Don Young

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. I yield to the gentleman from Illinois.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. A village has, probably, no roads, only an airport, small, fuel has to be shipped in by air or by boat.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. It depends. In some areas, it is 3 hours, and you are having to fly in the fuel. They have had this generator. They had enough money to buy it maybe 10, 15 years ago, and now they will have to put on a so-called air cleaner. They don't have the knowledge to run it, and it doesn't work.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Oh, 25, 50, 100. My village that I live in has got 550. That is all. To give you an idea, if the gentleman would yield to me for a second: If you took Alaska, all the land east of the Mississippi River, to the Atlantic Ocean, to the tip of Maine, to the tip of Florida, that is part of Alaska. In that area that I am talking about, Maine to Florida, there are 253 Congressmen and 52 Senators. Think about that. Think about that. Why I say that, there are no roads, and you are going to punish those people who finally got enough money to buy an older generator by the EPA, an unfunded mandate, and say you are helping them.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. More than that. Usually, in that area, probably about $150,000, if.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. By the way, there is no income. This is a poverty subsistence-style life. They do have a school trying to improve their lot. They do have a clinic trying to help their health. But you are going take the power away because you want to keep the air pure? Shame on you.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to thank the chairman very much for bringing this legislation to the floor. It is a Senate bill very much like the bill I introduced that came out of the committee. The bill promotes energy projects critical for economic development areas around Indian Country. Native communities face a significant number of obstacles to developing and delivering energy on their land. Ultimately, the lack of affordable energy undermines efforts to promote social and economic well-being in these communities. I have always said Alaska Natives and American Indians are the best caretakers of their lands. This is what Tribal self-determination is all about: empowering Native communities with the tools and authority to manage their resources. S. 245 makes important progress in this effort. The bill incorporates a variety of policy changes to enhance Indian energy development. This includes expanding the ability of the Department of Energy to provide technical assistance to tribes and Tribal organizations for energy projects, improving the Department of the Interior's process for approving energy resource agreements, and requiring FERC to give tribes equal footing with municipalities for hydroelectric licenses. I am also pleased that the bill includes a Tribal biomass demonstration program that mirrors a provision in my Native American Energy Act. I appreciate Chairman Hoeven's willingness to continue to work on Indian energy and his commitment to hold a hearing on my Native American Energy Act in 2019. My bill can serve as the foundation for the next step in promoting Indian energy. I urge my colleagues to support passage of this bill.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 825) to provide for the conveyance of certain property to the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium located in Sitka, Alaska, and for other purposes.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 825, the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium Land Transfer Act of 2017. The consortium provides comprehensive healthcare to Native communities throughout Alaska's panhandle. It also delivers healthcare on behalf of the Federal Government through self-determination compacting. The consortium operates Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital in Sitka, a 25-bed, critical-access facility. The hospital was constructed towards the end of World War II. It is in dire need of updating due to its age and condition. For the consortium to secure financing for the project to update the conditions of the facilities, they need land on the hospital campus, which is currently held by IHS, conveyed by warranty deed. S. 825 is a companion bill to my bill, H.R. 1901. Simply, it would transfer 19 acres of Federal land to the consortium, allowing them to update and improve healthcare services for Alaska Natives. From the 112th to the 114th Congress, three of my bills that authorized similar land transfers for different entities were signed into law. These bills were nearly identical to S. 825. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Chairman Bishop and his staff for moving this bill through committee. I would also like to thank Ranking Member Grijalva and his staff for their bipartisan work on this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the passage of this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I have no more speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 2511) to require the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere to carry out a program on coordinating the assessment and acquisition by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of unmanned maritime systems, to make available to the public data collected by the Administration using such systems, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I rise in strong support of the legislation. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Palazzo).

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, at this time I would like to thank Chairman Smith of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee; Chairman Thornberry of the Armed Services Committee; and Congressman Steven Palazzo, who sponsored the House counterpart of this legislation, for their cooperation in getting S. 2511 to the floor today. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. House of Representatives, Committee on Natural Resources, Washington, DC, December 10, 2018. Hon. Mac Thornberry, Chairman, Committee on Armed Services, Washington, DC Dear Mr. Chairman: The Majority Leader wishes to schedule S. 2511, the Commercial Engagement Through Ocean Technology Act of 2018, for consideration under suspension of the rules this week. This bill was primarily referred to the Committee on Natural Resources and additionally referred to the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Science, Space and Technology. I ask that the Committee on Armed Services not insist on its referral of the bill so that it may be considered on the Floor with an amendment requested by the Committee on Science, Space and Technology. This concession in no way affects your jurisdiction over the subject matter of the bill, and it will not serve as precedent for future referrals. In addition, should a conference on the bill be necessary, I would support your request to have your committee represented on the conference committee. Finally, I would be pleased to include this letter and your response in the Congressional Record during debate on the bill. Thank you for your consideration of my request and for the extraordinary cooperation shown by you and your staff over matters of shared jurisdiction. Sincerely, Rob Bishop, Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, upon the occasion of his retirement, I rise today to give special recognition to Lawrence P. ``Larry'' Cotter, a great friend and an outstanding, hardworking, and dedicated Alaskan. Larry has contributed tremendously to the positive evolution of our fisheries management in Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and indeed the entire country. Larry has lived in Alaska and worked in the commerial fishing industry since 1974. He spent over four years as a seafood processing worker in Juneau, and eight years as a labor organizer and representative for seafood processing workers and longshoremen. Larry served on the Advisory Panel to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council for six years and then as a voting member of the Council for an additional six years. The time of Larry's service on the Council was during the transition years when foreign fishing was being phased out, our U.S. domestic fishing and processing capabilities were stepping up to replace the foreign fleets, and allocation issues among U.S. fisheries interests were first coming to the forefront. These were difficult, challenging, and exciting times--during which Larry was chair of several committees, including the Bycatch Committee and Crab Management Committee. Larry also served as chair of the Council's Steller Sea Lion Mitigation Committee and Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute's Responsible Fisheries Management Committee. Most recently, until late this year, Larry has served as founding CEO of the Community Development Quota (CDQ) Group, known as the Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development Association, or ``APICDA.'' It is in this area of service to APICDA and his helping to develop, implement and sustain, not only APICDA, but the entire CDQ program, that Larry did perhaps his best work, accomplishing goals that will have positive impacts on Western Alaskan Communities for generations to come. Larry's work on the formation of Alaska's CDQ program has benefited all of the participating communities and his more than twenty-five years with APICDA has helped to develop the workforce, build infrastructure, and improve the economy throughout the Western Alaska Region. Larry's longtime leadership in the seafood industry has helped to guide and shape the policies and programs that many enjoy today. Many observers, myself included, have correctly noted that Alaska has the best managed fisheries in the country, perhaps in the world, and I know we could not have achieved that status without Larry's tireless dedication and devotion to making our seafood industry sustainable for the long haul. Thank you Larry for your tremendous contributions to sustainable fisheries and to the participation of our coastal communities in those fisheries. Enjoy your retirement, and best of luck in your continuing endeavors.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Russell and the minority member for their work on this legislation. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3398 is a bill that should be passed. I strongly support it. I was listening to the testimony from the chairman, and he has put it so well, I probably won't speak anymore. I do believe that what he said is all true. It is necessary. It is needed. This is something that was an oversight, because I was here when we wrote the original bill in 2005. It was an oversight, and the gentleman did a great job explaining it. This is needed for those citizens who we consider from Palau, Micronesia, and the other islands there, and we will do the work. I thank the gentleman again for his work.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a person of great merit on the occasion of her 75th birthday. It is often stated that the United States is great because it is a nation of immigrants. Mr. Speaker, I would agree with this statement with the addition of the word legal in front of immigrants. Mall Chaney is an example of such a person who worked within the law to become a citizen of the United States. I understand that it is not an easy task. Mall was born in Estonia in 1943 in the middle of World War II. At that time Estonia was in peril at the hands of Russia as well as Germany. However, it was her parents' concern about Russia that caused them to flee. Russia had seized her mother's brother and sent him to Siberia never to be heard from again. As a professional chemist, Mall's father feared being pressed into Russia's weapons development program or much worse. When Mall was about six months old the family consisting of her mother, father, and sister fled under cover of night with basically nothing but the clothes on their backs. The family spent several years in a Swedish refugee camp and then in the general population of Sweden. In 1951 Mall and her family were sponsored by a family friend from Canada and were able to migrate to Canada. Mall lived in Canada until she married John Chaney, a resident of Florida, in 1982. Mall became a U.S. citizen and has paid homage to the United States by respecting our laws, becoming a respected and loved member of the community, the state of Florida, and the country. Happy Birthday Mall, and best wishes.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6414) to amend title 23, United States Code, to extend the deadline for promulgation of regulations under the tribal transportation self-governance program.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 6414.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6414. I thank Chairman Shuster and Ranking Member DeFazio for including the Tribal Transportation Self-Governance Program in the FAST Act. The FAST Act requires the Department of Transportation to use a negotiated rulemaking process to establish the regulations to implement the program. It also set deadlines for the issuance of the regulations. H.R. 6414 would extend these deadlines. This bill would ensure that there is an opportunity for a true negotiated rulemaking process that is not one-sided and that respects Tribal self-determination. Without this extension, I am concerned that the Department will move forward with implementing the program in a way that is not helpful to the Tribes of America. This would undermine the intent of the previous FAST Act and would lead to a lack of Tribal participation in the program. I thank the Sitka Tribe of Alaska for their leadership and work on this program and issue, and I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 6414. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time