By Greg Walcher | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice
Alaska comprises nearly 20 percent of the entire U.S. at more than 665,000 square-miles, and is the richest state in natural resources.
Yet it remains the most sparsely populated state, partly because of its isolation and weather, but largely because the federal government owns most of it: 406,000 square-miles. The U.S. purchased Alaska in 1867 specifically because of its vast resources, especially energy, which benefited the state and country for decades.
But in the late 1970s, just after completion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act was passed, with the goal of preventing further development of those resources. It set aside 245,312.5 square-miles (157 million acres) for special “protection” as national parks, national monuments, wilderness areas, wildlife refuges, wild and scenic rivers, national recreation areas, national forests and national conservation areas. The government owns more than 60 percent of the state, and effectively walled off 60 percent of that from most public uses, especially any further energy development.
Three years ago, looking back on his long life at the age of 97, the late President Jimmy Carter called the Alaska lands bill “the most significant domestic achievement of my political life.” He was proud of it, but for many Westerners it represented an admission that he never really understood the West. After his passing last month at the age of 100, every network ran the predictable memorial tributes, mostly glossing over the reasons that pollsters say most Americans viewed him as an admirable man but a failed president.
Westerners understand that failure ran much deeper than a disastrous economy, rampant stagflation and embarrassments of foreign policy.
Carter’s unproud legacy in the West began just weeks after his 1977 inauguration, when he stunned Congress by announcing a “hit list” of already-approved Western water projects that he wanted de-authorized. He was flabbergasted by the political firestorm it caused, and his plummeting popularity across rural America. Nearly every elected official in the West, including members of his own party, attacked his ignorance about the realities of the arid region.
Water projects were the center of the federal government’s role in much of the West, and Congress had forged very tenuous and delicate agreements for projects that would require generations to complete. Carter’s announcement called for de-authorizing 19 projects, and re-evaluating 13 more, mostly in the South and West. The list even included the Central Arizona Project and several others already under construction, some of which took 30 years or more to negotiate. Colorado had agreed to the Central Arizona Project (diverting Colorado River water to Phoenix) only in exchange for several Colorado projects that had not yet been built, including Animas-La Plata, Dallas Creek, Narrows, San Miguel and Savory Pothook. Water providers couldn’t help seeing the “hit list” as a betrayal of those promises.
Carter was nevertheless adamant, and eventually prevailed on most projects. His relationships suffered badly with elected officials of both parties, especially in the West and South.
That’s because many viewed his “attack” on water projects as revenge against the West, which had unanimously (except Hawaii) voted against Carter in 1976. It was seen as much more than a water issue, more broadly about the prosperity of rural America. Since water has always been the lifeblood of the arid West, an attack on water seemed like an attack on the West. He drove western states into the Republican camp for the next 25 years, while East-West issues broke down along more partisan lines than ever before. Politically, America has been divided between rural and urban voters ever since.
Those issues contributed greatly to Carter’s defeat in 1980. In fact, some scholars including Marc Reisner (author of Cadillac Desert) argue that this issue played as much of a role in his loss as the Iran hostage crisis and double-digit inflation. Except his home state of Georgia, Carter lost every single southern and western state. He still had loyal support from several western Democratic senators, and they were also defeated for re-election in 1978 and 1980: Floyd Haskell (CO), Mike Gravel (AK), Frank Church (ID), Dick Clark (IA), John Culver (IA), George McGovern (SD), and Warren Magnuson (WA). Seven Democratic governors were also defeated.
Ironically, Carter’s own roots were rural and southern, but too many rural Americans had concluded that he didn’t understand or care about them. Carter’s admirable post-White House life, especially his Habitat for Humanity work, continually enhanced his personal reputation. But historians will, nevertheless, view his legacy unfavorably, especially those in the West.
READ MORE COMMENTARY FROM GREG WALCHER AT GREGWALCHER.COM
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