 from Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton February 21 , 2003
"I have asked Secretary Norton to consider reimplementing the longstanding policy of the Department of the Interior to follow the letter and spirit of ANILCA's no more wilderness review provisions," said Murkowski. "This policy served Alaska well from the time ANILCA passed until it was rescinded by a last minute action of former Interior Secretary Babbit at the end of the Clinton Administration." The "no more" provisions of ANILCA section 1326 prohibit studies and actions by federal agencies that lead to new wilderness units in Alaska. "Congress asserted in ANILCA that it had established the correct balance between conservation and development on federal land in Alaska. It reserved to itself the prerogative of recommending future wilderness in the State. Federal agencies have no business spending public money doing studies Congress has prohibited," Murkowski said. "I am also pleased to announce that we have begun the process of seeking certification of the twenty-two thousand navigable waters in Alaska. These lakes, rivers and streams belong to Alaska under the Equal Footing Doctrine, but have never been certified. We are now beginning to clear those backlogs," said Murkowski. Working with the Department
of the Interior, Alaska is using a new process called Recordable
Disclaimers to obtain title to navigable waters within the state.
This effort with the Department of the Interior will include
a process to coordinate, gather and evaluate information on the
remaining rivers and lakes that the state of Alaska believes
are navigable. The first application for a disclaimer, on the
Black River in Northeast Alaska, was transmitted to the Bureau
of Land Management last week.
Source of News Release:
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