Steven Holt: “The gentleman is right, this affects more than Alaska. This affects the country at large. The roadless rule has been…”

“The gentleman is right, this affects more than Alaska. This affects the country at large. The roadless rule has been debated. It has been litigated. It should be considered settled. The Young amendment, as the gentleman has explained, derives from his interest in having road access for mineral development in Alaska. Both the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management--I repeat--say that the current policy does not prevent the mineral developers from accessing development sites. We don't need to overturn a well-debated, well-litigated, settled matter of the roadless rule. Just to be clear, the amendment that the gentleman from Alaska offers would exempt all areas of identified mineral resources in land use designations, et cetera, from the procedures detailed and the rules promulgated under title 36, Code of Federal Regulations. This is sweeping and it is not necessary. Again, I urge the defeat of this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR (Mr. Simpson). The gentleman from Alaska has 1 minute remaining. The gentleman from New Jersey has 30 seconds remaining.”