Lisa Murkowski: “I received a letter in my office from the respected former President Jimmy Carter. I suspect this letter went to every…”

“I received a letter in my office from the respected former President Jimmy Carter. I suspect this letter went to every Member. It was an appeal on the issue of the energy bill which has been laid down by the majority leader and will be taken up at some point, probably next week. In his letter, President Carter highlights the realization that every decade or so we have a great national debate about whether or not to preserve our national heritage. He indicated that in the sixties, it was over building dams in the Grand Canyon to oil drilling in Yosemite or Yellowstone. Clearly, there is no consideration for oil drilling in either Yosemite or Yellowstone, to both of which I would object. I know virtually every Member in this body would. President Carter indicates in his letter that the significant issue before us today is the fate of the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, an area first set aside for protection by President Dwight Eisenhower. He is correct in that generalization, but what he does not add is that out of that area, so-called ANWR, there were 1.5 million acres, or the 1002 area, left out specifically at the declaration of President Eisenhower for Congress to make a determination of the disposition.”