Since January of 2021, we've seen how unfriendly to the energy sector, and indeed resource extraction in general, the Biden administration has been. Nowhere is that more apparent than in Alaska, where we only recently saw the cancellation of leases in the North Slope's Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR.)
At a press conference on Thursday, both of Alaska's Senators, Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) expressed their displeasure with the Biden administration's lockdowns. While Lisa Murkowski has drawn the ire of Alaska Republicans in the past, on this issue, she's on the right side.
The Biden administration is making two big decisions this week that block resource extraction in Alaska and the state’s U.S. senators are fuming.
They, along with a flock of other Republican senators, said President Biden is boosting the mineral-rich countries like Russia and Venezuela while driving down American industry.
“He is destabilizing our security as a nation in a way that most didn’t think possible in such a short time period,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski told reporters at a press conference Thursday.
The decisions are expected to be announced Friday, but the New York Times and Bloomberg have already spilled the beans: The administration intends not to allow a road in Northwest Alaska that’s crucial to the development of mining in the Ambler area. And it will adopt a rule that will add environmental protections to sensitive areas of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, to the west of Prudhoe Bay.
Both of Alaska's senators are critical of the Biden administration's rule-by-fiat approach to extraction; if they hope to retain their seats in Alaska, of course, they could hardly do otherwise.
See Related: Alaskans Challenge Biden Administration's Cancellations of ANWR Leases
Senator Murkowski actually made one more really good point at this conference:
Murkowski said shutting down oil and mineral extraction in the U.S. will just drive the business overseas.
“We’d rather take it from Iran, from Russia, and all the other places where they really don’t care about us. And they love the fact that we’re being crippled by our own administration,” she said.
This is correct. Needs will always be filled from one source or another, and turning off the taps on our domestic resources only provides aid and comfort to other regimes where those resources can be found. Iran has not only petroleum but also lead, zinc, copper, uranium, chalk, lime, gypsum, and more. Russia has sources of platinum, palladium, titanium, and coal, in addition to oil and gas. It is belaboring the obvious to point out that these are countries that are not especially friendly to the United States. Alaska's resources include, in addition to oil and gas, gold, silver, lead, zinc, coal, mercury, antimony, tin, tungsten, jade, platinum, chromium, copper, and barite, many of which cannot be found in very many places. Shutting off domestic production drives production elsewhere to places that don't like us very much.
Senator Sullivan made another cogent point:
Sen. Dan Sullivan, who organized the Senate press conference, said he wants to get the word out, because he thinks the American voters won’t tolerate the assaults on Alaska mining and drilling.
“The most important thing we can do is retake the Senate, retake the White House,” he said. “That’s going to be the ultimate revenge here.”
At this point, I wouldn't hazard a guess as to what the odds are of a GOP Senate takeover, but this issue, especially when couched in terms of gas prices, makes for a very good argument. Alaskans won't take the Biden administration's attacks on the energy sector lightly, and it's good to see (for once) both of our senators aligned with the best interests of Alaska - and the United States.
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