TO: Assignment and Features Editors
FROM: UAF Political Science Department
EVENT: FORUM FOCUSES ON STATE'S RIGHTS CASE
DATE, TIME: Thursday, April 24, 1997 at 4 p.m.
PLACE: Noel Wein Library
UAF International Law students who attended arguments before the Supreme Court on U.S. v. Alaska (1997) will hold a free public forum to discuss the case at the Noel Wein Library, April 24 at 4 p.m.
Ten UAF students, along with their professor Karen Erickson, traveled to Washington D.C. to witness debate involving the decade-long dispute between the state and federal government over submerged lands in Stefansson Sound, located just off the coast of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and adjacent to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
More than $1.4 billion has been generated from leases within the disputed waters while the case has wound its way through the courts. Who gets that revenue, and the right to future leasing and development, hinge upon the Supreme Court's decision in the case, due out some time in June.
"The case represents a unique combination of Alaskan state interests and elements of national and international law," Erickson said.
CONTACT: Assistant Professor Karen Erickson,
UAF Political Science Dept., (907)474-6503 or Jillian Swope, University
Relations, (907)474-7778.
UAF News releases available electronically at: http://www.uaf.edu/univrel/media/index.html
JCS/4-16-97/97-75med.adv.