Government By Revenge Part 2: Public Lands Sell Off
By Hal Shepherd
The Trump Administration and its political allies are now working to dismantle public lands in the West and Alaska. It began last August when Utah filed a lawsuit in the US Supreme Court challenging federal control over such lands in that State. Given the current right-leaning makeup of the Court, Utah has a good chance of prevailing, thereby setting a precedent, which could ultimately result in millions of acres of public lands being ceded to states. Red states, in turn, indicate they will sell much of the land to developers.
According to University of Colorado Denver Professor Deserai Anderson Crow in the School of Public Affairs, "[c]ombined with the fact that the incoming presidential administration does not differ from the Utah position, there is unlikely to be a backstop to prevent this from happening if the Supreme Court sides with the State."
In fact, as part of his shock and awe campaign to take revenge on a long list of political opponents by whom he feels victimized, Trump consistently uses the power of the executive office to reverse protections on the natural environment on a vast scale. This was most recently illustrated by Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who “made a startling admission about the reality of serving in public office at a time when an unbound leader in the Oval Office is bent on retribution against his political foes.”
During the Foreaker Group conference in Anchorage, in response to a question from an audience member about the fear of retribution from Trump against anyone who speaks out, Murkowski responded, “We are all afraid.” She followed by stating, “It’s quite a statement. But we are in a time and a place where I certainly have not been here before. I’ll tell you, I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice because retaliation is real. And that’s not right.”
Trump’s destructive environmental policies on a vast scale are similarly designed to avenge himself of groups that he feels victimized by — which makes Alaska the perfect target based primarily on his desire to get back at Democrats.
The federal government owns 60% of the land base in Alaska (some 222 million acres), including national parks, wildlife refuges, national forests, military reservations, and the National Petroleum Reserves. It seems, however, that Trump just can’t abide the series of past Democratic administrations that have set aside hundreds of millions of acres in Alaska to protect fish, wildlife, and other subsistence resources. This is illustrated by the executive order signed on his first day in office entitled "Unleashing Alaska's Extraordinary Resource Potential," which includes a revocation of "fifty-year-old public land withdrawals established to protect sensitive fish and wildlife habitat.” In addition, Trump is rescinding the Public Lands Rule adopted by the Biden administration Bureau of Land Management that required conservation to have equal status with that of resource exploitation. Finally, Trump is also calling for increased domestic production of critical minerals.
Such dismantling of protections of some of the most important places in the US for protecting fish and wildlife habitat, recreational uses, and Alaska Native traditions and culture is part of the political phenomenon known as the "Sagebrush Rebellion." The Rebellion, which started in the western states in the early 20th century, is characterized by push-back against federal regulations and attempts at enforcement by federal officials when such laws conflict with resource extraction interests. As part of his presidential campaign, Ronald Reagan declared himself "a Sagebrush Rebel" and formally installed James Watt of the conservative Mountain States Legal Foundation as Secretary of Interior. Watt then gutted federal natural resource regulations to open the West to access and resource exploitation. The largely baseless claims of the Sagebrush Rebellion also inspired domestic terrorism, including violent takeover of federal facilities and against federal authorities attempting to enforce environmental regulations.
Another move by the Administration and Republican leaders in Congress is the exploitation of the housing crises. According to a new report published by the Center for American Progress, this sell-off of the Nation's special lands and waters is merely another Trojan Horse to pay for expensive tax breaks for the wealthy and to open such lands up to exploitation. "The result would be a system where treasured public lands could be privatized and developed into second or third homes for the wealthy, pricey short-term rentals, or real estate speculation, with almost no guardrails."
Alaska's Governor Mike Dunleavy's administration has also joined the efforts to privatize public lands and waters as illustrated by lawsuits filed in federal district court over ownership of submerged lands. This would largely eliminate the federal government's authority to protect Alaska Native fishing rights and fisheries. Then there is Dunleavy's efforts to gut critical habitat status for Kachemak Bay by eliminating bans on jet skis within that area. Finally, the administration continues its efforts to prevent the State's citizens and tribal governments from keeping instream flows intact to protect subsistence resources, and his efforts to fast-track environmental analysis for mining permits.
More recently, Dunleavy’s allegiance to Trump is illustrated by his recent announcement, according to Dermot Cole with Reporting for Alaska, “that with Trump in the White House, every day is Christmas for Alaska," and has included Alaska as one of 12 states that officially supported the Utah lawsuit.
Similarly, the governor is taking advantage of the new climate to privatize public lands. Under a bill before the Alaska Legislature he sponsored, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) would make recreational cabin sites on state lands available by listing areas that would be available through staking claims on public lands in the State. SB 105 would allow "an eligible applicant to stake up to 10 acres of general domain State land that could be either leased for up to 10 years and then purchased, or purchased outright."
The extent of the potential impact of SB 105 is illustrated by the fact that if a person currently holds a Personal Use Cabin permit (PUC) to have a cabin/land within a state park, critical habitat area, state forest, etc. (special use area), that person can now request from the State to either long term lease or purchase the land where their PUC is located. Also, someone who previously held a PUC permit that has been closed, is not active, or is under appeal can request to lease or purchase the land in question. And if a person doesn't already have a current or inactive PUC within a special area, this same person could request to lease/purchase someone else's inactive PUC located in a special use area.
SB 105 has been sent to the Senate Resources Committee, and the House version (HB 109) is in the House Resources Committee.
To submit written testimony please address and send to House Resources at hres@akleg.gov for HB109. And Senate Resources at sres@akleg.gov.