Press Releases
Media Requests: Members of the media can contact the press office by emailing Joseph_Plesha@murkowski.senate.gov or by calling 206-302-8317 and asking for the press office.
Murkowski Comments on Start of Arctic Drilling by Shell
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today released the following comment regarding the start of simultaneous preliminary work by Shell at the company's Arctic leases in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. "Today's announcement is bittersweet," Murkowski said. "It is welcome news that Shell has finally begun exploration in the Beaufort and that work in the Chukchi is progressing, but it shouldn't have required 7 years and $3 billion to get to this point. Something is very wrong wi… Continue Reading
10.03.12
Murkowski Promotes Alaskans to Key State Positions
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Lisa Murkowski announced today that she is promoting two staff members to senior positions in her Alaska offices, building on the momentum of their contributions. Miles Baker, her current legislative assistant for finance and tourism in her Washington, DC office, will be her new Alaska State Director, running day-to-day operations. Baker will be filling the position opening caused by the retirement of Jim Palmer and work out of her Murkowski's Anchorage office. Bob W… Continue Reading
09.28.12
Murkowski Urges Creation of Arctic Ambassador
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Lisa Murkowski is encouraging U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to designate a senior political official as the nation's "Ambassador to the Arctic" and to seize the present opportunity to engage more fully with the Arctic community. After a successful trip to the 10th Conference of Arctic Parliamentarians in Akureyri, Iceland in early September, Senator Murkowski came away convinced of the acute need to "make the Arctic more relevant to the rest of the w… Continue Reading
09.28.12
Murkowski Honors Veteran, Cultural Pioneer Jorgy Jorgensen
In honor of Alaska General Aviation Appreciation Month, Senator Lisa Murkowski today released the Veteran Spotlight of Holger "Jorgy" Jorgensen, an Alaska Territorial Guard member and U.S. Army veteran living in Fairbanks, Alaska. Jorgy Jorgensen saw his first airplane flying over the Nome area when he was just six, and knew instantly that he wanted to be a pilot. In 1942, a week after his 15th birthday, Jorgensen volunteered for the Alaska Territorial Guard and worked as a radio operator, mon… Continue Reading
09.27.12
Murkowski to U.S. Army: “Pressing Need” and “Future Demand” for Tracked Vehicles
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Lisa Murkowski reached out to Army Chief of Staff General Raymond Odierno to inquire about the U.S. Army's aging fleet of M973 Small Unit Support Vehicles (SUSV), which are in the process of being discontinued. The SUSV is an amphibious vehicle, capable of accessing harsh locations and terrain found in Alaska's wetlands and tundra - but also difficult territory like that of Afghanistan and Korea. In a letter to Odierno (attached), Murkowski writes, "With increasing … Continue Reading
09.25.12
Murkowski Conducting Flood Survey of Mat-Su, Kenai Peninsula and Seward Areas
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Lisa Murkowski is traveling to the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, Kenai Peninsula and Seward this week with Alaska Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Services Director John Madden to review the state and local response actions in the wake of last week's dramatic floods and windstorms in southcentral Alaska. "In these two damaged areas, people are slowly shifting from 'what do we do' to 'what happens next,' said Murkowski. "I want to work with Director Madden to… Continue Reading
09.25.12
Murkowski Makes Legacy Wells a Federal Priority
WASHINGTON, D.C. - With the release of the 2013 Interior Appropriations bill today, Senator Lisa Murkowski - Ranking Republican on the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee - demonstrated that her work on the committee is raising the profile of long-overlooked and long-underfunded Alaskan priorities. "Uncapped wells are a blight on our state, and the federal government is derelict in their duty to Alaska," said Murkowski. "If this were a private oil company, Alaska could be looking at bi… Continue Reading
09.24.12
Richard Frank Remembered in Congressional Record
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Lisa Murkowski entered a tribute to Richard Frank into the Congressional Record before the Senate recessed this weekend. Frank was an Alaska Native leader, veteran, historian and elder who died Thursday, September 20, 2012 at age 85. (Statement attached as PDF) Murkowski writes, "Richard Frank is an individual of great significance in the history of post-statehood Alaska. He was among the first Alaska Native leaders to recognize the risk that development of the mode… Continue Reading
09.22.12
Juneau Courthouse Bill Passes Senate
The U.S. Senate today unanimously passed HR 4347, legislation to name the United States Courthouse in Juneau after Alaskan jurist Robert Boochever. Senator Murkowski - co-sponsor of companion Senate legislation on this issue - had the following statement after passage: "I am thrilled that the Senate unanimously agreed to designate the Juneau Courthouse as the Robert Boochever United States Courthouse. We lost him last October, and I believe naming the courthouse after him is a fitting memoria… Continue Reading
09.22.12
Murkowski Introduces Amendment to Preserve Access, Recreation on Public Lands
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today introduced her Recreational Fishing and Hunting Heritage and Opportunities Act as an amendment to legislation currently being considered on the Senate floor. Murkowski's amendment is a first-degree amendment to Sen. Jon Tester's, D-Montana, Sportsmen's Act of 2012 (S. 3525). "While I appreciate Sen. Tester's efforts in putting together the Sportsmen's Act, I am disappointed by the decision to leave out bipartisan measures that I beli… Continue Reading
09.22.12
Murkowski Votes to Maintain Diplomatic Efforts
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Lisa Murkowski today voted against S.3576, a bill to cut American financial support to Libya, Egypt and Pakistan as that region undergoes political tumult. She shared her reasoning after the vote: "The troubling recent events in Libya and surrounding countries underscore the need for soft power through diplomatic influence and foreign assistance programs. These programs require and deserve regular Congressional scrutiny, but are an essential component of our nationa… Continue Reading
09.22.12
Murkowski: Spending Bill is “Symptom of Stalemate”
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Lisa Murkowski tonight cast her vote in favor of a six-month FY2013 continuing resolution to fund federal operations through March 27, 2013, while expressing deep frustration at the U.S. Senate's inability to responsibly oversee the nation's spending: "This Continuing Resolution is not a solution or a plan; it is a symptom of stalemate on Capitol Hill where Congress cannot work together to provide agencies certainty - and just as importantly, to exercise oversight of… Continue Reading
09.21.12
Alaska Delegation Introduces Denali Commission Reauthorization Bill
Washington, DC - Legislation to reauthorize the Denali Commission, which for nearly a generation has worked to improve living conditions and quality of life in rural Alaska, was introduced today by Alaska's congressional delegation. Senators Mark Begich and Lisa Murkowski filed legislation in the Senate while Congressman Don Young offered the companion bill in the House of Representatives. The bill is designed to improve the function and effectiveness of the Denali Commission and overcome some… Continue Reading
09.21.12
Murkowski: Does Indian Health Service Have “Deaf Ear” With Village Built Clinics?
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Lisa Murkowski took the opportunity of Maniilaq Association President Ian Erlich's Senate testimony to spotlight the chronic underfunding for Alaska's village built clinics by the Indian Health Service (I.H.S.) There are over 150 such clinics in Alaska - with most being the only local option for health care - and Murkowski asked Erlich about the "unresponsive" stance of the agency on requests for payments, and the absence of simple communication with Alaskans. "What h… Continue Reading
09.20.12
Murkowski: Administration is Running Out of Excuses
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today spoke on the Senate floor about the importance of developing America's energy resources to reduce our dependence on OPEC, to create jobs and to raise revenues to address the ballooning deficit without raising taxes. (Click photo to watch video) "Mr. President, the events of the past week are a very clear and direct reminder to us of the need to choose to end our nation's dependence on imported oil. I will remind my colleagues, th… Continue Reading
09.19.12
Murkowski Votes For Veterans Jobs Corps
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Lisa Murkowski today voted to move forward with the Veterans Job Corps Act - legislation that would create opportunities, transitional services and job training for 20,000 members of the post-9/11 veteran community presently facing a 10.9 percent unemployment rate nationwide. In addition to helping employ our recent veterans, the bill was also intended to address a huge backlog of infrastructure projects and federal land work. The bill failed to pass a procedural 60-… Continue Reading
09.19.12
Murkowski: Unfair for FERC to Continue Collecting Land-Use Fees on Non-Federally Owned Lands
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today questioned administration witness on her legislation to prohibit the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) from collecting land-use fees from hydropower projects on land that the federal government no longer owns during a Water and Power Subcommittee hearing in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Under the Federal Power Act, FERC is authorized to collect reasonable annual fees from project owners for the "use, en… Continue Reading
09.19.12
Murkowski: Eielson Strategic Pause Applies to Environmental Assessment
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Lisa Murkowski sat down with U.S. Air Force General Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle - the newly-installed Commander of the Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) - today to stress her belief that the "strategic pause" on the relocation of the F-16 Aggressor Squadron from Eielson Air Force Base and all military structure movements requires that the Air Force defer a Natural Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) evaluation of the move for at least one year. After an exchange of letters between … Continue Reading
09.18.12
Murkowski Recaps her Visit to North Dakota’s Bakken Region
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., toured oil production facilities and associated sites in North Dakota's Bakken region on Monday and Tuesday. The two-day tour of western North Dakota's oil patch highlighted the economic boom occurring in parts of the Heartland where energy development is being embraced as an opportunity to create jobs, drive economic activity and deliver the energy America needs. "It's amazing to see how quickly things are hap… Continue Reading
09.18.12
PACAF to Murkowski: Demolition Halted on Three Eielson Buildings
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Lisa Murkowski received a response to her September 5th letter to the incoming Commander of the Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) - Air Force General Herbert J. Carlisle - informing Murkowski that he is taking her suggestion to postpone the demolition of key facilities at Eielson Air Force Base and ordering that "planned demolition be halted on all three buildings, and that [2 buildings] be transferred to Alaska Air National Guard Control." The demolition announcement is we… Continue Reading
