and
assistance to our climate related changes that have been
particularly useful. Any action related to a changing climate
falls to the NSB, to handle the responses in our communities,
including building sea walls to protect against erosion and
fixing roads and buildings damaged by permafrost thaw.
Through a multi-year effort, the NSB has been working through
the process of receiving funding and support from the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers to build revetment in the community
of Utqiagvik, our largest community, to prevent erosion from
consuming many houses, businesses, and local infrastructure.
Utqiagvik is not the only community in our region that is
experiencing significant erosion; there are similar needs in
Point Hope and Wainwright. Programs and policies that would
assist in assessment of climate related changes and address
solutions and funding around these impacts are necessary.
In terms of climate change observation and other related
programs, we have seen most success in local observer
networks, when local people are trained to monitor and
measure the changes that they are seeing in their own
communities, this creates a sense of empowerment rather than
helplessness. Ideally, permanent, local jobs within our
communities threatened by climate change would be created by
an initiative from the federal government. We believe that
support of these local networks should be prioritized over
the many studies in our communities that are conducted by
multiple federal agencies. Current local network systems need
to be expanded to include all communities because they rely
heavily on indigenous and traditional knowledge of our
environment in a way that no western scientist can compare.
VOICE recommends that there are clear definitions developed
around climate change terminology, for example, `climate
change resilience' is ambiguous and is geographically
variable. The truth is that in the Arctic, and in Alaska in
general, we are well beyond the point of mitigation and have
firmly moved into the realm of adaptation. From retrofitting
existing infrastructure to moving entire communities,
adaptation is incredibly expensive. Federal agencies should
take a stronger initiative in partnering with our local
communities to better understand the impacts of climate
change and the viability of available renewable technologies
that can be utilized in arctic conditions. All of our
communities currently run off of hydrocarbons and we hear
from those unfamiliar with our ecosystem that we should begin
the switch to run our communities off of renewable resources,
but we have yet to see a legitimate solution to our energy
needs that is viable in the unique and challenging Arctic
conditions.
Applying for and Accessing Tribal Discretionary Grants
One way the process around discretionary grants for tribes
that can be improved would be to set up additional offices
and positions in regional offices like Tribal grant liaisons
to assist tribes and help build a sustainable beneficial
relationship. A regional grant liaison dedicated to tribes
would also be able to help the department create more
targeted communication grant campaigns and they could act as
a point of contact for tribes navigating the grants process.
Small tribes like those in our region often have a difficult
time building relationships with the federal government and
understanding the federal regulations around the grants they
are applying for. As I mentioned the burdensome reporting
process can create challenges with tribes that have low
capacity or high turnover, leaving them ineligible for future
grants. Federal agencies should take a stronger initiative in
partnering with our local communities to better understand
them before developing and awarding grants.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on addressing
equity in government policies. We hope that this conversation
will be ongoing and that our comments will be useful as the
United States Government decides how best to address this
issue.
Quyanaq,
John Hopson, Jr.,
President.
Mr. SULLIVAN. Here is one. It is from the president of the Voice of
the Arctic Inupiat, John Hopson, Jr.
In terms of equity [racial equity] we understand that the
Biden Administration has made promises domestically and
internationally to curb this country's emissions and we, as
Inupiat people whose homelands are on the front lines of
climate change, can understand the need to move in that
direction when it comes to address government policies. What
we cannot support, however, is that those efforts are [often]
made on the backs of indigenous peoples in Alaska without
even a conversation, that is not how more equity is achieved.
The federal government must allow us time and resources for a
thoughtful, deliberate, and sustainable transition of our
economy but instead we have seen secretarial and executive
actions [from this administration] that threaten our way of
[life and] economic sustainability and therefore our [entire]
way of life [in America's Arctic].
Another group: Apparently, consultation with all indigenous groups in
the country, except for those in Alaska, is this administration's
policy.
So, bottom line, I need commitments from the Fish and Wildlife
Service on these issues: the Russian River land exchange, the King Cove
land exchange. More broadly, I need the administration to end its war
on Alaska and our working families.
I am happy to discuss with the Senator from Montana on these issues
and maybe get his help, but for right now, I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
Mr. TESTER. Madam President, could I just get a minute?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. TESTER. Because I know there is a vote coming.
First of all, I would ask my friend from Alaska--I appreciate the
fact you are standing up for your constituents to do what is right. I
have no problem with that whatsoever. I have no problem with the
concerns you brought up on the Russian River and the King Cove Road,
although I don't know the issues nearly as well as you do. But my point
is this: If you are able to put Ms. Williams in as Director of the Fish
and Wildlife Service, she has a track record of listening to people.
You happen to have a ``U.S. Senator'' in front of your name; you will
be at the top of the list. She is not somebody who shuts the door and
says: Just because you are Republican, I don't want to listen to you.
She is somebody who always brings in people, collaborates, and comes to
a decision that will work. I wouldn't be up here advocating for her if
I didn't believe that.
Mr. SULLIVAN. Well, to my colleague, I look forward to working with
you on that and those amendments and look forward to moving her
nomination forward in that light.
I yield the floor.
____________________