Murkowski Slams Interior for Resource Sanctions on Alaska
Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) today slammed the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) – including Secretary Deb Haaland – for repeatedly sanctioning resource development in Alaska regardless of local support, national need, and federal law. Murkowski’s comments came during the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s hearing on DOI’s budget request for Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25).
“Our environmental record is second to none. We'll put it up against anyone out there. But now it's effectively being held against us because Interior's decisions are punishing us for decades of responsible development,” Murkowski said. “The Department needs to follow the law. They need to follow the law, they need to consult with all Alaska Natives – all Alaska Natives – and frankly, I think clean house at the BLM.”
“This administration is sanctioning Alaska. Sanctioning Alaska, while you’re boosting foreign resources, and you don't pay attention. You overlook the pollution, the human rights abuses, the regimes that it enables, from Russia to Iran,” Murkowski continued. “The administration has effectively reduced Alaska to nothing more than a debit card to pay off national environmental groups in an election year. I know that's tough, but we can't look at it any other way.”
Click here to view Senator Murkowski’s full remarks
Senator Murkowski’s full remarks:
I know that at these hearings, I usually take my time to ask questions. But this morning, I'm probably going to be talking more than asking questions, because quite honestly, I've got a lot. I've got a lot to say. And I think you know, it's not good feelings.
Right now, the state of Alaska is looking at what is coming out of the Department of the Interior, and we’re not seeing a single thing that Alaskans are asking for that is actually advancing. It seems like every single decision coming out of the Department is working against Alaskans.
You know, it was a pretty tough week, just a couple of weeks ago. In one day…in one day…the Department closes off 13 million acres of our Petroleum Reserve.
In the same day, you rejected the Ambler Access Project, and the heartburn here – I mean, it's more than heartburn – this is a project that is literally guaranteed by federal law. And you basically have rejected that and closed that out.
You released a major land plan, where it took Interior 10 full years to fail to meet the direction of a law that I wrote 20 years ago – to lift PLOs, public land orders, in Alaska – but it took no time at all to close off millions more acres in the state of Alaska.
And again, the kicker on all of this, is you did it all on the same day. One day. One day.
We have actually come to dread Fridays in Alaska, because that's when we see the stuff coming out of Washington, DC, that is burying Alaska and our economy. These decisions are now piled on top of dozens of others—from your conservation rule, to the cancellation of the leases in the 1002 Area, to the looming kneecapping of the oil and gas program in the 1002 Area that you're mandated to carry out.
When signing ANILCA, President Carter promised the deal was 100 percent of Alaska’s offshore and 95 percent of our onshore would be open to responsible development. President Biden voted for that law. He voted for ANILCA, but his administration, led by your Department, has broken its promises to Alaskans again and again and again.
And we've kept our side of the bargain here. Our environmental record is second to none. We'll put it up against anyone out there. But now it's effectively being held against us, because Interior's decisions are punishing us for decades of responsible development.
And ironically, it undermines the President's own policies. He's talking about all that he wants to do to advance renewables and EVs. They all require critical minerals. Well, where are we going to get the critical minerals? We have opportunities in Alaska and a road to those minerals could have been, hopefully one day will be, a way we're accessing them.
In addition to all of this, you're setting a precedent for future administrations to ignore the law. We pass things in Congress, we put the laws in place, and the administration does whatever they please. And it's doing nothing to protect the environment because we know that our projects are going to have small footprints, and because we put in place the strongest safeguards in the world here.
You've heard it before, but the headline is true. This administration is sanctioning Alaska. Sanctioning Alaska, while you’re boosting foreign resources, and you don't pay attention. You overlook the pollution, the human rights abuses, the regimes that it enables, from Russia to Iran.
And in the meantime, you've got a President that seems to think that Willow is enough to sustain an entire state. The administration here has effectively reduced Alaska to nothing more than a debit card to pay off national environmental groups in an election year. I know that that's tough, but we can't look at it any other way.
There is no valid reason, there's no good excuse for Interior’s decisions. The Department needs to follow the law. They need to follow the law. They need to consult with all Alaska Natives – all Alaska Natives – and frankly, I think clean house at the BLM.
I want you to give this some thought, because we're going to have an opportunity next week at Interior Appropriations for me to ask more questions. But I want you to think about this: what justifies this, what justifies this singling out of one state, of one state alone, to treat Alaska in this way and in this manner—where you are effectively not only locking up the resources, you are going against our statehood compact, you are going against the laws that we have passed, and against policies that seemingly as an administration, you should support.
It seems like we are the Giving Tree, with more and more being taken from us every year, but we don't know that there is that much more to give. So again, I’ll look forward to the opportunity in the Interior Subcommittee to ask these questions. You probably won't be looking forward to it as much as I will, but I think Alaskans deserve some answers.
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