WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today
questioned Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on why the Interior Department (DOI)
was asking for a substantial increase in taxpayer funding to buy land now in
private hands when it was cutting money, for the second year in a row, for
long-overdue land conveyances in Alaska.
“In order to fund these large increases for land acquisition
DOI has cut other programs,” Murkowski said. “The Bureau of Land Management’s
Alaska conveyance program was slashed by over 50 percent. The state’s 50th
anniversary was two years ago and the state, native corporations and others
have yet to receive the patents to lands they were entitled to under the
Statehood Act.
“Instead of accelerating the transfer of lands, BLM is
slamming on the brakes In fact, at this rate, all the lands selected in Alaska
won’t be transferred until after 2075,” Murkowski added.
Murkowski made her comments during Wednesday’s Senate
Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on DOI’s 2012 budget proposal.
The DOI budget request includes a 100-percent increase – to
$675 million – to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, with more than half,
$360 million, dedicated to buying more land for the federal government.
In order to avoid increasing DOI’s budget for 2012 but still
fund new land acquisitions, Salazar made a number of cuts to existing
programs.
“Other cuts are also troubling. Every one of the
department’s construction accounts has been cut significantly at a time when
there is a multi-billion dollar maintenance backlog at the Park Service, BLM
and Fish and Wildlife Service,” Murkowski said. “It begs the question of how
you can place such a high priority on acquiring more land when you have to cut
the very funds you need to take care of your current infrastructure in order to
do it.”
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