The senate began its business. Good morning, everyone. The committee will come to order. We are here this morning to consider the president s budget request for the department of interior for fiscal year 2018. This is the second of three budget hearings before our committee this year following the Forest Service last week and the kept of energy which is coming up on thursday. Secretary zinke, welcome back to the committee for your first appearance since our bipartisan vote in favor of your confirmation on march 1st. It was nice to be able to give you the the official tally this morning, make it officially official. I want to start by noting you have taken on some tough tasks at the department including some challenges that really have gone unaddressed for years. I think you are off to a good start. And i appreciate that. I have enjoyed working with you during the early month of your tenure as secretary. I truly appreciated the opportunity to host you and some members here on the committee in alaska a couple weeks ago. We had meetings in in anchorag. We were up on north slope looking at considerable potential up there. We attended a Memorial Ceremony for the veterans at myers lake. It was a priority, a productive time while you were in the state. Our hearing coincides for a big milestone for alaska. Today the 40th anniversary of first oil moving through your transalaska pipeline. It was on this day back in 19 7 that our 800milelong pipeline carried the first of what is now more than 17 billion barrels of oil south to valdez. We had an opportunity while you were in alaska to be at the start of the pipeline, mile zero, along with senator barrasso, senator daines of our committee, and a couple others. I believe that you saw why alaskans say that tax is not a pipeline it is truly our economic lifeline. You wasted no time signing a secretarial order that will help us refill that important asset. And our departments budget request includes a number of proposals that will continue to help alaska get back on track. The administration has requested a total of 11. 7 billion in discretionary appropriations for the deputy of the interior in fy 18. Over all, thats a reduction of more than 1 ebola from current level. Its in line with the administrations effort to shift funding to defense needs. Know that we are going to be reviewing all of the cuts that this budget proposes very, very carefully. I dont expect many of them to become a reality, especially those that target popular programs. With you i will also say that the positives in my view outweigh the negatives. For every item that many of us will not be able to support, there is another one that we can. And i havent been able to make that statement for quite a while now. Its good to be able to say it. A good example is in the administrations decision to seek to end offshore revenue sharing for the gulf coast states. Something that my colleague at the end of the row here is clearly engaged on. And like most alaskans, i want to expand revenue sharing rather than end it. So frankly, i dont see that proposal going anywhere. But its also clear that the administration understands that we need to strengthen our Energy Security because i see proposals for both a new fiveyear Leasing Program which will hopefully restore act is he is to Alaskas Arctic ocs as well as a proposal to open the nonwilderness portion of anwar to production. I have been asked a couple times in recent weeks why is now the right time to ep up the 1002 area. I want to explain why i believe this is so important for us to act on. First of all it is critical to understand we are talking about a part of anwar that congress explicitly set aside for oil and gas exploration. In 1987, 30 years ago this year, the federal government recommended it be opened for that purpose. And today, we are at a place where alaska, where we have the highest Unemployment Rate in the country right now. We need more jobs. We have a dire state budget. We need more revenues. And with global oil discovers falling boo Global Demand projected to increase we know that the world is going to need more oil. What will opening the 1002 area deliver . By developing just about oneten thousandth of the refuse, ,000 Surface Areas in an area roughly the size of South Carolina we can create new jobs, generate tens of millions of dollars of new revenues, bring energy on line when we need to strengthen our security, strengthen our competitiveness and this is something that most alaskans, more than 70 strongly support. I also support the administration taking a deliberative and constructive approach on a tow potential royalty for hard rock minerals. Im interested to see the results of the study the doi is conducting. We have 50 different minerals. Our first goal must be to do no harm. Thats exactly what i see here. The administrations proposal to extent pilt is not good sign. I would thoet it should be mandatory and not subject to an across the board cut not unless the government is willing to divest some of its lands and allow others the to recoup alternati alternatives. Its better than what we have seen in recent years. It doesnt rely on budget gimmicks. It asks us the look for years where we can cut spending. It asks us to take care of the federal lands that the government already owns rather than continuing to buy more. And it will help western states to increase the production of our natural resources. Secretary i thank you for being here, i thank you for the steps that you are taking to help restore alaskas trust in the department. With that, senator cantwell i turn to you for your opening remarks. Thank you madam chair. This morning we are reviewing the president s proposed budge for theent did of the interior. Overall, the bumming is proposing to cut underiffing by 1. 8 billion, a 1 decrease from current fiscal year funding. This budget would be devastating to National Parks, wildlife refuse ooej ujs and other lands and betrays the responsibility to native tribes. The budget gives us a clear indication of President Trump and secretary zinkes priorities. These interests put priorities on on shore and off Shore Development and cut canning fund for other priorities. Just one year after our National Park centennial, this budget would cut 400 million from the the Park Service Budget with. It would result in cutting more than a thousand full time employees. According to the department thes own math, quote nearly 90 of the parks would reduce their current staffing levels, leading to reduction of the Public Services to the public, end quote. Secretary stinks proposal also object secures the fact it is cutting the land and Water Conservation program. This is our nations most successful Land Conservation program which 85 senators voted to make permanent just last year. Suffice it to say this budget would pump the brakes on a. Booing Outdoor Recreation economy all in favor of industries that have had trouble competing in todays market lays. Meanwhile, the administrations war on science is also on full tis play. The u. S. Geological survey would be cut by 15 , 163 million. We are talking about water and climate science. We are also talking about u. S. Gss work on Natural Hazards, including earthquakes and volcano Warning Systems that are vital to the public. It would also cut funds from independent yap affairs. These cuts would significantly reduce funding for social services. Finally i suppose i should not be surprised the administration is proposing to he open up the arctic wildlife refuge to oil drilling. It has been attempted since the 1980s but that doesnt mean it is right. I know this is something we will have continued discussion on but i think its also important since it is the first time that secretary zinke is back before the committee that we raise other issues. My colleagues senator murray and i are particularly concerned about your National Monument strategy, concerned about the handford reach monument. It is also clear there are many other areas. It took the Trump Administration less than 100 days to launch an unprecedented war on 111 years of bipartisan Land Conservation which began with president roosevelts leadership. The most glaring example is an attack on the an particular wits act in general. And bears ears National Monument. Trying to roll back bears ears is a taxpayer waste especially at time when the administration is proposing significant staff cutbacks. In my opinion, secretary zinkes recent decision to propose another management designation for bears ear is an afront to tribes and the bears ear Intertribal Coalition. These tribes have spent years working to protect these lands. I believe that any action by this administration to undermine the protection for bears ears or any other National Monument is illegal and i will strongly oppose any legislative attempt to weaken this monument status. Secretary zinke, the administration is also emt at thatting to unilaterally suspen that have already gone into effect on the blm methane rule. Last week the department announced its dubious decision to suspend the methane and waste rule, this is a common sense rule that implements a 97yearold requirement to prevent waste of natural gas. Many people understand here that my colleagues in the Senate Just Voted on this recently, but instead of following what the United States senate has said should be done, the department is trying to abandon hundreds of pages of environmental analysis. I want to be clear, my colleague senator udall and i are sending you a letter today saying that you must follow the administrative procedures. You cannot just change this rule without notice and without comment. You cannot just make up your own new Regulation Without a due process. So, clearly, we have a lot to discuss today. I look forward to hearing the secretarys statements, but know that these important issues of our public lands will be defended and we will have an open discussion about our path forward. I thank the chair. Thank you, senator cantwell. We are joined this morning again by the secretary of the interior, the honorable ryan zinke. Hes also joined at the table this morning by ms. Olivia barton, the Deputy Assistant of the secretary of budget finance, performance, and acquisition and also denise flanagan, director of office and budget. Its my understanding that only the secretary will be offering remarks this morning. Is that correct . That is correct. Mr. Secretary i have some great help, though. We appreciate you being here. I will note to colleagues that we are scheduled to have two votes commencing at 11 00. Its my intention to try to just keep the committee moving throughout that, so when the first vote is called, you might want to look around the dais and figure out when you are up next, and plan your timing to go to the floor around that, but i do intend to keep us moving, because its my understanding that we will have to conclude the hearing this morning at noon. So, secretary zinke, if you would like to present the president s Budget Proposal. Welcome. Well, thank you. And high honor to be before you today to testify in support of the president s 2018 budget for the department of interior. I do request permission to submit my entire statement for the record. It will be included. The president s budget. This is what a balanced budget looks like. I want to repeat that. This is what a balanced budget looks like. Theres tough decisions throughout, but if we want to balance the budget, this is the starting point of what a balanced budget would look like. Hasnt been one for a while. I fully understand my stewardship opportunities, because interior touches the lives of more americans than any other department, and i take that responsibility very seriously. The president s budget proposes 11. 7 billion and saves the taxpayer dollars about 1. 6 billion. We make Strategic Investments to ensure our Nations Energy and National Security and to address the core responsibilities that lie within the department. The president s budget prioritizes in all the above energy strategy. It does not favor oil and gas or coal over any other strategy. But we also think its necessary to have a prudent focus on boosting revenue through legislative proposals to raise about 5. 8 billion. And speaking of revenue, in 2008, the department of interior made about 18 billion a year in offshore alone. We were second only to our friends at the irs. Last year our revenue was 2. 6 billion. Thats a drop of 15. 5 billion a year in revenue. So when we talk about infrastructure, the parks are about 11. 5 billion behind, which represents 73 of our total gap in maintenance and repair. We would have made up that in scale in one year with the amount of revenue we dropped. So i will be looking at revenue. And one of my first tasks is a secretary order, and thanks to the ranking member, i did look at revenues across the board and look at royalties, rents, all the above. Giving no quarter to gas, oil, wind, if youre going to operate on public land, then the public should have a say, because we are all stewards of our public lands, and we want to make sure we have a fair return. That return should be transparent, and it should be trust, but verify. So i was pleased one of my first acts was to write a secretary order to do just that, look at our revenues across the field on public land. When it comes to infrastructure, the lwcf, what is removed from the Budget Proposal is acquisition of new land. Clearly with 11. 5 billion deficit in maintenance and repair, the priority must be to take care of what we have, and if you doubt that the look at our ability to maintain, i invite you to go up and look at arlington. Arlington is a national disgrace. Im talking about the building up on top, lees home. Through neglect, the shutters are nearly falling off, the gardens are in disrepair, the building itself is a national disgrace. I invite you to go up and take a look at it, because we have to take care of what we own. The budget calls for a 35 million increase for a total of 766 million in National Park infrastructure. This includes a 18 million first phase repairing the arlington memorial bridge. Of note, of our 11. 5 million backlog in the parks, about half are roads. And about a third of those roads are outside our parks. Theres a 260 million bill on memorial bridge. I own parkways, access, gateway roads, that are outside of what most americans would think would be a park responsibility. For the first time in many years, payment in lieu of taxes is part of the discretionary budget. As you may remember last year, it was part of mandatory budget that did not pass and it was zero. This year it is 397 million, which is about and the reduction is about the same in the savings as the other programs. But it is in the budget. Thats different from last year. We fully fund Fire Suppression at a tenyear average. Fighting forest fires, particularly in the west, has become a billion dollar problem. And growing up in the west, investing and making sure we remove dead and dying trees is a prudent expense. We also support indian trust responsibilities. The core focus on self governments, Self Determination, and sovereignty. So we found savings by reducing federal Land Acquisition, eliminating redundant programs by allowing states, local communities, and private partners to take the lead on some others. At the end of the day, this is what a balanced budget looks like. Theres tough decisions. I fully understand the responsibility to the executive, as well as the responsibility of congress. Congress gets a say, and im glad to be here with you today to go through that. I understand theres different priorities within each of you and each of your states, and i will always work with you to make sure we have a budget that represents a great nation. I can and will maintain our assets, offer a world class experience on public lands, deliver savings to the taxpayers, whether its through publicprivate partnerships, encouraging responsible energy development, or reorganizing my workforce, so im thrilled to be with you today, and i look forward to your questions and working together. Thank you, secretary zinke. Let me start off by bringing up an issue that we have had some discussion on, both here in committee and off committee, and this is as it relates to transfer of federal lands to states. You have often said that you do not support transferring federal lands to states, but you also acknowledge that alaska is unique, it has some distinctions, and i appreciate that. When we look to alaskas lands and what was granted at statehood, the right to acquire more than 104 million acres of land roughly equal to the size of the state of california, alaska natives were also granted lands to settle aboriginal claims. Today the interior department, through the blm, effectively acts as a Real Estate Agent to accomplish these Land Transfers. Blm still needs to finish deciding the fate of 38. 4 million acres. Still needs to survey more than 16 million before the patents can be issued. Our alaska native corporations have another 9. 67 million acres under adjudication and about 750,000 acres of tentative selections awaiting surveys. To my colleagues, this is a lot of land that is yet to be conveyed. Weve been a state now for over 50 years. The promises to our alaska native people were made over 40 years ago. So, its something that i have p