Gov. Mike Dunleavy on June 25 vetoed two environmental-protection bills that had passed with broad bipartisan support from legislators.
Dunleavy vetoed a bill to establish an invasive species council, Senate Bill 174, that was intended to be similar to coordinating organizations managing invasive species in other states, and a bill to ban restaurants’ use of polystyrene containers, House Bill 25.
Dunleavy, in veto messages, characterized both bills as overly burdensome and unnecessary expansions of government.
The invasive species bill would have established a council within the Department of Fish and Game to coordinate efforts that participants say are currently too disjointed to be as effective as they could be.
It was supported by numerous science and resource organizations, including the Alaska Invasive Species Partnership, a coalition of agencies and organizations that try to combat invasive species.
It passed the Senate unanimously on May 8 and it passed the House by a 35-5 vote on May 19.
But Dunleavy, in his veto message, said there is no need to add new invasive species duties to the Department of Fish and Game.
“Rather than strengthening direct operational capacity, the bill adds a formal advisory layer that is not necessary for the department to continue its efforts,” Dunleavy said in his veto message.
“In the battle over invasive species, Mike Dunleavy has joined the battle on the side of the invasive species,” said the bill’s sponsor, Anchorage Sen. Forrest Dunbar.
Invasive species that threaten Alaska’s ecosystems and the livelihoods that depend on them, particularly seafood harvesting, include imported plants like elodea and fish species like northern pike, which prey on native salmon in Southcentral Alaska, and European green crabs, which eat native crabs and damage fishery habitat. European green crabs were first discovered in Alaska in 2022; since then, tens of thousands have been trapped in Southeast Alaska, but the species is expanding northward.
The bill banning restaurant use of polystyrene containers was aimed at reducing plastic pollution in Alaska, particularly pollution from microplastics, the long-lasting remnants of crumbled-up plastic trash that have become ubiquitous in waterways and the food web, even in remote parts of Alaska.
Dunleavy, in his veto message, said the bill would have created an “unrealistic implementation timeline for businesses,” especially affecting rural Alaska.
The bill’s effective date was to be Jan. 1, but the measure included a provision allowing restaurants to continue to use stockpiled supplies of polystyrene containers until they were depleted.
The bill had bipartisan support. It passed the House originally on April 21 by a 25-15 vote. It passed the Senate on May 18 by a 13-7 vote.
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