By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski told a Sitka audience Wednesday that removing the Roadless Rule for Alaska would not be a “wholesale devastation” of the Tongass National Forest.
“It’s just not possible, given the protections that we have in place, and that will stay in place,” Murkowski said at the special Chamber of Commerce luncheon at Harrigan Centennial Hall.
About a hundred Sitkans were present, with the Chamber opening the event without charge to everyone who wished to hear the Alaska’s senior senator speak about issues affecting Sitka and the state. Those included health care, the Alaska Marine Highway, energy, transportation, Secure Rural Schools, Endangered Species Act, affordable housing, and missing and murdered indigenous women – a project she has taken a special interest in.
There were outbreaks of applause on her comments supporting the Coast Guard and calling the sustainability of the Alaska Marine Highway System “a critical priority.”
It was a largely positive atmosphere in the packed room, despite the diversity of views on Murkowski’s politics, which had been brought into high national focus earlier in the month with her critical Senate votes against calling witnesses in the impeachment trial of President Trump, and on his final acquittal.
At the end of Murkowski’s speech she took some questions from the audience. Afterward, she met with reporters briefly in a room at Centennial Hall, then visited with Pacific High students at their school down the street (see story). A closed-door roundtable followed with community leaders, including Deputy Mayor Steven Eisenbeisz, incoming City Administrator John Leach, federal agency representatives, business leaders and environmentalists present.
She also celebrated the release of the Elizabeth Peratrovich coin, in a private home, with leaders of Alaska Native Sisterhood and Alaska Native Brotherhood.
Murkowski, a Republican, was appointed to the Senate in 2002 by her father, Gov. Frank Murkowski, who had resigned his Senate seat after winning election as governor. She won election in 2004, 2010 and 2016.
She told the audience Wednesday, “You don’t need to hear me say but I’ll say it anyway. It’s been ugly in Washington, D.C., it has been as difficult and contentious a time as any that I’ve seen in my 17 years back in the United States Senate. And it has permeated all (aspects) of government.”
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski listens in the audience as she's introduced during Wednesday's Sitka Chamber of Commerce meeting at Harrigan Centennial Hall. Murkowski and members of her staff spent the day in Sitka visiting with constituents. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
Acknowledging the diversity of opinions Alaskans have about President Trump – ranging from “get rid of him yesterday” to “he’s the best president we’ve ever had” – she said she is also reminded by constituents to continue working on their behalf.
“So I wanted to be a little more upbeat with you today and just kind of letting you know some of the things that are happening in Washington that you may have missed because nobody reports the good news,” she said.
Clarifying her position in support of lifting the Roadless Rule for Alaska, in line with the governor and other members of the congressional delegation, she said she recognizes that it is a divisive matter.
“This exemption,” she said, “is not about making sure that we have access to clear-cut every acre of the Tongass. ... It’s not intended to be that way and it won’t be applicable that way.”
She noted that 13 million acres of Tongass are already explicitly restricted from resource development or required to be managed as roadless areas.
“That doesn’t change,” she said. “That’s about 80 percent of the forest. And then on top of that you still will have – if there is a complete exemption on lifting the roadless – you will still be required that all development projects, any development projects, would have to go through the federal regulatory processes that are in place, comply with all existing laws and regulations. So none of that goes away. ... I just want to assure folks that as we’re talking about access. It is not for timber exclusively or mainly or solely. It is limited timber harvest. But it is also for access to other opportunities.”
Murkowski spent some time on the issue of affordable housing, prompted by a question from Mim McConnell, the executive director of the Sitka Community Land Trust. The former Sitka mayor told Murkowski that the problem of affordable and attainable housing is going to get worse in Sitka, with plans for the new Coast Guard vessel and expanded SEARHC facility raising demand.
“It’s interesting,” the senator responded, “because it used to be that you go into just about any community and you say what’s your number one priority? And it’s ‘cost of energy’ they just can’t deal with the cost of energy. Now we’re at that point where it’s housing because you folks don’t have the housing. ”
This is affecting the community’s ability to fill professional positions in the community, she added.
“So this in my view has risen to a level of priority that I in fairness had not anticipated,” Murkowski said. “We’ve just been so focused on what we’re doing to reduce the cost of energy. ... We have more we have to do on the housing side.”
Addressing health care issues, she said Congress is taking aim at an issue overlooked in previous debates on the Affordable Care Act. The Lower Health Care Costs Act of 2019 was introduced and is moving forward, to address the actual costs of health care, she said.
“I actually hope that it might begin to do that, and it focuses on things like transparency and surprise medical billing, getting the patient out of the middle of that, but it speaks more broadly to prescription drug pricing and what we need to do to reduce the cost of prescription that,” she said. “One of the issues that is yet unresolved is the air ambulance issue. ... We’ve got a little bit of work to do with that.”
Murkowski has worked over the years on continuing Secure Rural Schools funding. She said it’s an uphill battle, since only about 11 states support continued funding, but she said she and other supporters were able to “quietly” include a two-year extension of the funds. The $22 million for the state translates into some $667,000 for Sitka, which has been customarily split between the city and schools.
“There’s usually a small group of folks that join up with others in Southeast .. and the Pacific Northwest, and come back to Washington to say please, please can you ensure us that Secure Rural Schools funding will continue,” she said. “So that funding will be coming to you.”
Murkowski, who was born and raised in Southeast, said she is concerned about the fate of the Alaska Marine Highway. She remembers regularly taking the ferries as an affordable travel option.
“We need them to continue to do that,” she said.
Murkowski said it’s her understanding a new state board has been announced by the DOT commissioner to decide how to build a “sustainable ferry system.”
“You’ve got legislators committed to it, the administration is committed to it. Communities that rely on it are committed to it,” she said. “So what’s my role? What is the federal role here? Because there is a role and one of the things that we’ve been working to do is kind of cut through some of these federal requirements and regulations that might hinder the effectiveness or perhaps drive up the overall cost, which again, that makes it not sustainable.”
Discussing the importance of federal highway funds to the system, Murkowski said she is working on a new five-year highway bill with a more than 20 percent increase in funding.
Murkowski expressed concern about the possible listing of the Mexican humpback whales under the Endangered Species Act. NOAA Fisheries proposed to designate critical habitat for the Mexico, Central America, and Western North Pacific distinct population segment of humpback whales.
“I don’t think we should look at it as anything less than a very considerable threat to our opportunities to fish, to recreate,” she said. She has asked for an extension to the comment period and is looking for an explanation as to why Southeast shouldn’t be excluded from the designation. “We’re going to be pushing hard on this one. I think we recognize when you’re not using the best science you’re going to get bad policy that has implications and perhaps unintended consequences that I just fear for.”
A member of the audience, fisherman Matt Donohoe, asked for help in dealing with plans by federal regulators under the Endangered Species Act to “declare a mixing zone for western Steller sea lions between Icy Point and the White Sisters.”
“It’s obvious to anybody out here who fishes or runs around and about that there is no dearth of Steller sea lions out here,” Donohoe said. He said the “misuse” of the ESA is hurting the economy. “Is there anything you can do to rein in some of the federal agencies that are beating our economies?”
From the audience Tory Curran asked for the senator’s support on the Homeland Security Improvement Act, to improve the treatment of children and families at the southern border.
“Things are getting worse, and (the bill) would provide a kind of ombudsman position to look at this division and ... have some kind of oversight that’s outside the agency,” she said.
“This is something that’s been pushed to the back burner but it doesn’t mean that we’re not following what is happening with the policies,” Murkowski commented. “It seems that we have a tendency around here to just become aware of these things when there’s just a bad news story or some real tragic (event) and we need to remember every day that we have families who are seeking to come to this country for all the right reasons and how we, how we support them in ways that are humane and within the law are important.”
At the beginning of the meeting, Anne Pollnow presented Murkowski with an award from the American Cultural Resources Association board of directors in recognition of her leadership in support of “important legislation impacting the cultural resources management industry.”
During her talk, the senator also cited the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women in Alaska.
“Unfortunately, we have far too many frightening stories, far too many debilitating statistics when it comes to the safety of our women in this state and most particularly our Native women,” she said. “So we’re at an all hands on deck, not only better understanding through collection of data but additional forensic evidence, and resourcing that we put in for the first time ever. That will be directed specifically towards cold cases. But this is something that we know we have to address. We’ve had to address it for far too long and we haven’t shown the light on it.”
During the question and answer portion of the meeting Sitka National Historical Park Superintendent Mary Miller thanked Murkowski for her efforts to allow preferential local hire for seasonal rangers.
Also at the outset, Murkowski acknowledged Sitka’s requests for federal help with the Green Lake hydro renovation, the seaplane base on Japonski Island, and a marine haulout.
“These are important matters for me to be able to take back to Washington, D.C., to determine how we can best help you,” she said.
