Sen. Lisa Murkowski re Senate Energy Bill

Posted by Matt Zencey, editorial page editor

Posted: August 31, 2009 - 2:30 pm

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At the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce Monday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski had this to say about the energy bill passed by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee:

“Energy is an area where Congress can play a productive role.” She said Alaska is the most “energy-consuming” state – (presumably meaning highest use per person, not the most overall). Alaskans spend 12% of their household income on energy – four times the national average, and she noted the figure is much higher in the Bush.

She mentioned the dwindling natural gas supplies in Cook Inlet and raised the specter of brownouts in Alaska’s largest city. “Are we prepared? Do we have a plan?” (The state House Committee on Energy will examine those questions in a hearing Tuesday in Anchorage.)

She is proud of the bipartisan work the Senate Energy committee did to pass the energy bill
earlier this year. One observer said “it was the longest, most tortuous committee markup he’d ever seen – but the result was so good!”

The committee process “was allowed to work.” Members put out drafts “weeks in advance.” Some sections weren’t controversial; in other cases, “there were hundreds of amendments” offered. “We had honest-to-goodness debates.”

“In many cases we didn’t know if the amendment would win or lose.”

“Now there is some stuff in it I don’t like… I don’t like at all.” ANWR remains closed to oil drilling. Alaska did not get any revenue sharing from leasing in federal waters off our coasts. She said there would “be a good floor fight” on that issue.

Murkowski “doesn’t like” the renewable energy mandate in the bill. It doesn’t allow nuclear energy to count as “renewable,” which hurts the southern states, which rely heavily on nuclear power. Hydropower was going to be excluded from the allowed list of renewable energy sources (because some dams in the Lower 48 have ruined watersheds) but she worked to get Alaska’s more benign “lake tap” hydro included, which would cover the possible project at Lake Chakachamna, across Cook Inlet.

Unfortunately, she said, the Senate Majority leader does not plan to move the energy bill to the Senate floor until the cap and trade climate change bill is ready, so it will be clear how the two bills coordinate with each other.

Side note: She said “oil and gas is the industry with the biggest bulls-eye on it,” as Congress looks for ways to pay for everything it is doing.

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