Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

Public testimony is being heard this week in the House Resources Committee for House Bill No. 138, which establishes the Alaska Outstanding Resource Water Advisory Commission to review Tier III nominations and make recommendations to the legislature. Testimony on Monday was dominated by opposition. The House Resources Committee will accept more testimony on Friday, Feb. 14, at 1 p.m.

Rep. Chuck Kopp is sponsoring the bill, which is supported by 15 organizations including the Alaska Chamber of Commerce, Alaska Miners Association, Alaska Municipal League, Alaska Oil and Gas Association, Southeast Conference, and Sealaska.

In a sponsor statement, Kopp said that since Alaska currently has no formal process for designating Outstanding National Resource Waters (ONRW), the state is at risk of violating the Clean Water Act.

The draft bill dictates that the seven-member commission include the commissioners of the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Fish and Game, or the commissioners’ designees. Additionally, four members appointed by the governor would include a member who represents a tribal entity or Native corporation in the state, a member who represents an environmental or conservation non-governmental organization, a member who represents a resource development non-governmental organization, and a member who represents a statewide organization of local governments.

Kopp said H.B. 138 attempts to make the ONRW designation process apolitical. “We’re trying to balance competing interests,” he said.

Monday’s testimony largely disagreed that H.B. 138 would adequately keep politics out of the designation process. The House Resource Committee heard from 11 opponents of the bill before the committee ran out of time. Testimony was focused on the importance of Alaska’s waters and the political nature of a legislative decision compared to a science-based approach. “I’m asking for help in protecting our streams and rivers,” Dan Hotch said. “I guess people don’t have the same understanding of land as we do and we want to protect it.

Written statements in opposition include letters from Chilkat Indian Village (CIV), Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, and private citizens. “Designation should not be a statutory process,” the Klukwan village council wrote. “Inviting the legislature to make such a determination politicizes a process that is best left to professionals with natural resource/science expertise.”

The letter also states that the bill lacks specific designation criteria and details such as an appeal process and temporal limits.

A letter in support of the bill submitted by the Alaska Miners Association and the organizations listed above states, “Given the significant restrictions that would be placed on water bodies designated as (Tier 3), and the significant social and economic impacts to Alaska, it is our position that the authority to designate an ONRW or Tier 3 water must lie solely with the legislature,” the letter states. Two other letters of support were submitted.

Public testimony will resume on Friday, Feb. 14 during the House Resources Committee meeting at 1 p.m. Public comment can be given by phone by calling 844-586-9085, and the meeting can be streamed online at akleg.gov.