and would have created a complex new permit- ting system which would also have adversely af- fected all development and construction projects in the state. Another bill that received attention, and which will draw more scrutiny next year, is House Bill 138, a proposal by Anchorage Republican Chuck Kopp that would clarify the state’s procedure in establishing water bodies of importance for extra protection by agencies. @YWP^^ _ST^ []ZNPO`]P T^ NWL]TʭPO bT_S _SP 7PRT^WL_`]P RTaPY ^[PNTʭN L`_SZ]T_d _Z L[[]ZaP these designations — just who approves the des- ignations is now unclear in law — Kopp and oth- er pro-development legislators fear that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at some point could impose the water body designations, which are required by the federal Clean Water Act. A similar bill is proposed in Senate Bill 51 in the state Senate by the Senate Resources Committee, which is chaired by Birch. “Currently the state has no formal process for designating ONRWs (Outstanding Natural Re- source Waters),” Kopp said. However, the federal Clean Water Act and the EPA requires each state to develop a process for
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salmon initiative defeated by voters in the 2018 general elections. The bill deals with court-ordered severability of citizen ballot initiatives. It passed the Senate ZY8Ld LYOT^YZbTY_SP3Z`^P>_L_P,ʬLT]^ Committee. SB 80 would prohibit the courts from severing unconstitutional parts of a citizen ballot prop- osition as happened with the salmon initiative where the state Supreme Court deleted unconsti- tutional sections from the ballot proposition but allowed parts that remained to go on the election ballot. Birch, a Republican, argues that action placed LMLWWZ_\`P^_TZYMPQZ]PaZ_P]^_SL_bL^OTʬP]PY_ than what they had signed on petitions. SB 80 would require the lieutenant governor to invali- date a ballot proposition if the courts found any part of it unconstitutional. The salmon initiative was initiated by out- of-state environmental groups and some Alaska ʭ^SP]TP^R]Z`[^LYObL^LTXPOXLTYWdL_^_Z[ - ping the Pebble copper/gold/molybdenum project
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The Alaska Miner
July 2019
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