by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow
The Daily Sentinel
Alaska comprises nearly 20% of the entire U.S. at over 665,000 square miles, and is the richest state in natural resources. Yet it remains the most sparsely populated state, partly because of its isolation and weather, but largely because the federal government owns most of it — 406,000 square miles. The U.S. purchased Alaska in 1867 specifically because of its vast resources, especially energy, which benefited the state and country for decades.
But in the late 1970s, just after completion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act was passed, with the goal of preventing further development of those resources. It set aside 245,312.5 square miles (157 million acres) for special “protection” as national parks, national monuments, wilderness areas, wildlife refuges, wild and scenic rivers, national recreation areas, national forests, and national conservation areas. The government owns over 60% of the state, and effectively walled off 60% of that from most public uses, especially any further energy.
Three years ago, looking back on his long life at the age of 97, the late President Jimmy Carter called the Alaska lands bill “the most significant domestic achievement of my political life.” He was proud of it, but for many Westerners it represented an admission that he never really understood the West. After his passing this week at the age of 100, every network ran the predictable memorial tributes, mostly glossing over the reasons that pollsters say most Americans viewed him as an admirable man but a failed president.
Westerners understand that failure ran much deeper than a disastrous economy, rampant stagflation and embarrassments of foreign policy.
