OPINION: Why Alaska needs to fight back against federal overreach

Alaskans are fundamentally aware of how the heavy hand of Washington, D.C., bureaucrats negatively affects the economy, our individual liberties and the sovereignty afforded to states under the 10th Amendment.

Decades ago, Gov. Wally Hickel directed the Department of Law to dedicate attorneys and resources specifically for the purpose of statehood defense. In 2013, the Alaska Legislature enacted a law to require an annual report about the state’s legal disputes with the federal government. Last November, Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed Executive Order 325, authorizing my office to fight back against any unconstitutional encroachment of our rights and liberties.

While federal interference has been a consistent burden, the number of legal conflicts and lawsuits with the federal government have significantly increased in the months since President Joe Biden took office. It seems like every day we learn of a new mandate from the Biden administration that undermines personal freedoms or jeopardizes the livelihood of Alaska’s core industries.

The Biden administration can’t seem to stay within the lines established by Congress and the Constitution, forcing states with limited resources to continually push back through court actions.

If left unchecked in court, the federal government would block safe oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It would prevent infrastructure to support our mining industry. It would dictate medical decisions that should be made by patients and their physicians. And it would even wrest land away from Alaska Native veterans.

Fortunately, the Department of Law has challenged the Biden administration’s vast overreach on multiple fronts. Lawsuits against five different, unconstitutional COVID-19 vaccine mandates are pending in federal court. Likewise, we are defending the state’s actions as it relates to the proper and effective management of our abundant natural resources, lands and navigable waterways.

In 2021, the Legislature authorized an additional $4 million for the Department of Law to keep up the fight against the onslaught of federal actions that adversely affect the state. We are seeking more funding again this year for the purpose of statehood defense. It’s a small price to pay to protect our economic interests, management authority and individual liberties.

This additional funding will equip the Department of Law with the resources needed to push back on federal government actions improper under the law and inconsistent with the priorities that position Alaska for the future. Here are just some of the ways we are working to oppose the Biden administration’s obstructionist policies:

• The state opposes a federal ban on offshore oil leases for portions of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. President Donald Trump’s administration lifted the ban, only for it to be reinstated by the Biden administration.

• A federal judge allowed Alaska to intervene in a lawsuit over a Biden-implemented moratorium on oil exploration on ANWR’s Coastal Plain. The moratorium directly violates a 2017 Congressional mandate opening the area for development.

• The state sued last March to stop a delay in federal oil and gas lease sales, which directly affects a Cook Inlet sale. This delay to “review” the federal leasing program effectively establishes a moratorium.

• Multiple lawsuits are now pending related to the Submerged Lands Act, which states that Alaska owns and may regulate the waters and submerged areas of the state. There are currently disputes over state regulation of the Kuskokwim, Fortymile, Koyukuk, Bettles and Dietrich rivers.

• Despite previous federal authorization of the Ambler Industrial Access Road in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, or ANILCA, the Biden administration has put a hold on construction of a road that would provide access to mineral deposits and provide direct benefit to Alaskans in that region.

• The state continues to try to prevent the federal government from imposing a roadless rule in the Tongass National Forest, which would upset the balance struck in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act and the Tongass Timber Reform Act.

• The federal government has consistently delayed a program that would provide land to Alaska Native veterans of the Vietnam War. A federal program was created in 1998 for Alaska Natives serving in the war who were unable to meet the 1971 deadline under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Delays have kept the land just out of reach for deserving, aging veterans.

• Alaska has more wetlands than all other states combined, but a federal interpretation of the Clean Water Act would greatly expand federal authority over wetlands to even include marshy areas on private property. That case is currently pending in the U.S. Supreme Court.

• The federal government would block states from reducing the tax burden on its residents if the state accepted federal pandemic relief money. A U.S. District Court judge found that federal mandate unconstitutional and the federal government has appealed.

• Most recently, the Department of Law has joined with attorneys general in other states to push back against the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates. Those unconstitutional actions affect millions of Americans, specifically those who work for federal contractors, health care workers, Head Start employees, National Guard soldiers and workers at private businesses with more than 100 employees. Fortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court put a halt to the mandate for private businesses, but the other litigation is ongoing.

The effort to protect Alaska’s interests against an overzealous and overreaching federal government is a priority for my office. For more details about the federal legal issues involving Alaska, and to see the annual report required by law, visit https://law.alaska.gov/pdf/admin/FederalIssues.pdf.

Treg Taylor serves as attorney general of Alaska.

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