AK Governor Responds To call for monument status(Editor's Note: Gov. Tony Knowles responded to former President Jimmy Carter's statement that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) should be declared a national monument. ) The text of the Governor's letter follows: An open letter to the Honorable Jimmy Carter Dear President Carter: As a former governor, you hopefully will understand my anger and disappointment about your comments Wednesday in Anchorage urging designation of national monument status for the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Alaskans welcome visitors to the 49th state with warmth and hospitality. However, I feel you abused this welcome by your actions yesterday. Without any meaningful dialogue with the people of Alaska, you used our state as a media prop and platform to project your message to President Clinton. I can only guess how you would have felt as governor if a figure of national prominence had come to Georgia to use your state in a similar manner. The essential needs of Alaska working families all across this
vast and beautiful state depend on the responsible development of
our natural resources. For us, environmentally responsible oil and
gas development in a tiny portion of the Arctic Refuge means jobs,
the opportunity to improve our schools and other public services,
and address some of the most acute social problems in the country.
You are wrong to dismiss the role of the Coastal Plain-the most promising unexplored petroleum province in North America-in alleviating this situation and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs across the nation. You are wrong in ignoring the pressing needs of Alaska's Native families, especially those living on the Arctic Slope, whose lives depend on the delicate care of a fragile environment for sustenance, and whose hopes are nourished by the jobs, education, and decent quality of life that oil and gas development has and will bring to their children. Their long and steadfast support for responsible development of the ANWR Coastal Plain is discredited by your call for unilateral Presidential action. You are wrong in calling for executive action at the midnight hour instead of an open, public democratic process of carefully weighing values in the light of day. You are wrong to call upon the President to take an illegal action that is prohibited by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. Ironically that is the very act whose anniversary you have used as the pretext for your visit to Alaska. The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act contains the "no more" clause, requiring Congress alone to enact any future land withdrawals of more than 5,000 acres in Alaska. Implicit in this provision is the concept that the American people should determine the disposition of the Arctic Refuge through their elected representatives in Congress. Just such a congressional debate is underway. Mr. President, Alaskans understand better than most Americans the necessity of maintaining the health of our land. At the same time, we do not fear developing the resources found within it. As we have done in the North Slope oil fields, we can develop the resources of ANWR and create an economic boon for the nation while protecting our environment. President Carter, I respect you as a former president. I greatly admire your dedication to the causes of world peace and human rights. I hope you will reconsider your recommendation to President Clinton that he thwart the working families of Alaska, the law, and the Congress by using his executive authority in the Arctic Refuge. Sincerely, Knowles' letter was delivered to Carter, who was in Anchorage today attending a forum on the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.
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