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Alaska Land Grab
University of Alaska Land Grab $n/a

"The only lands the federal government should own are the Statue of Liberty, the Washington Monument, and a few other such things." Representative Don Young (R-AK), Chairman, House Resources Committee, June 9, 1997.

The Alaskan congressional delegation is attempting to give 500,000 acres of federal land to the University of Alaska. Three separate land grants in 1915, 1929, and 1980 gave Alaska 186,000 acres of land for higher education - 96,000 acres more than would have been granted to the state under the Morrill Act, the original higher education land grant bill that was passed 136 years ago.

Alaska received 103 million acres at statehood - acreage that included Prudhoe Bay, the nation's richest oil field. Alaska has used Prudhoe Bay oil revenues to create a $25 billion "Permanent Fund," from which it dispenses annual checks of more than $1,200 to every citizen. The State's residents pay no state income or sales tax. Yet Alaska refuses to fully fund its university system, and Senator Frank Murkowski (R-AK) and Representative Don Young (R-AL) want to make up this shortfall by using even more of federal taxpayers' land.

Green Scissors Proposal
Do not allow passage of any legislation granting federal public land to the University of Alaska.

Current Status

In 1999, Senator Frank Murkowski (R-AK) and Representative Don Young (R-AK) introduced bills in the Senate (S. 744) and the House (H.R. 2958) respectively, which would grant up to 500,000 acres of federal land to the University of Alaska, including intercontinental shelf and National Forest land. The bills would give the University 250,000 acres of federal land within Alaska, but would exempt from the land giveaway "conservation system units" and old growth forest within the Tongass National Forest. In addition, the bills would allow the University to select 250,000 additional acres of federal lands in Alaska if the state agrees to provide 250,000 acres of state land. No action has been taken on either bill.

Project Hurts Taxpayers

The State of Alaska should not get federal taxpayer assets free of charge. The proposed legislation could give the University lands containing $4.8 billion in federal petroleum resources, $10.5 billion in timber and subsurface resources from the Tongass and Chugach National Forests, and $900,000 in subsurface resources from the National Petroleum Reserve, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Project Hurts the Environment

The proposed legislation would allow the University access to federal lands of environmental and economic significance, including:

Wildlands in the Tongass National Forest, the largest National Forest in the U.S., including lands protected by the Tongass Forest Plan;

Chugach National Forest wildlands, including the 1-million-acre Nellie Juan-College Fiord Wilderness Study Area.

Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) lands, including: lands currently under federal oil and gas leases, areas that are qualified for national marine sanctuary or other protected status, and OCS lands off the shores of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge;

National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska wildlands, including three congressionally authorized "Special Areas" of international significance, including caribou calving and goose molting areas at Teshekpuk Lake.

Contacts

• Aurah Landau, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, (907) 586-6942.
• Adam Kolton, Alaska Wilderness League, (202) 544-5205.
• Chris Soderstrom, Alaska Rainforest Campaign, (202) 544-0475.
• Cena Swisher, Taxpayers for Common Sense, (202) 546-8500 x108.