Articles & Op-eds
Op - Ed: He made Alaska a better place for all
When one thinks about the giants of Alaska's history the names of Reverend Dr. Walter Soboleff and Elizabeth Peratrovich immediately spring to mind. Elizabeth is well remembered for her advocacy in the struggle for Native civil rights and equality, and her contemporary Reverend Walter Soboleff, will always be remembered for his vision of peace and spiritual love connecting all people, across the man-made barriers of race or culture. This weekend we grieve the loss of Reverend Dr. Walter Soboleff… Continue Reading
05.28.11
Op - Ed: VA struggling to serve Alaska's veterans
On Memorial Day, Alaska welcomes Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki for his first visit since taking office in 2009. Alaska is proud to be the state with the most veterans per capita in the country: 77,000 and growing. Unfortunately, Alaska is also the state in which the VA may be most challenged to effectively serve its beneficiaries. The VA is aware it must adapt to the unique challenges of Alaska's geography. While the VA has categories like "rural" and "highly rural" for the Lower 48… Continue Reading
05.21.11
Anchorage Daily News:Summit shows US is trying to catch up on Arctic issues
WASHINGTON - As declining sea ice and better mapping and technology make the Arctic more accessible, nations with interests there -- including the United States -- are beginning to stake their claim on the resource-rich region. Russia in 2007 planted a flag on the sea floor below the North Pole. Denmark this week announced it would ask the United Nations to recognize the North Pole as an extension of Greenland, its territory. And the U.S. this month for the first time sent a secretary of… Continue Reading
05.20.11
KCAW: Murkowski asks USFS to defend Roadless settlement
SITKA, ALASKA-- Sen. Lisa Murkowski took the head of the US Forest Service to task on Thursday (5-19-11) for his agency's role in agreeing to limit development in the Tongass that may require road building. The US District Court in March vacated the Tongass's exemption from national roadless policy. Earlier this month the same court released proposed a settlement between the Forest Service and the plaintiffs allowing a dozen various projects to move forward, including Sitka's Blue Lake hyd… Continue Reading
05.14.11
The Hill: Murkowski, Begich back Obama’s Arctic drilling push
President Obama's new plan for accelerating Alaskan oil drilling won quick praise Saturday from the state's Senate delegation, which has been at odds with the White House over what the lawmakers call federal roadblocks to development in their state. "I've been strongly critical of this Administration's policies on domestic production, but today I want to give credit to the President," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Commi… Continue Reading
05.13.11
Alaska Dispatch: Murkowski: Obama administration 'committed' to Alaska oil development
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski just spent hours on a plane with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and says she thinks the Obama administration is coming around on oil development in Alaska. Murkowski says she's convinced the federal government is close to approving permits for ConocoPhillips' stalled drilling project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, often referred to as the CD-5 project. Shell's applications to drill in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas next summer are "a little more comp… Continue Reading
05.13.11
Fairbanks Daily News - Miner: Murkowski lauds U.S. focus on the Arctic
JUNEAU - Alaska's senior U.S. senator said Friday that national leaders heard first-hand this week of the need for greater investment in and attention to the Arctic. Sen. Lisa Murkowski joined two White House Cabinet members at a multilateral Arctic Council meeting Thursday, where officials from eight nations signed a binding search-and-rescue agreement for the region. The council also approved a project aimed at taking candid stock of capital infrastructure - and shortfalls therein - n… Continue Reading
05.01.11
Fairbanks Daily News - Miner: Alaska congressional delegation applauds military role in bin Laden's death
FAIRBANKS - Alaska's congressional delegation late Sunday applauded the killing of Osama bin Laden by the U.S. military. "This has been a long time coming," said Republican U.S. Rep. Don Young. "Terror mastermind bin Laden and his followers have been terrorizing nations for years and hiding like the cowards they are. Too many lives have been sacrificed in this search." The news comes amid the deployment of thousands of soldiers from Fort Wainwright to Afghanistan, attacked by the United… Continue Reading
05.01.11
Mat - Su Valley Frontiersman: Murkowski talks energy during visit
WASILLA - As the ranking Republican member of the nation's Energy and Natural Resources Committee, it's no wonder U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski's day in the Valley Friday centered on just that. It began with conversations about energy with teenagers at Palmer High School and a tour of Valley Community for Recycling Solutions, and ended with another group of teens from Teeland Middle School who won a national competition for designing an energy efficient, sustainable school of the future. In… Continue Reading
04.22.11
Washington Post: Setting the record straight on America’s oil
With gasoline prices in many areas above $4 a gallon, energy concerns are once again making headlines. Prices have more than doubled since the start of 2009 and are projected to remain at excruciating levels for the foreseeable future. We know from experience that high energy prices harm American families and businesses. Aside from pain at the pump, it's harder to balance budgets or even buy groceries when transportation costs soar. Many experts have concluded that if prices remain high,… Continue Reading
04.20.11
Politico: Time to pass new drilling regs
It's now one year since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. Eleven lives were lost in that tragic disaster, and oil gushed uncontrollably for the next 87 days. These terrible events transfixed our nation - highlighting failures within industry and government. Even before the well was capped, the need for a substantive legislative response was obvious. Instead, many reactions were just that - reactionary. Finger-pointing, counterproductive ideas and harsh rhetoric… Continue Reading
04.20.11
Associated Press: Murkowski defends Native contracts worth billions
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Tuesday she does not believe there is enough support in Congress to pass legislation that seeks to strip Alaska Native corporations of the advantage they enjoy in obtaining federal contracts worth billions of dollars. The Alaska Republican told The Associated Press that new, tighter oversight rules governing a Small Business Administration program should be allowed to work, rather than target the corporations, as the bill sponsored by Sen. Claire McCaskill, … Continue Reading
04.16.11
Juneau Empire: Murkowski questions cuts to NOAA
Sen. Lisa Murkowski questioned cuts considered for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at a Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee hearing of the Appropriations Committee. In a release, Murkowski states that the considered cuts to NOAA's budget may affect state fisher stock assessments and diminish the data used to set catch limits. She says that less accurate numbers could result in more conservative quotas that could lose revenues for the state and fishing industry. … Continue Reading
04.13.11
The Arctic Sounder: Murkowski rails against EPA sluggishness in offshore permitting
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today stressed the importance of the timely review of permits by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in testimony before the Energy and Power Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, a Murkowski press release said. Murkowski, ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, explained that exploration and development in Alaska's Outer Continental Shelf has been held up for years because of the EPA's inability to… Continue Reading
04.12.11
Politico: Murkowski: Smaller steps on energy
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski thinks Congress will have more success taking a "graduated" approach to energy legislation while keeping up the pressure to respond to last year's Gulf of Mexico spill. While the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, in which Murkowski is the top Republican, approved separate strategies last Congress addressing the historic oil spill and broader energy problems, the full Senate and Congress more generally did not follow suit. "So more of a graduated a… Continue Reading
04.08.11
Politico: OPINION: Unlock ANWR now
The time to develop our domestic oil reserves in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is now. For far too long, we've kept under lock and key the resources that could improve our energy security, create badly needed jobs and provide a stream of revenue to pay down the national debt. Rising gasoline prices, President Barack Obama's de facto moratorium on offshore drilling, record unemployment and a ballooning $14 trillion national debt are just some of the economic re… Continue Reading
04.07.11
The Arctic Sounder: Murkowski co-sponsors bill to increase resources for suicides
Sen. Lisa Murkowski today joined efforts to extend needed funds, service and resources to Alaska's at-risk youth communities as a co-sponsor of the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act Reauthorization of 2011. The bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Jack Reed (D-RI), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Tom Udall (D-NM), would strengthen suicide prevention efforts for the state, tribal organizations, and college campuses, a press release from Murkowski's office said. "Alaska's children are our most valu… Continue Reading
03.31.11
Anchorage Daily News Editorial: Energy policy
In recent days President Obama has gotten Alaskans' attention with his encouragement of oil production in Brazil and his call for a 33 percent cut in U.S. oil imports in a decade. Brazil? Well, OK, but if the goal is to increase U.S. domestic production, the president should first look west and north from D.C. to Alaska prospects. Right off the top we can think of two prospects that could stand federal encouragement. The first is to grant a permit for Conoco Phillips to build a bridg… Continue Reading
03.29.11
Alaska Public Radio Network: Delegation Reacts to US Mission in Libya
Alaska's Congressional delegation has concerns over the U.S. mission in Libya - and questions about the end-goal. Last night President Obama addressed the nation about his decision 10 days ago to take military action in the North African country. The U.S. and NATO are enforcing a no-fly zone over Libyan skies. While the President said NATO is expected to take over more of the operation this week, the U.S. is expending its planes, missiles, and hundreds of millions of dollars. It's a … Continue Reading
02.15.11
Alaska Dispatch: Alaska Sens. Begich and Murkowski address Essential Air Service repeal
by By: Ben Anderson. Originally published February 14, 2011
As the Senate debate continues over the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill, the question of Essential Air Service remains up in the air. The service, which provides government subsidies for air carriers providing regular air service to rural American communities, is the target of an amendment proposed by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) that would cut the $212 million program from the FAA's budget. Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich both addressed the proposed amendment on… Continue Reading
