Murkowski Blasts Feds

 Report and Editorial Comment 

by

Dave Harbour

Addressing a World Trade Center audience yesterday, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski (NGP Photo) began her presentation with an homage to the late Senator Ted Stevens. 

Obtain Senator Murkowski's Complete Speech Here

Since the balance of her presentation focused on a theme we have long stressed--Federal attacks on Alaska's economy--it seemed appropriate that she recall Stevens' viewpoint on such matters:  "What I planned to speak about today, resource development in Alaska, is actually one of the central pillars of Ted’s vision for our future. He understood, perhaps better than anyone else, that our ability to develop a 'climate for investment' starts and ends with our ability to develop our natural resources."

She then went on to cite instance after instance where an adversarial Federal government has sought to close down economic activity in Alaska, including attempts to delay or stop development of the Tongass forest, the Kensington Mine, ConocoPhillips' National Petroleum Reserve project, Shell's Chukchi and Beaufort sea exploration, and the 1002 area of ANWR.  

Murkowski said that, "If we continue to let the supply in this line diminish, operational issues will crop up within a decade, and it could be shut down entirely. It is indisputably in America’s interests to fill TAPS back up, with American oil, but as you can see from its actions on NPR-A, the Chukchi, and ANWR, this administration does not want to let that happen."  

We would add that since Alaska's constitution rests on the state's ability to develop natural resources, and since the Statehood Act recognizes Alaska's reliance on natural resources, that an Administration's consistent effort to shut down resource development is a violation of the Statehood Act and the compact with Alaskans.