person:lisa murkowski

Republican Tactic Aims to Open Eastern Gulf, Arctic to Oil Rigs - Bloomberg
▻https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-18/republicans-may-use-budget-to-open-arctic-atlantic-to-oil-rigs

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Congressional Republicans have found a way to use the federal budget to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling — and they don’t plan on stopping there. 

GOP leaders in the House and Senate are exploring ways to also expand drilling in the Gulf of Mexico as well as the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans through congressional budget rules that allow them to pass major policy changes on a simple majority vote.

“There are other opportunities for us,” Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said in an interview. “There is a significant way that we can help with the budget process.”

Money from selling drilling rights and royalties from oil and gas production would be a revenue-raiser that could help offset some of the tax cuts Republicans are proposing. The House has instructed its Natural Resources Committee to find ways to generate $5 billion in revenue over the next decade. And the Senate is set to vote as soon as this week on a budget plan imposing a $1 billion target on Murkowski’s natural resources committee.

Opening Arctic for Drilling Is Trump Priority, Key Senator Says - Bloomberg
▻https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-10/opening-arctic-for-drilling-is-trump-priority-key-senator-says

Senator Lisa Murkowski said President Donald Trump is interested in opening up new coastal waters for oil and gas drilling and reversing Obama-era policies that restrict energy development in Alaska.

Both Trump and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke are weighing ways to expand opportunities to drill in Arctic waters though the changes could take years to accomplish administratively, Murkowski said in an interview on the sidelines of the CERAWeek conference in Houston. 

“It’s fair to say we are looking at how we might be able to — how the administration might be able to — allow for opportunities within this important area, offshore Alaska,” Murkowski said.
[…]
Among her targets: making it easier to develop parcels in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, a 23-million-acre (9.3 million hectare) region set aside 94 years ago because of its oil and gas potential, and allowing the activity in part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
[…]
The Trump administration also is weighing how to undo an executive order that President Barack Obama used to withdraw almost all U.S. Arctic waters and underwater canyons in the Atlantic Ocean from future oil and gas leasing. Environmentalists say it would be unprecedented for any president to rescind such a designation, and the reversal would almost certainly be challenged in court.

Arctic is Top Priority for Homeland Security – But One of Many | Alaska Public Media

▻http://www.alaskapublic.org/2014/03/12/arctic-is-top-priority-for-homeland-security-but-one-of-many

Lisa Murkowski today pressed the Secretary of Homeland Security to make the Arctic a priority for the Administration, particularly for the Coast Guard. She got no disagreement.

Homeland Security is the Swiss Army Knife of government departments. It has a huge range of duties, so when its $38 billion budget request came before a Senate panel today, Secretary Jeh Johnson heard a wide range of pleas. Senators emphasized the need to protect the border, encourage trade and improve disaster response. For Sen. Murkowski, though, it’s all about the Arctic. With ocean travel increasing, Murkowski told Johnson the world is looking to the United States for leadership in the region.

Whether it’s cruise ships going over the top, whether it’s container vessels going through the Bering straits, the level of activity that we’re seeing there is unprecedented, and how we handle it is going to be key going forward.

#arctique #états-unis #défense