Articles & Op-eds
Natural Gas Intelligence: Alaska Oil, Natural Gas Auction Set for Early January — Before Biden Takes Office
by Carolyn Davis
The Trump administration plans to hold an oil and gas auction for the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in early January, setting up a showdown with opponents less than three weeks before President-elect Biden takes over. Northern Alaska The Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) set the video livestream lease sale for Jan. 6. The information was published Thursday in a Notice of Sale for the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program, with the Federal Register n… Continue Reading
12.02.20
Seafood Source: Bipartisan COVID relief plan calls for more fishery support
by Steve Bittenbender
A bipartisan group of lawmakers from both the U.S. Senate and House proposed on Tuesday, 1 December, a USD 908 billion (EUR 750.8 billion) COVID-19 relief package that would include additional funding for fisheries affected by the pandemic. That package includes USD 26 billion (EUR 21.5 billion) for nutrition and agriculture programs, which U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) said in a release would include assistance for fisheries. The exact amount or nature of the assistance was not made clea… Continue Reading
12.02.20
E&E News: Trump does U-turn on DOE loans for clean energy
The Trump administration is opening over $42 billion in loans from the Department of Energy for projects that boost the nation's supply of key clean energy minerals, despite the president's repeated attempts to eliminate funding for the program. In new guidance published yesterday, the Energy Department's Loan Programs Office (LPO) encouraged companies to seek loans for the production, processing and recycling of "critical minerals" that are central to electric vehicles, renewable energy, advanc… Continue Reading
12.01.20
Alaska Public Media: As pandemic worsens, Alaskans’ patience wears thin for a new relief bill from Congress
by Nat Herz
A few months after the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, Kate Stavick was furloughed from her job as a college recruiter in the Mat-Su, which paid her $3,000 a month. When a federal boost to the unemployment insurance program expired, Stavick's benefits dropped to roughly $300 a week - far less than what she earned in her job. Since then, she and her husband have skipped fishing and hunting trips, to allow her husband to keep working. They canceled an anniversary trip. And they're spending more tim… Continue Reading
12.01.20
Washington Times: Lisa Murkowski calls on Trump to end court fights
by Victor Morton
Sen. Lisa Murkowski called on President Trump and his legal team to end their court fights on the 2020 election and begin the transition process. The Alaska Republican issued a statement Sunday evening on Twitter saying that Democrat Joseph R. Biden had apparently won the election fair and square and the Trump administration should start preparing to turn over power on Jan. 20. "Each state has worked to ensure a free and fair elections process. President Trump has had the opportunity to litiga… Continue Reading
11.30.20
New York Times: Alaska’s Controversial Pebble Mine Fails to Win Critical Permit, Likely Killing It
by Henry Fountain
The Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday denied a permit for the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska, likely dealing a death blow to a long-disputed project that aimed to extract one of the world's largest deposits of copper and gold ore, but which threatened breeding grounds for salmon in the pristine Bristol Bay region. The fight over the mine's fate has raged for more than a decade. The plan was scuttled years ago under the Obama administration, only to find new life under President Trump. But op… Continue Reading
11.30.20
Environmental News Service: World’s Best Wild Salmon Run Protected From Huge Mine
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has denied a permit to the proposed Pebble Mine, a giant copper and gold mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska that would threaten the world's largest, most valuable wild salmon fishery. The decision met with approval from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Congress as well as environmental groups, but the mining company that proposed the project was "dismayed" by the decision. Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. based in Vancouver, Canada, announced November 25 that its … Continue Reading
11.30.20
Washington Post: Bipartisan group of senators prepares $908 billion stimulus plan, aiming to break partisan logjam
by Seung Min Kim and Jeff Stein
A bipartisan group of senators is expected to unveil an approximately $908 billion stimulus proposal on Tuesday, aiming to break a months-long partisan impasse over providing emergency federal relief to the U.S. economy, according to four people aware of internal negotiations. Congress has faced increasing pressure to approve additional economic relief since talks between the White House and House Democrats collapsed, first over the summer and then again in the fall ahead of the Nov. 3 president… Continue Reading
11.25.20
Fox News: ALS patients hope Congress can deliver access to potential therapies with bipartisan bill
by Anna Olson
It's the fight of her life. Mayuri Saxena is 36 years old, holds a double master's degree and has lost the ability to use her body bit by bit. She was diagnosed with ALS four years ago, and the progression of the neurodegenerative disease has been swift and relentless. She can no longer walk, stand, use her arms or legs, swallow unassisted or speak. As a New Yorker coming of age in a post-9/11 world, she once hoped to affect change through her work in international relations. But as a quadripl… Continue Reading
11.25.20
North of 60 Mining News: Senator sees interesting times for Alaska
by Shane Lasley
With it becoming increasingly apparent that Joe Biden will be confirmed as the 46th President of the United States, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski believes the coming years will be "interesting times" for the state's resource sectors. "There is near certainty that he is going to be taking office on Jan. 20, 2021," Alaska's senior senator said, referring to Biden, during the Resource Development Council for Alaska annual convention. "If he follows through on some of his campaign promises, that could… Continue Reading
11.24.20
KTVF: Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski comments on 2020 election
by Alex Bengel
Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski released a statement on Sunday, November 22nd voicing her thoughts on the 2020 election. Lisa Murkowski standing in front of a building: Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski released a statement on November 22nd voicing her thoughts on the 2020 election.© Provided by Fairbanks KTVF Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski released a statement on November 22nd voicing her thoughts on the 2020 election. In the statement, the senator explained that the integrity of the election p… Continue Reading
11.23.20
Alaska Public Media: Sen. Murkowski calls on Trump administration to begin ‘full and formal transition’
by Liz Ruskin
While President Trump still refuses to concede the election, Sen. Lisa Murkowski says it's time to begin the transition process. "President Trump has had the opportunity to litigate his claims, and the courts have thus far found them without merit," she said in a statement issued yesterday. She called his pressure campaign on state legislators to influence the outcome "inconsistent with our democratic process." Twenty percent of Senate Republicans have publicly acknowledged Democrat Joe Biden… Continue Reading
11.20.20
OP-ED: A pathway toward ending the legacy of violence against Native women
by U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) & Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
For years now, we've known that Native American communities are facing a crisis of missing, murdered and trafficked American Indians and Alaska Natives November marks National Native American Heritage Month, a time to honor the rich history, immense diversity and important contributions of Native people, while also acknowledging our country's dark history toward tribal nations. As representatives of states with vibrant tribal communities, we wanted to share how we're working together to hel… Continue Reading
11.20.20
OP-ED: ANWR’s 1002 Area: Promise, potential and now a plan
by Senator Lisa Murkowski, Senator Dan Sullivan, and Congressman Don Young
Today, Alaskans are one step closer to a generational goal: the fulfillment of a 40-year fight toward the first lease sale in the non-wilderness Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR. On Nov. 17, the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management published a call for nominations for tracts throughout the 1.6 million-acre program area to be included in an upcoming lease sale, opening a monthlong period for input. A 30-day notice of a sale, which could occur in… Continue Reading
11.19.20
Youth Today: Bill Seeks ‘Pandemic Funding’ For 21st Century After-school Programs
by Stell Simonton
As Congress considers a spending bill with behind-the-scenes negotiations this week, many youth-serving organizations hope for an injection of cash into out-of-school time programs to aid hard-pressed youth and families. None of the Senate spending bills released Nov. 10 included extra money for after-school programs. But legislation introduced by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., calls for an additional $1.2 billion for the 21st Century after-school programs that se… Continue Reading
11.12.20
Anchorage Daily News: Murkowski says Americans expect an ‘orderly’ presidential transition
by Becky Bohrer
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said President Donald Trump has the right to go to court if he believes there has been evidence of voter fraud. But the Alaska Republican said Thursday it's important there be evidence to back the allegations and so far, she said, she hasn't seen any. Murkowski, in an interview with The Associated Press, said it's not up to her or Congress to sort that out. It's up to the courts, she said. If it were to be shown in states where Trump has mounted legal challenges that s… Continue Reading
11.11.20
KINY: Bill would give federal land to Southeast Native communities
The Alaska Delegation has introduced legislation to include Southeast Native communities' entry into the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. If passed, it would allow the communities of Haines, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, and Tenakee to form urban corporations and receive land entitlements under the ANCSA. The five Southeast communities were not included in ANCSA, which divided 44 million acres of land among more than 200 regional, village, and urban corporations to resolve land cl… Continue Reading
11.11.20
Juneau Empire: Advocates hopeful new bill will add five villages to ANCSA
by Peter Segall
Alaska's Sen. Lisa Murkowski introduced legislation Tuesday that would create new Alaska Native corporations to receive lands on behalf of shareholders left out of the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. That act divided more than 44 million acres among more than 200 regional, village and urban corporations, but thousands of Alaska Natives were left out of this arrangement for reasons that are not entirely clear. Five Southeast Alaska villages were left out of the ANCSA settlement and nev… Continue Reading
11.06.20
KTVF: Murkowski approves: Judge rules genetically engineered fish unlawful
by Sarah Dubowski
A U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of California ruled Thursday the Food and Drug Administration violated core environmental laws in approving genetically engineered or G.E. salmon. "The FDA did not… meaningfully analyze what might happen to normal salmon in the event the engineered salmon did survive and establish themselves in the wild. Even if this scenario was unlikely, the FDA was still required to assess the consequences of it coming to pass." Vince Bhhabria, a U… Continue Reading
11.02.20
ALS News Today: Stronger ACT for ALS Act Would Foster New Treatments, ALS Association Says
by Mary Chapman
After working for months behind the scenes, the ALS Association is calling a strengthened Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Act (ACT) a key step toward swifter development of new therapies. The revised bill (HR 8662/S. 4867) calls for $100 million over five years for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) research and establishment of the first federal body specifically charged with coming up with treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. ACT for ALS was reintroduced Oct. 29 in t… Continue Reading
