LIVE: Biden Speaks on Historic Conservation Efforts

My name is Asha, after my great-grandmother, and my Irish name is Alana Shirley. I'm the granddaughter of the late Marshall and Joseph and Alana Shirley. My parents are Desmond and Andrea Shirley, and we are from Smootyock, Onondagag State. I am blessed to have been born and raised, and now live in Bristol Bay. And I'm the Executive Director of the United Tribes of Bristol Bay, a tribal organization fighting to protect the state of Dubuque, Dena'ina, and Alusa homeland, and ways of life for selfless survivors. Bristol Bay is home to the greatest wild salmon run left on Earth. Salmon have sustained our indigenous ways of life for thousands of American jobs. But for the last 20 years, the pebble mine has threatened to take all of that away. But our people stood up and fought back to protect Bristol Bay. President Biden heard our voices. He and his team listened to Bristol Bay and our many partners across the nation. And together, we stopped the pebble mine. And for that, on behalf of the indigenous people of Bristol Bay, we give our greatest salam, our greatest salam, our greatest thanks. And we're just getting started. Alaskans are eager to secure permanent watershed-wide protection to build a more sustainable future for all of Bristol Bay. Our people have been stewards of our lands and waters for millennia. And we must ensure that our reefs remain a safe haven to salmon, to clean water, and to our native people forever. Ladies and gentlemen, it is one of the greatest honors of my life to now introduce you to someone whose leadership made safe waters. Someone who has taken historic action on conservation and environmental justice. The President of the United States of America, Mr. Joe Biden. Well, I'll tell you what. I'm glad you're up front here. I've been sitting on the side for a long time. I've seen that. I feel hard for you too. You know, you're a lovely young lady. But we don't have her. I don't try to hurt this person's feelings. I just want you to know that. Thank you, Ilana, for the introduction, for all the work you're doing on behalf of Bristol Bay, and all of you too. Thank everyone for being here. The second gentleman is here, along with his parents, Mike and Barbara. And they say in Southern Delaware, you've done good raising that boy. And thank you. And Deb Holland, who is the Secretary of the Interior, Chief Champion of Conservation. Michael Regan, who has done a terrific job as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. And just this morning, he announced a new proposal to cut carbon pollution from coal and gas-fired power plants. This announcement kicks off a public commitment to engage as labor and industry We're also joined by tribal leaders and conservation advocates who represent the indigenous communities who have worked together for decades to achieve something unimaginable, for the people of Alaska, all Americans, the protection of Bristol Bay. Folks, we're here to celebrate that achievement as part of my Administration's Land and Water Conservation Agenda. The most ambitious in American history, Bristol Bay is an extraordinary place, unlike anywhere in the world. Six rivers meet there, traveling through 40,000 miles of hundreds of lakes, collecting fresh water and salmon along the way from some of the most pristine lands on the entire planet. Fresh water enters into Bristol Bay, where every year, tens of millions of salmon return, making this the largest sockeye salmon fishery on all the Earth. Folks, in this age of climate change, the fish lines in Bristol Bay are breaking records. It's horrible. It really is when you think about it. At least I was worried about this 10 years ago. The Alaskan Native people have rallied and relied on this place for millennia. Today, Bristol Bay supplies nearly half the world's wild sockeye salmon and supports 1,000 to 15,000 jobs, American jobs, and 15,000 grant programs. The economic value is estimated to be $2.2 billion. It's an amazing thing about resources like this. You can take care of it if you want forever, but it's impossible to put an economic price on that. And the extreme reality is true as well. Once a resource like this is deployed, it may be impossible to bring it back again. That's why, decades ago, when mining companies made plans to create one of the largest, hoping to take gold and copper mines in North America right near the headwaters of Bristol Bay, folks were wrong. What do you mean? A mine, that mine, would have destroyed 100 miles of streams and nearly 3,000 acres of wetlands and open water, specifically the surrounding regions. And it would have created billions of tons of toxic and dangerous waste. All that waste would have been stored behind a massive dam in perpetuity. Forever. But, Bristol Bay is a region prone to earthquakes, which could destroy that dam. It gets tremendous amounts of rain and snow, which would cause toxic waste to pour over the sides of the dam. And if the dam fails, the waste would be poured into the headwaters of Bristol Bay. That would be a huge calamity. Other mines like this in other parts of America, which are built much, much drier climates, where the consequences of an engineering failure would not have been so severe. Not in Bristol Bay. So it was critical, critical to determine whether this mine could be safely built in a way that guaranteed Bristol Bay would not be harmed. As the years went by, engineers and scientists worked on the problem. And it became clear that there was no way, no way to do this. Our tribal leaders, commercial fishermen, hunters, anglers, environmental advocates, worked together to protect this ecosystem. All in the least, the matter went to the federal government. As a candidate for president, I promised you I would listen to the scientists and concede to the rigorous fact-based review of that. And as a tribal leader, this first-hand knowledge had been gathered over generations. And that's exactly what I did. In the end, we used our authority in the Clean Water Act to ban the disclosure of mine waste in Bristol Bay's water source period. That means the mine will not be built. For many of you, this has been a fight of your lifetime. I'm sure along the way you were told this mine was inevitable, that you should just accept it, that you should just give up. But you didn't. Thanks to the priceless resources that were protected for so many generations and so many years, everyone had a role in saving Bristol Bay. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Bristol Bay is an example of my administration's commitment to conservation. In my first week in office, I issued an executive order establishing the first ever national conservation goal. I called it America the Beautiful. With a nationwide campaign to protect and preserve by 2030 at least 30 percent of the lands and waters in support of sustainable food. We're making strong progress toward that goal. In fact, in just my first year in office, I've protected more lands and waters than any president since John F. Kennedy. I signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investment in climate and environmental protection in the United States ever in a year or two. And look, it wouldn't happen without you. Over the past two years, the investment helped protect our iconic outdoor space, preserve historic sites, and make our nation more resilient to the devastating impacts of climate change. In Alaska, we've protected more than 9 million acres of Congress National Forest, the largest separate rainforest in the world. Our vision is incredible. We restored protections and status as previous administrations rolled back with three national monuments, Bear's Ear, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Northeast Canyon, and Seamount Marine National Monument. By the way, I remember a little girl came up to me at a conference here and said, you know, the Bear's Ear. I said, oh, you mean the park? She said, yeah, we're going to take away the Bear's Ear and try to protect it. Well, it shows us every generation. Last year, I used my authority in the Antiquities Act to add Camp Hale Continental Divide in Colorado to the list of national monuments. It's magnificent. Two months ago, I added two more, Spirit Mountain in Nevada, which ties together one of the longest and largest contiguous wildlife parks in the United States and sacred lands of those centuries. It's a crazy story. So many tribes have been there since time immemorial. And the Castler Range in Texas, another place of incredible beauty, which tells the story of tribal nations who lived there and the numbers of armed forces who were trained there. My direction, Secretary Thomas, has begun to proceed on designating 770,000 square miles for the new National Marine Sanctuary. That's bigger than Alaska and California combined. It will be the largest ocean area on the planet with the highest level of protection. And I declared the entire U.S. Arctic Ocean off limits to new oil and gas development, period. And we began the process of protecting more than 13 million acres of significant natural historic value in Alaska National Park. And I protected a lot of the boundary waters of the New Area River around the wetlands of Minnesota. Look, that's the most heavily visited wildlife area in the nation. All this matters when we conserve our country's national gift and not only protect the livelihoods of independents, like the most affluent families, farms, outdoor recreational areas, rural communities, restaurants and businesses, but also protect the rights of the communities that we use to secure our parks, stores, and other natural resources. The country's national resources define our identity as a nation. We're the vice versa. When we think we've made it, I feel like this is the first time I've had a chance to provide the gifts that have passed and will be passed. And I just feel very proud. Folks, I wish I could say what I'm going to do. It was a time when things were moving at a devastating pace for the U.S. National Park. As you've seen, now we've covered the state of Alaska over the years. And we're holding our continent hostage by setting the default on our national debt that we've already incurred over 200 years unless we've given up the rights to our communities. The physical safety of the people of the U.S. National Park wants to cut 22 percent of everything that isn't the banks, animals, social security, medicine, transportation, food, water, gas, social and behavioral health, and the use of medical equipment. Everything else gets cut 22 percent. That means thousands of wetlands, wildlands, firefights. It's not going to pay. There's too many wildfires that are taking over the state. I've flown over more wildfires since I was president than millions of people on the planet, on the ground, and in the entire state of America. It means thousands of national parks are being shut down for the first reason they've got. It means laying off hundreds of workers to regulate water costs. It means making sure water is kept safe. It means slashing resources. It means promoting pollution. It means letting polluters get away with it and expose vulnerable communities to dirty air and water. Folks, you can't let that happen. You can't let that happen. It's because of this. In just a few weeks, I'm going to say, commercial swimming season is beginning just as well. As one fisherman up there said, it's like Christmas morning. It's like Christmas morning. We'll head out on the water, go out, catch some fish, and there's some only wild salmon in the stream. Just like fishermen have done for generations, just like they will be for generations, just like all of you. I'm sure that all of you have been doing your best Let's keep it going. We're the United States of America. There's nothing beyond our capacity if we work together. Nothing. God bless you all. May God protect our troops. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Distinguished guests, please remain in the Rose Garden as the President...