15 Democrats Just Joined House Republicans in Undermining Wildlife Protections

Most of the time when Congress votes on a land conveyance bill, it is pretty non-controversial — unless the bill is being used as a shell for something else.
But those bills don’t run roughshod over precedent, multi-year review processes, and environmental regulations like the King Cove Land Exchange Act.
This bill, which the House passed on Thursday, would allow for the creation of a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge and congressionally-designated Izembek Wilderness by mandating a land exchange between the Department of the Interior and the State of Alaska in order to reach the small (ca. 900 residents) town of King Cove. As Democratic Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (MD-05) noted, “building a road through the middle of congressionally-designated wilderness is without precedent.”
Congress authorized the land exchange in 2009; however, after an extensive four-year review (in which 70,111 of 71,960 comments received were opposed), former Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell deemed the road not in the public interest.
The town of King Cove is quite isolated, but the bill will not ultimately fix that:
In order to address concerns about the health and safety of the residents of King Cove, Congress appropriated $37.5 million in 1999 to support transportation and medical infrastructure. The money appropriated in 1999 provided for a hover craft that could make the journey in twenty minutes.
On the proposed road, it will take approximately two hours in favorable weather conditions to reach emergency care. The road would traverse rolling tundra prone to deep snow drifts, icing, high winds, and avalanches. Building a road through a designated wildlife refuge not only sets a dangerous precedent regarding wildlife refuges and wilderness areas, but it does not solve the problem of providing adequate and potentially life-saving transportation necessary for King Cove. Instead of wasting time on legislation that would threaten our natural resources and endangered wildlife, we should be focusing on adequate transportation solutions such as an ice-capable marine vessel, construction of a new airport and the addition of a heliport.
It passed 248 to 179, with 15 Democrats voting for it and 3 Republicans voting against it.
The 3 Republicans were Justin Amash (MI-03), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-08), and Tom Massie (KY-04).
The 15 Democrats were Sanford Bishop (GA-02), Andre Carson (IN-07), Lacy Clay (MO-01), Jim Costa (CA-16), Henry Cuellar (TX-28), Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02), Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15), Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05), Gene Green (TX-29), Colleen Hanabusa (HI-01), Eddie Johnson (TX-30), Rick Larsen (WA-02), Collin Peterson (MN-07), Marc Veasey (TX-33), and Filemon Vela (TX-34).
Niki Tsongas (MA-03) offered an amendment to require mitigation measures for the construction of the road in order to minimize any impacts to migratory birds, wildlife, and wetlands.
It failed 190 to 234, with one Democrat — Collin Peterson (MN-07) — voting against it.
Raul Grijlalva (AZ-03) offered an amendment to prohibit the Act from taking effect until $20 Million in federal funds given to Alaska for transportation purposes in King Cove is repaid to the Federal Government.
It failed 167 to 260, with 24 Democrats voting against it.
Here were the 24:
Pete Aguilar (CA-31)
Charlie Crist (FL-13)
Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02)
Josh Gottheimer (NJ_05)
Gene Green (TX-29)
Colleen Hanabusa (HI-01)
Eddie Johnson (TX-30)
Dan Lipinski (IL-03)
Dave Loebsack (IA-02)
Stephen Lynch (MA-08)
Sean Maloney (NY-18)
Gwen Moore (WI-04)
Stephanie Murphy (FL-07)
Tom O’Halleran (AZ-01)
Scott Peters (CA-52)
Collin Peterson (MN-07)
Jacky Rosen (NV-03)
Raul Ruiz (CA-36)
Brad Schneider (IL-10)
Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01)
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)
Tom Suozzi (NY-03)
Norma Torres (CA-35)
Marc Veasey (TX-33)
