To require the Secretary of the Interior to transfer to the Secretary of the Navy administrative jurisdiction of certain land located on Adak Island, Alaska, and for other purposes.
HB9138 would require the Secretary of the Interior to transfer administrative jurisdiction over approximately 5,624 acres of federal land on Adak Island, Alaska, to the Secretary of the Navy. The bill specifies that the land may be used for Navy defense purposes, including as an armament or high-hazard explosives testing site, for training in aerial gunnery, rocketry, electronic warfare, and tactical maneuvering and air support, as well as for equipment and tactics development and other defense-related uses the Navy deems appropriate.
The bill also removes the covered land from the National Wildlife Refuge System and bars it from being treated as part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. It directs the Interior Department to adjust refuge boundaries accordingly and makes clear that the transfer overrides conflicting provisions of the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, and other listed authorities, while leaving the broader refuge system laws intact for other lands.
If enacted, the bill would change federal land management authority by shifting jurisdiction from the Department of the Interior to the Department of the Navy for the specified Adak Island parcel. It would also amend the practical application of federal wildlife refuge protections by excluding the land from the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge and exempting it from laws tied to refuge lands, thereby clearing the way for military use on the site. The affected parties would primarily be the Navy, Interior, and federal wildlife refuge managers, with potential implications for environmental oversight and land-use restrictions on Adak Island.
Based on the bill text and available context, the measure appears to be framed as a defense and readiness proposal rather than a broadly controversial policy initiative. There are no recorded committee transcripts or votes in the provided material, so no formal support or opposition can be measured from debate or roll call history. The structure of the bill suggests an intent to facilitate military training and testing on a specific parcel of land, which may appeal to defense interests while raising concerns among conservation or refuge stakeholders.
The main point of contention is likely the removal of land from the National Wildlife Refuge System and the override of existing refuge-related protections. Environmental and wildlife conservation interests would likely object to excluding land from the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, while defense proponents would support the transfer as necessary for training, explosives testing, and other Navy uses. Another potential issue is the bill’s explicit preemption of several federal land and refuge laws, which could be viewed as narrowing environmental protections in favor of military readiness.