The “great Alaska shut-out” may be how future generations describe Sunday’s announcement on ANWR – the most recent salvo in a series of unilateral federal actions to close Alaskan energy development.
Worse still, the president’s decision to manage ANWR as wilderness and boldly ask the pro-energy Congress to permanently prohibit commercial activity in the region goes against the clear and repeatedly stated wishes of the citizens of Alaska – the people who matter most.
Responding to the president’s announcement, the North Slope Borough – the municipal government that encompasses 94,000 square miles on Alaska’s North Slope, the frontlines of energy development – denounced the administration’s move noting that the “people of the North Slope have been unequivocal in their opposition to further Wilderness designations in ANWR.”
We are in the midst of an energy revolution, and Alaska is key to its continuation. The Obama Administration continues to publicly tout the importance of energy development and take credit. Yet, its actions tell a different story, with these new restrictions on Alaska being the last example.
The fact is that shutting-out Alaska has the potential to jeopardize the long-term viability of our energy revolution. Opening up areas of federal land and waters and permitting offshore development in the Chukchi Sea ensures a strong pipeline of energy projects will come online to fuel America for generations and to keep Alaska growing. Moreover, Alaskan energy development anchors U.S. leadership in the Arctic, an area of increasingly geopolitical importance.
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