Promises Broken: Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980.

• Author: BORELL, STEVE
• Position: Brief Article

On Dec. 2, 1980 President Carter signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Act (ANILCA) also known as the Alaska Lands Act, thereby placing more than 104 million acres of Alaska into national parks, preserves, refuges, monuments, wilderness and wild and scenic rivers.

This act contained all manner of promises. These promises were for access and continued use of valid existing rights, lands and resources. However, just as the federal government broke and abused the promises and treaties it made with Native Americans across the Lower 48, the federal government is breaking the promises made in ANILCA.

ANILCA History

The discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay in 1968 meant that a pipeline to an all-year, deep-water port would be required. The Native People of Alaska filed legal claim to land required for the pipeline right of way. They had sought a just settlement of their land claims for decades and this provided a mechanism to force such a settlement. After nearly three years of negotiating, the U.S. Congress passed the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. ANCSA established 13 Alaska Regional Native Corporations and over 200 village and other corporations. Based on historic living patterns and the number of shareholders, regional corporations were authorized to select about 44 million acres of land from the federal government-owned land base in Alaska.

During the ANCSA negotiations there was also much discussion about designation of new national conservation system units (CSUs) such as parks, preserves, refuges, etc. However, an agreement could not be reached and the decision was made to pass ANCSA without more federal conservation system units but to include a statement that the Congress would revisit this issue. The section of ANCSA stating this was Section 17(d)(2) and the subsequent discussion lasting more than 9 years became known as the d(2) Lands Debate.

In early discussions, before ANCSA, the plan was to place 40 million acres in federal CSUs. That number then grew to 80 million acres. Because the appetite for the amount of CSUs continued to grow, an agreement between Alaskans, the environmentalists and the U.S. Congress could not be reached. At each turn in the discussions, the demands for more CSU land in Alaska continued to increase. Then on Dec. 1, 1978, President Carter, using an obscure law known as the Antiquities Act of 1906, administratively declared approximately 80 million acres of Alaska as national monuments. This meant...