Murkowski Urges Fair Protest Period for Mammoth BLM Land Plan
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today strongly urged the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to provide Alaskans with sufficient time to review and challenge its “Proposed Regional Management Plan/Final Environmental Impact Statement” (RMP/EIS or proposed Plan) for the Eastern Interior Planning Area of Alaska.
“At more than 819,000 words, the proposed Plan is roughly 40 percent longer than the epic novel War and Peace—not to mention, far more technical and complex. Even if the average Alaskan set aside time to pore over 10 pages every day of the week, it would still take six full months to read...
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Murkowski: FWS Rule Is Unwarranted Takeover of State’s Rights
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today slammed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for finalizing a new rule that preempts the State of Alaska’s jurisdiction over wildlife management in national refuges within Alaska. The rule grants the FWS broad authority over predator control, bans science-based practices developed by the State of Alaska in consultation with the public, and will ultimately threaten wildlife populations that are vital for both subsistence and non-subsistence purposes.
“The Fish and Wildlife Service has once again decided that it knows what is best for us, and is t...
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Sen. Murkowski Comments on BLM’s Decision to Take Next Step on NPR-A Development
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today issued the following statement after the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced it will issue a Notice of Intent (NOI) to conduct an environmental review for a proposed oil and gas development project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A).
“I am extremely pleased BLM is taking this vital first step toward additional development in the NPR-A. The initiation of the permitting process for the GMT-2 project builds on the success we have all fought for and achieved in recent years," said Murkowski. "At the same time, I remain concerned about...
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Murkowski Aims to Boost Prosperity in Alaska
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has introduced new legislation that will significantly increase economic growth and create thousands of new jobs in Alaska while establishing vital revenue sources for the state and local governments. The measure, entitled the Alaska Economic Development and Access to Resources Act, reflects Murkowski’s continued efforts to overcome federal resistance to responsible natural resource production in her home state.
“Alaska has a wide array of world-class energy, mineral, and timber resources that can be responsibly harnessed to fuel economic growth, fiscal ...
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Alaska Delegation Introduces Stand-Alone King Cove Legislation
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, and U.S. Rep. Don Young, all R-Alaska, this week introduced identical bills in both chambers of Congress to facilitate a life-saving road for the isolated community of King Cove, Alaska. Without the road, local residents continue to be at the mercy of high winds, dense fog, and strong storms that prevent safe and timely transportation during medical emergencies.
“It has now been more than 30 months since Sec. Jewell callously rejected a life-saving road for King Cove, and local residents have been forced to endure medevac after medevac since ...
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Senate Energy Committee Advances 43 Bills
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee yesterday held a business meeting to approve a wide array of legislative proposals. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, thanked her committee colleagues for their hard work over the past 18 months, which resulted in a broad, bipartisan energy bill, as well as their continued engagement on other committee priorities, including yesterday’s consideration of 43 bills.
Below are a few of the measures reported out at the business meeting:
S. 2018, a bill to direct the Department of the Interior to unencumber SEND North’s title to a 210-acre tract of ...
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Murkowski: Strong Senate Vote Sends Energy Bill to Conference
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today led the Senate’s approval of a motion to proceed to a formal conference with the House of Representatives on S. 2012, her broad, bipartisan energy legislation.
“This vote is a critical milestone that will allow Congress to begin the first conference on major energy legislation in more than a decade,” Murkowski said. “While we have differences to resolve, I am confident we are up to the task. Our bicameral negotiations will begin immediately so that a good final bill can be signed into law this year.”
Murkowski, chairman of the Senate Energy and Na...
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Sen. Murkowski Comments on Administration’s Latest Arctic Regulation
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today issued the following statement after the Department of the Interior released its final regulation for energy development in the Arctic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).
“I am reviewing this rule to determine whether the department took into account the substantive comments it received from Alaskans, including comments that were intended to resolve real defects in the draft proposal,” Murkowski said. “What we know already is that one company invested nearly $8 billion to complete just one well while operating under guidelines that inspired this rule – w...
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Sen. Murkowski Urges Park Service to Hire Alaskans
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today expressed her disappointment with the National Park Service’s (NPS) decision to select a non-Alaskan as superintendent at Sitka National Historical Park.
“I am extremely disappointed by today’s announcement of yet another hiring of a non-Alaskan for a high-level position within the Alaska NPS Region, particularly at Sitka,” said Murkowski. “It does not appear that serious consideration was given to hiring local candidates for the superintendent position, despite input from the local community. The Park Service has given lip service to the importance of ...
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Murkowski: We Must Provide Firefighting Resources, End Fire Borrowing, and Improve Forest Management
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today received testimony on a bipartisan discussion draft entitled the “Wildfire Budgeting, Response and Forest Management Act”, which would address the serious challenges of wildfire funding and forest management. Murkowski released the draft bill on May 25, 2016 with Ranking Member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Jim Risch, R-Idaho; and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho.
“People across the country are realizing that wildfires are a growing crisis. Alaskans, in particular, know how devastating wildfires can be. About half of the 10 million acre...
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Interior Heeds Murkowski’s Demand to Act on Contaminated Lands
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will today release a report, which was required to be completed by a provision of law authored by U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), that will help fulfill the agency’s duty to identify sites throughout Alaska that were contaminated before they were conveyed to Alaska Native Corporations under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). BLM’s report is a critical step in identifying a comprehensive list of contaminated sites and ensuring their prompt cleanup.
“It took a lot longer than promised, but BLM has finished the easy part,” Murkowski said...
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Administration’s Proposed Land Use Planning Rule Troublesome For Alaska
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, delivered the following opening statement at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Public Lands, Forests and Mining Subcommittee hearing held today to conduct oversight on the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed land use planning rule known as “Planning 2.0.”
“As you know, Mr. Chairman, the focus of this hearing is to provide oversight on the BLM’s proposed land use planning rule—“Planning 2.0”—which will make broad changes to how the agency will issue resource management plans moving forward.
For an initiative that claimed to engage state and local go...
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Good read from Arctic Energy Center:

"As foreign policy and national security specialists, we support retaining the two Arctic leasing areas when the Program is finalized. The strategic significance of the Arctic is growing due to rapid change in the physical and geopolitical environments. Excluding the Arctic from the Program would harm our ability to protect our interests and to promote cooperation in the region."

http://arcticenergycenter.com/…/2016-06-15-Statement-of-Nat…...

http://arcticenergycenter.com/statement-of-foreign-policy-…/

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Statement of Foreign Policy and National Security Specialists on the Proposed 2017-2022 OCS Oil...
The Department of Interior is currently receiving comments on its proposed 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil & Gas Leasing Program. The Proposed Program envisions up to ten sales in the Gulf of Mexico and one in each of three areas off of Alaska, two of these in the Arctic. As foreign policy and...
arcticenergycenter.com

ICYMI: We wanted to make sure you saw Tuesday’s piece by Kateri Callahan, President of the Alliance to Save Energy (ASE), in The Hill. As a leader in the energy efficiency community, ASE is well aware that the only viable path to getting a comprehensive energy bill signed into law is to go to conference – and like many others, ASE is ready for the Senate to vote to proceed to one.

The House already approved that step (and named their conferees) by voice vote. Now, the ball i...s in the Senate’s court. Some have pointed out that there are differences between the chambers’ two bills. Those differences, of course, can best be worked out in a conference, which is needed to complete bipartisan – and bicameral – efforts to advance the country’s first comprehensive energy bill in nearly a decade.

Both a conference – and a bill signed into law – are in everyone’s best interest. It’s the only way to get the $60 billion in energy savings for American consumers from the efficiency title of S. 2012 that ASE mentions in their op-ed – not to mention a 1.5 billion ton reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

The efficiency title alone, which is one of 10 titles in the Senate bill, can make these and other benefits a reality for American consumers. There is much more, of course, inside both versions of the bill, including provisions to address infrastructure, supply, public lands, and research and development.

None of it will matter, though, if the process isn’t allowed to move forward to a conference. Chairman Murkowski stated her vision for the process clearly last week to E&E, saying her goal is “not to jam the other side; it’s not to put a target on something that the president is going to veto. I’m really seeking to update and modernize our energy policies. I want to get a final product.”

ASE seems to support this approach. So does the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. And soon, all members of the U.S. Senate will have an opportunity to vote in favor of taking the next step forward in modernizing our energy and natural resources policies.

http://thehill.com/…/283410-who-truly-could-be-against-savi…

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Who – truly – could be against saving Americans $60 billion?
By Kateri Callahan, president and CEO, Alliance to Save Energy &nbsp Congress stands at the brink of progress. Really. Before the House and Senate lies the best chance in years to drive greater energy productivity into the U.S. economy, which will, in turn, put money back in the pockets of American…
thehill.com
Murkowski: We Must Boost Alaska Pipeline Throughput
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today examined our nation’s energy infrastructure and highlighted the important role that oil and gas pipelines play in moving energy resources, creating jobs, and growing local economies. Murkowski reiterated that strong infrastructure is essential to keeping energy abundant, affordable, clean, diverse, and secure.
“Without infrastructure, we cannot move vital resources from Point A to Point B. And while some would contend otherwise, we know for a fact that pipelines are the safest and most efficient way to move those resources,” Murkowski said. “We know th...
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Murkowski Presses Admin. on Misguided, Vague Mitigation Policy
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, yesterday sent a letter to Dan Ashe, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), calling on the agency to withdraw its proposed policy on mitigation, which attempts to implement a Presidential Memorandum on mitigation released in November 2015.
In her letter, Murkowski echoes concerns she raised during a hearing that she held on the Presidential Memorandum in March 2016, noting a paradigm shift from mitigation to net conservation gain and lack of clarity by the administration. Murkowski also strongly urged the Service to exempt Alaska from ...
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Sen. Murkowski Releases New CRS Report Putting Obama’s $319 Billion Tax in Perspective
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today released a new report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) summarizing historical increases in the federal gasoline excise tax rate, currently set at 18.4 cents per gallon. Analysts estimate that the President’s proposed $10.25-per-barrel oil tax or “fee” would raise gasoline prices by between 20 and 25 cents per gallon.
“The resulting price increase is greater than the current federal tax on gasoline,” Murkowski said. “The administration’s proposal is internally inconsistent and ambiguous, but if it was translated into an excise tax, it would...
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