Lisa Murkowski

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate that clarification.

We ought to focus on harnessing the power of clean, renewable energy.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is a national treasure.

I will continue this tradition and oppose any future attempts to degrade this natural wonder.

Drilling in this region will neither reduce our nation's dependence on oil and lower the cost of energy.

I would certainly hope that, at a bare minimum, there is a level of consultation not only with the committees, the Congress, but, clearly, with those that are involved in mining operations.

And we also applaud the efforts of Senator Murkowski and other committee members to pass critical minerals legislation that includes a review of the permitting system to determine how to make it more efficient while maintaining our current…

There needs to be the stakeholder input. There needs to be that consultation that clearly did not take place.

There is much, much work that needs to be done, if, in fact, this can even move forward.

I think we're going to continue to have a lot of questions about how it would actually be implemented.

The problem is that not every idea that emerges is going to deserve implementation, so we need to be careful to filter the good from the bad.

I would just remind everyone that the last time the Department of the Interior attempted to regulate guns in national parks, we ended up with the guns-in-park legislation.

This was in the U.S. News and World Report. There was an article suggesting that the administration, the President is kind of pushing gun owners off of public lands.

In addition to the concern over lack of consultation, whether it's by tribes or others, it seems to me that we're dealing with a lot of concerns that have come about because of the details.

I think that's a goal that we certainly all share. We always look for ways to make our agencies more efficient, less costly, and we should welcome the participation of the people who actually work there.

We also applaud the efforts of Senator Murkowski and other committee members to pass critical minerals legislation that includes a review of the permitting system to determine how to make it more efficient while maintaining our current…

I'm not convinced that the order is legally valid or good public policies.

If it's lower-risk, shorter-term, isn't that an area where you would see the private sector more willing to step in then, because of that lower risk?

Does that get you into the situation, though, where--and this is actually a point that was raised in a New York Times article recently, that DOE is essentially doing what the rest of the market has been doing in recent years, shifting from…

It sounds like, while both of you support the direction of a QER, you are both urging caution and making sure that we take the time to do this right.

I have also long advocated that the government should not pick winners and losers when it comes to new technologies.

It really is somewhat surprising to recognize that we don't already have something like a QER in place.

I have long believed that our nation needs to develop an energy policy that is lasting, something that can endure.

I want to be very clear that we don't want to create Indian Country in Alaska.

We appreciate Senator Begich and Chairman Akaka and Senator Murkowski and this Committee that you are willing to roll up your sleeves to help us put into place locally controlled, culturally relevant practices to help reduce serious social…