For immediate release: March 4, 2021

Media Contact: Emily Russo Miller, emily@seacc.org, 703-577-0303

JUNEAU (Tlingit: A’aawk Kwáan lands) — SEACC would like to extend our warmest congratulations to Rep. Deb Haaland for her bipartisan vote through the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and our thanks to Senator Lisa Murkowski for making that possible. Haaland’s confirmation will be a historic moment for Indigenous leadership in our great state and this country, and thanks to a strong yes vote from Sen. Murkowski, that confirmation on the Senate floor now seems assured. We look forward to working with Haaland on the many public land management issues that the Department of the Interior manages in Alaska, not least of which includes our 17 national parks and many wildlife refuges. Like Murkowski, Haaland is a bipartisan dealmaker and a climate realist, and we trust that she will work in the best interests of all Alaskans.

Photo credit: Jeremy Lavender