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Palmer, Alaska – The state of Alaska recently filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration, alleging that the federal government failed to fulfill contractual obligations to clean up contaminated sites while knowing it was affecting Alaska Natives.
The lawsuit names Interior Secretary Debra Harland, the Department of the Interior, and the Bureau of Land Management, alleging that they failed to clear millions of acres of land ceded to Alaska Natives by the federal government through the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. 1970s.
Unlike the Native Americans of Lower 48, most Alaska Natives do not live on federal reservations, but on land owned through ANCSA, with the exception of the Metlakatla Reservation near Ketchikan.
Alaska Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy said in a recent interview when discussing the complaint in July, more than 650 parcels were deprived of ownership by arsenic, asbestos, lead, mercury and other substances. He said it was contaminated.
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Dunleavy said Harland and the Department of the Interior are contractually obligated to clean up these lands, criticizing their inaction despite the Biden administration’s focus on environmental protection and environmental issues. did.
The governor insisted that the administration likes to emphasize the Native American population only if it helps their politics.
“They knowingly handed over the contaminated land to the natives. They knew there was a well there and there was pollution,” he said of the federal government’s first action in 1971.
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“The problem is all the interesting points. [the Biden] Administrations use Alaska Natives when it is in their interest. But when it’s not, we forget about it,” says drilling that has been canceled or relatively stagnant, like King Cove Road and the Section 1002 area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Mentioned citing other projects.
For King Cove, locals wanted to build a gravel road from a relatively remote southwestern community through the Isenbek National Wildlife Refuge to nearby Cold Bay. Access to a jet-sized runway will ensure better access to emergency medical care, they say. and other advantages.
The governor told Fox News that Alaska Natives living near ANWR overwhelmingly support Trump-era actions to allow drilling on their land and oppose President Biden’s suspension of it.
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Dunleavy said the contaminated land lawsuit was filed by plaintiffs for each identified site rather than in the form of a single court claim, calling it another example of the White House’s Green Platform flaws. .
“A lot of the moves they’re making in Alaska are completely against their concept of saving the environment,” he said.
“Press [resource production] Abroad, whether it’s timber, oil, gas, or mining, we accept the fact that mining and other activities are conducted to much lower standards than in Alaska or the United States.
“What I think they and the extreme environmentalists will never be accused of is that it is not about the environment. I think the goal is to make it more flexible,” Dunleavy said. .
The Home Office declined to comment on the court case.