1. United States
2. Utah
3. Letter

I’m a constituent writ to ask all of you to oppose Senate Bill S. 2554 (House Bill HR.41). This bill would cynically use the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act as a backdoor to transfer over 115,000 acres of public lands from the Tongass National Forest to five new for profit native corporations. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act already resolved land claims decades ago, granting 44 million acres of land and about $1 billion to Native corporations. Residents of these communities were not left out — they became shareholders in Sealaska Corporation, which already owns about 365,000 acres and distributes millions of dollars in dividends. This bill would reopen what was meant to be a final settlement and transfer public lands owned by all Americans into private ownership. 60,000 acres of these land selections include lands protected by the roadless rule, and these land selections include some of the last intact old-growth forests in the country. Once these lands are privatized they will likely be logged or mined without oversight or environmental protections. If there were any remaining equity concerns under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, they should be addressed financially within the existing Sealaska system, not by giving away public lands. Please do everything that you can to stop this privatization of our public land. This Constituent, Is Disgusted With The Way Republicans Are Throwing Away Democracy, And Returning The Country Back To An Age Of Racism & Poverty Of The Dark Ages.