Sen. Murkowski: U.S. making more energy, using it more efficiently

WASHINGTON – The United States is producing more energy and using it with greater efficiency today than five years ago when U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced her energy plan for the future.

Murkowski introduced her blueprint at a conference of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. She returned to the association on Wednesday, reporting progress and some suggestions to help future energy policy development.

Murkowski, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said her plan, titled Energy 2020, was based on two simple principles: “Produce more. Use less.”

Since then, she said, the nation has moved in the direction of her plan and is now even selling energy on markets outside the United States.

“I do think we’re in that place,” she said. “We have seen gains, and I think considerable gains, since we laid that blueprint down.”

She pointed to a major policy victory that occurred in December. The enactment of federal tax reform included authorization to open 2,000 acres on Alaska’s North Slope for oil drilling.

Opening up just that small area could produce more than 10 billion barrels of oil, she said.

The nation is using more clean-burning natural gas and electricity. And she pointed to the Trump administration’s infrastructure plan, which intends to use $200 billion in federal spending to leverage $1.5 trillion in investment.

She said keys to future success are: “Balanced energy policy and the power of facts.”

Her home state of Alaska is a land of unparalleled beauty that, she says, takes her breath away. And as chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Environmental Protection Agency, Murkowski said she recognizes the need to balance energy development and environmental stewardship.

“Strong environmental values are part of who I am,” she said. “It’s part of my structure.”

She said the discourse over the environment is at times sharply divided and she called for a more civil discussion, particularly around climate change.

“We must be reducing emissions that contribute to climate change,” she said. “It’s a difficult conversation but let’s stop making it harder.”

Murkowski said she asked high school interns for suggestions on the issue. “The first thing they said was: ‘Stop calling each other names.’ How simple and basic is that?”

“Let us skip the name calling and the unproductive arguments,” she said. “Instead let’s think about energy advancements that are also climate solutions.

“And let’s keep affordability in mind because, again, in Alaska we want to make sure that we’re good strong environmental stewards. But we also know that we’re paying some of the highest costs in the country,” Murkowski added. “So affordability has to be top of mind.”