Sen. Lisa Murkowski Saturday called for bipartisan cooperation on legislation that she says will boost America's energy trade while saving energy, promoting innovation, and investing in critical infrastructure.
"The EPA and other agencies are issuing a barrage of regulations that will have limited environmental benefit, but will absolutely reduce our ability to produce energy here at home,"” the Alaska Republican, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said in this week's
GOP address. "There is no reason why our energy policy should be so divisive."
Murkowski said that since President Barack Obama took office, he and his administration have repeatedly denied Alaska with its best opportunities to provide energy for the nation and world by blocking production in half of the state's National Petroleum Reserve.
"It is locking away the non-wilderness portion of ANWR, where an estimated 10 billion barrels of oil could be produced from just 2,000 acres," Murkowski said, including forcing a company to abandon seven years of work and $7 billion in investment in the Chukchi Sea.
"And instead of recognizing that as a significant loss, the Administration doubled down last week by canceling offshore lease sales in the region," she said, ignoring the will of Alaskans.
"The Administration is opening the door for Iranian oil production, but closing it on Alaskan oil, and while the consequences are not yet evident, they will be," she warned.
Such decisions not only mean fewer jobs, but less security for the United States, and threaten the safe operation of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, which is one-third full.
As prices are low, Murkowski said, it is time to modernize policies and open markets, while avoiding burdensome regulations.
A bipartisan bill has come out of the Energy Committee, she continued, that will boost the nation's energy trade. There is also bipartisan support to end the "outdated" ban on crude oil exports.
"Moving forward, Republicans hope that President Obama will work with Congress on policies like these that can draw bipartisan support," she said.
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Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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