05.02.13

Murkowski Webcasting Today’s Subsistence Public Meeting in Glennallen

Senator Will Carry the Subsistence Concerns of Alaska Natives and Rural Residents Back to Congress

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Lisa Murkowski today announced she plans to livestream today’s subsistence public meetings in Glennallen to everyone interested in watching the event. The subsistence listening session will provide a forum for Alaskans to be heard on this important cultural and food security issue, and to have their testimony taken back to Congress.

For every Alaskan interested in watching the listening session, all that needs to be done is to visit Senator Murkowski’s website at https://www.murkowski.senate.gov.  The ‘feature item’ in the center of the page will focus on today’s event and visitors can access the video feed by clicking on the image – they will be directed to the video feed once the event is live and occurring.

The Glennallen event comes one month to the day after a Bethel subsistence listening session on April 2nd.   Senator Murkowski made a commitment last fall at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention to facilitate congressional hearings on subsistence.

In a letter to AFN President Julie Kitka (attached), Senator Murkowski followed up on that commitment with a plan to hold two public meetings: one in Bethel, one in the Copper River Basin area. These meetings will collect testimony and provide the groundwork for a full Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee oversight hearing on subsistence that she will convene in Washington D.C. later this year. Senator Murkowski is the Ranking Member of that committee, which holds jurisdiction over the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) and the Alaska Native Land Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), under which subsistence activities in Alaska are governed.

For Alaskans interested in attending, details of the event are:

What:              Subsistence Public Meeting

When:             May 2nd 5:30pm – 7:30pm

Where:            Glennallen High School Auditorium

Any Alaskan wishing to provide written comments for the upcoming ENR subsistence hearing can submit them via the Subsistence Public Meeting page on the Senator’s website: https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=subsistence-concerns.