Alaska lawmakers press the oil spill commission, introduce Arctic drilling bills

Bob Graham and William Reilly, the co-chairmen of the president's oil spill commission, came to Capitol Hill Wednesday to testify about the panel's findings, appearing before committees where both Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Rep. Don Young are members.

Meanwhile, Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, introduced a package of legislation to address offshore development in the Arctic, including a bill that would provide Alaska with revenue from offshore development in federal waters.

Murkowski, who's the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said in an opening statement Wednesday at the committee's hearing that the nation must "decisively recognize the risks and the rewards of offshore energy exploration."

"There is simply no better way to take measure of those risks and rewards than by visiting the Gulf of Mexico and witnessing the balance between the many users of the ocean, and their respect for one another," she said. "In my experience, the fishing, tourism, and energy industries are perfectly capable of coexisting – just as they did for many decades before last year’s incident. The economies of states like Alaska and Louisiana indisputably depend on all three, and the loss of any one will lead to instability and hardship. Americans require seafood, we love our vacations at the beach, and we depend on oil to live our lives. It’s a delicate balance – but a coexistence we have to sustain."

She also issued this statement on Arctic development:

"The United States is an Arctic nation because of Alaska. We cannot ignore the fact that Russia will drill in the Chukchi Sea in coming years and that Canada is already exploring the Beaufort Sea. Alaska cannot be forced to sit in the middle of this activity – bearing all the same risk but none of the reward – while our pipeline runs dry and our jobs disappear."

In the afternoon, Young expressed some concerns at the House Natural Resources Committee hearing about some conclusions in the report, including what sort of focus to have on domestic production. Young, a Republican, made similar comments Tuesday night after the State of the Union address.

"The oil we have is a bridge across to the future," he said Tuesday night. "You can't not do this without oil. That's one thing I didn't like about the commission's report. You've got Graham saying the best way to be less dependent on foreign oil is not to produce any domestic oil. Well, how do we function?"

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