Dan Sullivan

It seems to me it is squarely undermining the intent of ANCSA.

Not on the North Slope, though. We will be very curious about your numbers on the North Slope.

If our Alaska Native Corporations, regional corporations, village corporations want to develop the land that they were given by the Federal Government and the State to develop to take care of their shareholders, their people they are…

I think it is important to go back and look at the statute. We are the co-regulator. We are the co-sovereign here.

Two years in a row the U.S. Supreme Court has stated that you have not abided by the statute or the Constitution.

I think it is an area that, in terms of Congressional oversight, that is important.

The problem is when Washington, DC dictates certain policies with, kind of, a one-size-fits-all mentality

I think we have gotten a lot of good ideas from this panel.

Isn't that part of the huge conundrum that a one-size-does-not-fit-all for Alaska when it comes to the Clean Water Act?

These statistics are why this is such an important issue for us.

I commend you for your company's willingness to actually challenge this because that takes a lot of guts, a lot of money, a lot of time, and a lot of uncertainty.

It seems to me that that is completely at odds with both the goals of both of those statutes.

I thought your testimony was very powerful in a couple of ways. You talked about some broader themes, kind of the clash of ANCSA and the Clean Water Act, which I think is a really important issue.

I did not think the Federal Government could require if the State of Alaska is building the road, do we have to mitigate that under the Federal rules?

Almost $3.4 million in 2014 we had to pay to the Federal Government for mitigation to build roads in Alaska.

I think that violates the tenth amendment or any other aspect of the Clean Water Act.

It seems like Federal agencies come in with all kinds of different requirements, completely uncoordinated.

I agree with you, the state has done a good job of coordinating on large projects.

If that is not enough, we will turn to the legislative and appropriations process to secure the fair treatment that we deserve.

We have reached a point where Federal agencies are unreasonably binding the hands of well-intentioned, environmentally-principled, hard-working Alaskans.

I wish that I could say the same for EPA, but its prerogative often seems to be finding a way to get to, or to perhaps stay at, no.

It hurts the livelihoods of the Alaskan people, and it cripples our ability to fulfill promises of our statehood.

I guarantee you that in my State of Alaska, these groups are not considered to carry out the public interest.

This is not a partisan issue. In my State, any time there is a responsible resource development activity, most Democrats, Republicans, the vast majority of the citizens of my State desire these groups come in from the outside and sue to…

They are not niceties, they are actually requirements.