Murkowski: Willow Project reapproval “Significant for Alaska”

• News Home
• More from News of the North

Friday, March 17, 2023 at 4:02 PM

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Messenger
• Share on Messenger
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Whatsapp

Washington, D.C. (KINY) - Following the Biden administration’s decision to reapprove ConocoPhillips’ Willow Project in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve (NPR-A), Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) spoke on the Senate Floor to mark the significant announcement.

Here are some excerpts from her speech:

"[The Willow Project] is significant for Alaska. From a job perspective, this is going to create about 2,500 jobs for a state that desperately needs that. This will be revenue and income to a state that desperately needs it. Our economy is still suffering in a post pandemic world. Our economy feels challenged in many ways. We're seeing a net outmigration, unlike any state in the country, and it is because it's directly tied to the state of our economy."

"Willow represents economic security. It represents energy security, and it represents national security."

"It was a pretty incredible effort that came together to advance the cause of this…It was an extraordinary coalition of Alaska Native leaders and individuals. It was an extraordinary coalition of labor leaders, not only in the state. 100% of the labor unions in Alaska support advancing Willow, backed by their national unions back here, because they know that these will be good paying jobs. These will be solid union jobs, these will be jobs for the future. It was backed by a coalition of industry leaders, the university, resolutions out of both houses of our state legislature."

"People who live up there are the first stewards of the land and they get it. So, when you have whaling captains, who are standing shoulder to shoulder with the Alaska Delegation in front of the Capitol Building, standing there saying: “We need Willow. We need Willow for our economy. We need Willow for our people. We will make sure we will meet the subsistence needs of those who live in the area. We will make sure that the environmental considerations are met. We are ready to proceed.”

More from News of the North

• Dozens evacuated from small cruise ship in Alaska after engine room fire

  Juneau, Alaska (AP) — A fire in the engine room of a small cruise ship in Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve prompted the evacuation of dozens of passengers and crew on Monday. No injuries were reported, and the fire was extinguished, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

• United Fishermen of Alaska announces support for Senator Lisa Murkowski’s Fishing Industry Credit Enhancement Act

  Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - Late last week, Senators Lisa Murkowski and Angus King (I-Maine) introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at supporting rural fishing communities.

• Here’s what passed and what didn’t in Alaska’s legislative session

  Juneau, Alaska (Alaska Beacon) - Thirty-one bills passed House and Senate this year, the third fewest of any first-year session since statehood

• New Riverview Senior Living Community in Juneau Now Open

  Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - The new Riverview Senior Living community in Juneau, Alaska, is now open for residency.

• Learn the basics of running for local office at free workshop on June 24

  Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - Have you ever thought about running for local office? This October, Juneau voters will elect three Assembly members and two School Board members—and one of them could be you.

• Coast Guard, partner agencies responding to vessel fire in Glacier Bay, Alaska

  Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - The Coast Guard is responding to a reported fire aboard the on the 178-foot passenger vessel Wilderness Discoverer in Glacier Bay, National Park, Alaska.

• Multiple deaths reported on vessel

  Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - On May 31, at about 2:23 p.m., a 34-year-old female reported to JPD that she found her friend, 51-year-old Curtis Edwin Anderson, deceased on the vessel Dusky Rock.

• Coast Guard to conduct pollution response exercise in the Bering Strait

  Juneau, Alaska (KINY) — The Coast Guard is scheduled to conduct a pollution response exercise in the Bering Strait June 7, 2023

• Sealaska contributes to renovation of ANB/ANS Halls in Angoon and Hoonah

  Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - Sealaska recently made two significant donations to support the renovation of the Alaska Native Brotherhood/Alaska Native Sisterhood (ANB/ANS) halls in Angoon and Hoonah.

• Yakutat youth participate in marine debris cleanup

  Yakutat, Alaska (Alaska Beacon) - They’re part of a federally funded project managed by the city and the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe

• 'We are warriors' Cancer Connection celebrates National Cancer Survivors Day

  Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - Cancer survivors and people with loved cancer survivors walked from Marine Park to Bill Overstreet Park in a celebration of life, an event Cancer Connection holds every year.

• Reward available for information about shooting of Steller sea lions in Cordova

  Cordova, Alaska (KINY) - NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to a civil penalty or criminal conviction in the May 2023 shooting of seven Steller sea lions.