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Murkowski, Begich press White House on Arctic strategy
Alaska’s bipartisan Senate delegation says the White House doesn’t quite have the vision thing down yet when it comes to planning for development in the Arctic.
Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R) and Mark Begich (D), in a cordial letter to the White House this week, applaud several administration actions but say an “overall national U.S. strategy” for the region is needed.
“The United States is the only Arctic nation which lacks such a formal strategy which ties together all the individual agency policies and visions,” states the July 11 letter to President Obama, made public Thursday.
“Developing an American Arctic strategy is especially timely now, with the hope for offshore oil and gas exploration in Alaska's Arctic this summer, the number of cargo ships transiting the Bering Strait are increasing to new record highs and America's indigenous peoples are justifiably concerned with the impacts of these developments and changing conditions on their subsistence ways of life,” the letter states.
Begich and Murkowski strongly support offshore oil drilling in the region.
The letter says the state of Alaska should have a “meaningful role” in creating a national strategy.
It cheers several steps the administration has taken to date, such as its support for ongoing Senate efforts to ratify the Law of the Sea treaty, and high-level participation in the 2011 ministerial of the international Arctic Council, which took place in Greenland.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar attended the ministerial.
