President Formalizes Coastal Plain Wilderness Plan

Months after announcing its unilateral actions to close off more than 12 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR), the Obama Administration today formalized its plans to begin managing the area as wilderness by releasing a revised Comprehensive Conservation Plan and a formal request to Congress to approve the wilderness distinction. In a letter today to both the Speaker of the House and President of the Senate, President Barack Obama recommended that the Congress pass legislation making additions to the National Wilderness Preservation System and the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed as part of the revised Comprehensive Conservation Plan and final EIS for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The President stated his recommedation is based on the best available science and extensive public comment, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's preferred alternative recommends 12.28 million acres -- including the Coastal Plain -- for designation as wilderness. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also recommends four rivers -- the Atigun, Hulahula, Kongakut, and Marsh Fork Canning -- for inclusion into the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Following the announcement, Alaskan Congressman Don Young (R-AK) shared his thoughts. “There’s a growing theme with this Administration; bad news can only be delivered on holidays or weekends. They think they can hide from their shameful decisions while the minds of Alaskans are elsewhere, but they cannot." Young said, “Today’s formal announcement shows us that the concerns of the Alaskan people mean absolutely nothing to this Administration. Only Congress has the ability to act on this matter, which is clearly defined in law by ANILCA. This Administration and its environmental allies would go through the roof if future Administrations began managing 12 million acres of ANWR for resource development without an Act of Congress, and this move by President Obama and Sally Jewell should be viewed no differently."  On Friday, April 3, 2015, Geoffrey Haskett, Regional Director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska, signed the Record of Decision (ROD) for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement. The plan can now be implemented...more

Congress keeps delegating more and more authority to these agencies, yet insists they are not happy with the outcome.  We get temporary delays and "fixes" through riders on appropriations bills, but no permanent relief.  Until these authorities are revised we are forced to watch this political theater play out, always ending to the detriment of the public.  We need a new set of playwrights.

The President signs a letter and we have 12 million acres of de facto Wilderness?  The President signs a proclamation and huge swaths of land are National Monuments?  Only Congress can put a stop to this, but will they?