On the recordJuly 20, 2017
I think it is important to keep in mind that the lands that this road seeks to cross are Federally protected public lands. They are managed and protected on behalf of all Americans to specifically protect wildlife habitat. And, as such, when changes like this are being debated, all Americans have the right to register their opinion. They are also designated wilderness, the highest level of protection that the American people bestow upon a piece of public land, and we in Congress are stewards of that mandate. The road proposed by this legislation could do irreparable harm to the fragile environment of this wildlife refuge if mitigation steps are not taken. As the Department of the Interior stated in 2013, this area is ``a globally significant landscape that supports an abundance and diversity of wildlife unique to the refuge that years of analysis shows us would be irretrievably damaged by construction and operation of the proposed road.'' The Department also found that construction of the road would lead to ``significant degradation of irreparable ecological resources that would not be offset by the protection of other lands to be received under an exchange.'' My amendment simply reinserts bipartisan language that was approved by Congress and signed into law by 2009 that will help mitigate some, but not all, of the negative environmental impacts in the event that the road is constructed. Mr. Chair, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
