When we talk about the technologies that are out there, whether it's for wind or solar panels or anything else that we might be doing, we recognize that our climate up here, our environment adds some difficulties or some challenges.

Our challenge is to do what we can to really help facilitate a greater level of collaboration.

We've got an obligation as a State to figure it out, how we're going to do it here.

Thank you for your continued commitment to all Alaskans and Alaska's energy needs.

We need to have an immediate plan, a short-term plan, a mid-term plan, and a long-term plan.

Alaska has the resources to do it, if we have the courage to go down that path.

This is an initiative that, again, should consume all of us.

Your point about kind of the silos that we have within the energy world I think is very apt.

The president's goal is 25 percent energy generated from renewable sources by 2025.

We need more Alaskans like Bernie. I'm saying that with a little hesitation. We need more Alaskans with passion like Bernie.

One of the discussions that we haven't had which really gets people a little bit agitated when I bring it up...

We tell everybody, but they don't believe it, so they come up here.

No other State has such a wide diversity of renewable, sustainable fuel sources at such a tremendous--at such an enormous abundance than Alaska.

We've got to be addressing that. How do we better facilitate some of these smaller-scale opportunities?

Authorization is good. It's absolutely important, it's necessary, but we'd sure like to make sure that there is support within the president's budget.

Senator Murkowski, thank you for the opportunity to address both you and the committee on what I believe is probably the most important issue facing the world today: energy.

What we will focus on today is the importance of renewable energy power sources, as I say, to meet our Nation's energy needs.

So much of what happens from a policy perspective back in Washington, DC, is we've got a tendency, through our policies, inadvertent or not, to pick winners and losers when it comes to energy and how we advance it.

Together we must begin the journey that will complete our mission.

I think Alaska's always different, right?

I think the ocean energy guys would like that. I know that for a fact.

I think when you remember and you appreciate that we are the No. 1 consumer, and you also appreciate the extent to which energy costs impact us in this State.

We got an amazing innovation here. Just look around us and see what Bernie is doing.

Certainly from the jurisdiction perspective, as we know, with the offshore energy issues, there's a huge controversy...

That simply put is to be 100 percent renewable for all of our electric and all of our heat and all of our transportation.