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Lisa Murkowski News

11 Jan 2023

Elizabeth Klein Named BOEM Director

Elizabeth Klein (Photo: BOEM)

The U.S. Interior Department on Tuesday named Elizabeth Klein, a lawyer who worked in the Obama and Clinton administrations, to head the bureau that oversees offshore oil, gas and wind development.Klein will take over for the current head of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Amanda Lefton, who has resigned from the post effective Jan.

18 Jul 2022

Keel Laying Ceremony Held for USCG's Offshore Patrol Cutter 'USCGC Ingham'

Credit: Eastern Shipbuilding Group

Eastern Shipbuilding Group hosted the keel laying ceremony for the U.S. Coast Guard’s future Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC), USCGC Ingham (WMSM-917), the third vessel in the new Heritage Class built at the Nelson Street facility. The presiding official for the U.S. Coast Guard was Rear Admiral Chad L. Jacoby, Director of Acquisition Programs & Program Executive Officer (CG-93). Congressman Neal Dunn (FL – 2nd District) was the senior official in attendance."Today marks another pivotal


08 Jun 2022

US Senator Murkowski Receives Maritime Leadership Award

Sen. Murkowski receives Maritime Leadership Award from Shipbuilders Council of America president Matthew Paxton and Chairman of the SCA, Ben Bordelon (Photo: SCA)

The Shipbuilders Council of America (SCA), the national association representing the U.S. shipbuilding, maintenance and repair industry, on Wednesday presented U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) with the SCA Maritime Leadership Award at its 2022 annual meeting.The award is given each year to national leaders or elected officials who demonstrate exemplary dedication and support for the nearly 400,000 men and women who serve in America’s shipyards and throughout the domestic industrial base.“Throughout her time in public office, Sen.

23 Feb 2022

Running on Hydrogen – Can it Work?

© magann / Adobe Stock

Hydrogen as fuel was in the spotlight during the last two weeks. The Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on February 10 looking at H challenges in the transportation, utility, industrial, commercial, and residential sectors.A week later, the US House Committee on Science, Space, & Technology held a hearing titled "H2Success: Research and Development to Advance a Clean Hydrogen Future."Also, of note, the US Department of Energy published two hydrogen RFIs - "requests for information." One on "Clean Hydrogen Manufacturing


02 Feb 2022

Passenger Vessel Sector Faces Winding Path Back to ‘Normal’

Washington State Ferries’ first new hybrid-electric ferry, which will be an Olympic-class vessel similar in design to Suquamish (pictured), will be named Wishkah and is scheduled to enter service in 2025. (Photo: WSF)

The year just ended, 2021, might be described as being about “trying to get back to normal”, across the entire transportation spectrum, two years into the pandemic. During this time, the decarbonization and electrification waves have swept across maritime passenger transport. The passenger side of the business is dependent on multiple funding sources; increasingly, this money will be driven by environmental and social considerations.The long-awaited funding of “infrastructure”-related projects


02 Aug 2019

NOIA Weighs in on The COASTAL Act

National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) Vice President for Government and Political Affairs Tim Charters

National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) Vice President for Government and Political Affairs Tim Charters issued the following statement after the introduction of the Conservation of America’s Shoreline Terrain and Aquatic Life (COASTAL) Act:“It is vital that American offshore energy production promote equity for the states immediately adjacent to these offshore areas. By amending GOMESA and establishing a revenue sharing program for Alaska, the COASTAL Act will ensure that these states receive continued benefits from their participation in offshore energy production


02 May 2019

U.S. Dredgers Applaud President for Jones Act Support

Wednesday, 1 May: Late this afternoon, President Donald Trump met with Congressional leaders from the Senate and House to discuss U.S. Maritime Policy. On the table was the Jones Act. President Trump assured the Congressional leaders that he is not seeking any changes to the Jones Act, nor is he seeking any waivers.“President Trump had the Jones Act matters all under control from the get-go”, said William P. Doyle, CEO & Executive Director of the Dredging Contractors of America. “Mr. Trump is all about jobs and national security — he’s never wavered on this.

17 Jan 2019

Bill to Honor U.S. Merchant Mariners of WWII Introduced

Rep. John Garamendi introduced House Resolution 550, aka the Merchant Mariners of World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act, in Congress Tuesday.The bill aims to award a Congressional Gold Medal to merchant mariners who served in World War II. The Gold Medal is one of the highest honors awarded in the United States.“Throughout the Second World War, our armed forces relied on the Merchant Marine to ferry supplies, cargo and personnel into both theaters of operation, and they paid a heavy price in service to their country,” said Garamendi.“The Merchant Marine suffered the highest per capita casualty rate in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II. An estimated 8,300 mariners lost their lives, and another 12,000 were wounded, to make sure our servicemembers could keep fighting.

30 Jan 2018

Alaska Requests Limits on US Offshore Drilling

© eqroy / Adobe Stock

Alaska Governor Bill Walker said on Tuesday he has asked U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to pare back a Trump administration plan for oil and gas leasing off the state's coast. While Walker supports offshore oil development, he said the Interior Department should focus on the most prospective areas off Alaska – the Beaufort and Chukchi seas in the Arctic and Cook Inlet in southern Alaska – and drop all others from the leasing plan. In asking for proposed lease sales to be dropped


20 Dec 2017

Fight over Alaska Arctic Drilling has Just Begun

A coastal plain within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Photo: USFWS)

Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, won a decades-long battle on Wednesday to open part of an Arctic wildlife reserve in her state to oil and gas drilling, but Democratic senators and conservationists vow the war has only begun. The tax bill passed by Congress contains language pushed by Murkowski and supported by President Donald Trump to hold two lease sales in the 1.5 million-acre (600,000-hectare) 1002 area on the northern coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR.

09 Nov 2017

Arctic Oil Expansion Panned by Scientists

Image: © Nightman1965/Adobe Stock

A group of 37 U.S.-based scientists whose research focuses on Arctic wildlife asked two U.S. senators in a letter on Thursday not to open the National Arctic Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration, according to a copy seen by Reuters. The scientists, including several retired former officials from the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, said in a letter to Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Senator Maria Cantwell


21 Dec 2016

Arctic Drilling Ban Gives Canada Leg Up -US Lawmakers

© ggw / Adobe Stock

U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday slammed an agreement made with Canada to ban offshore Arctic drilling, saying Ottawa's plan to review its ban every five years gives Canada a leg up on energy exploration. U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced a ban on new oil and gas drilling federal waters in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, while Canada instituted a similar ban in its Arctic waters. Unlike the United States, where the ban is indefinite, Canada said it will review its restrictions every five years.

27 May 2016

SCA Applauds Funding for New US Ships

The Senate Appropriations Committee this week acknowledged calls for increasing the Navy’s ship count, funding the construction of 10 new ships, as well as providing the U.S. Coast Guard funding for the acquisition of six total new ships. The Defense and Homeland Security appropriations markups come on the heels of last week’s Sea-Air-Space Exhibition, where leaders of the maritime industry called for the restoration of a 350-ship Navy and a cohesive national maritime strategy that supports the vibrant U.S. shipyard industrial base. “There has never been a more critical time to support the men and women of our armed forces as they face daily threats from international aggressors,” said Matthew Paxton, President of the Shipbuilders Council of America (SCA).

11 Feb 2016

Vessel Discharge Amendment Push Continues

Craig Montesano (Photo: AWO

The American Waterways Operators (AWO) is continuing an intensive lobbying campaign to bring the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (VIDA) to a vote in the Senate and working with the American Maritime Partnership to strenuously oppose an anti-Jones Act amendment filed by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). On Februaty 1, Sens. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Shelly Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Robert Casey (D-Pa.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), filed VIDA as an amendment to S.2012, the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015.

10 Feb 2016

U.S. Okays ConocoPhillips LNG Exports

The U.S. Department of Energy has renewed authorization for liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from the North Kenai ConocoPhillips facility, reports Reuters. The approval is to export about 40 billion cubic feet of natural gas from its Kenai LNG export terminal in Alaska over the next two years starting Feb. 19. U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski applauded the decision. Over the last year she has been urging Department of Energy officials to support ways to commercialize Alaska’s natural gas reserves like the current Conoco facility as well as the Alaska LNG project. The Kenai facility was the first LNG export facility in the United States. Most of the gas exports from Kenai have gone to Japan since the plant entered service in 1969.

27 Jan 2016

U.S. Senate Starts Debate on Broad Energy Bill

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday began debate on the country's first major energy bill in over eight years, featuring measures aimed at protecting the electric power grid against cyber attacks and speeding the export of liquefied natural gas. Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican chair of the Senate energy committee and Washington Senator Maria Cantwell, its ranking Democrat, urged lawmakers not to thwart passage of the bipartisan bill, which cleared their panel in an 18-4 vote. A handful of senators were preparing to file amendments to the bill later on Wednesday, to address more contentious energy issues. These were expected to include a measure to repeal a moratorium on coal development on federal land introduced this month by the Interior Department. "Let's show the Senate can work.

21 Jan 2016

US Coast Guard Moves Forward on New Icebreakers

USCG photo by Rob Rothway

The U.S. Coast Guard released a proposed acquisition timeline and requirements for two new heavy U.S. icebreakers that could cost $1 billion each and said it would meet with interested companies during an industry day in March. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Paul Zukunft told an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies that notice was intended to get information from companies about their ability to build and develop icebreakers that would be in use for 40 years and to explore options such as leasing.

22 Oct 2015

Senator Urges Obama Admin to Detail Oil Swaps with Mexico

Senator Lisa Murkowski

One of the U.S. Senate's top advocates for lifting the ban on domestic crude exports urged the Commerce Department on Thursday to disclose whether any oil swaps with Mexico have actually been finalized after the agency approved the transactions in August. Administration officials told Reuters in August that the Commerce Department was "acting favorably on a number of applications" to export U.S. crude in exchange for imported oil from Mexico, in a step seen as loosening the ban on most crude oil exports.

10 Sep 2015

US House Panel Passes Bill to Repeal Oil Export Ban

A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee passed a bill on Thursday to repeal the U.S. ban on oil exports, providing momentum in the chamber for overturning the 40-year old trade restriction. The House Energy and Power subcommittee passed the bill by a voice count. The legislation, sponsored by Republican Representative Joe Barton of Texas, is expected to be voted on by the full Energy and Commerce committee next week. Passage by the full panel would set it up for a wider vote by the Republican-led House, where it is expected to pass. The measure, however, still faces an uphill battle in the U.S. Senate. Barton said the energy landscape has changed since 1975 and repealing the ban would provide jobs and help allies diversify their oil supplies.

01 Sep 2015

Oil Exports Could Push US Gasoline Prices Lower

The price of U.S. gasoline could fall if Washington were to allow crude oil exports, an independent government report on Tuesday concluded, adding political firepower for those who want to change the law to expand such trade. Exports would put more crude on global markets and push down prices for international Brent oil "which in turn results in lower petroleum product prices for U.S. consumers," according to the report by the Energy Information Administration, entitled "Effects of Removing Restrictions on U.S. Crude Oil Exports. The United States has severely limited oil exports since the early 1970s in the wake of the Arab oil embargo. The Obama administration has taken steps to increase exports of minimally-processed light oil called condensate and allow crude swaps with Mexico.

11 Aug 2015

Seminar to Address Safety in the Arctic

North American Marine Environment Protection Association (NAMEPA) is set to present “Safety in the Arctic”, a seminar addressing topics of preparedness, prevention and protection specific to the Arctic waters. The event will take place at the Hotel Captain Cook on August 13, 2015 in Anchorage, Alaska. "On the eve of offshore drilling in the Arctic, NAMEPA is gathering the experts in the field to outline the safety measures being deployed in this effort to protect the marine environment," stated Clay Maitland, founding chairman of NAMEPA. In addition to Maitland, other scheduled speakers include U.S. Senator (Alaska) Lisa Murkowski; Rear Adm. Dan Abel, Commander D17-U.S. Coast Guard; Mead Treadwell, Pt Capital; Kara Moriarty, AOGA; C.

30 Jul 2015

US Senate Energy Panel Votes to Lift Oil Export Ban

The U.S. Senate Energy Committee on Thursday passed a bill that would lift a decades-old ban on the export of crude oil. The 22-member panel passed the bill to allow the United States to export oil and boost state revenue-sharing for offshore oil and gas drilling by a vote of 12-10. Senate Energy Committee chair Lisa Murkowski, a Republican senator from Alaska, has been a long-time advocate for lifting the ban, which she said was outdated due to the rise of the United States as an energy power. In addition to unlocking crude oil exports, the bill would also speed up exports of liquefied natural gas and ensure that states that have offshore oil and gas development get their share of federal revenues. The bill will move to the Senate floor for wider debate later this summer.

09 Jul 2015

US Crude Export Would Help Europe -Czech Republic

Lifting the U.S. ban on oil exports would bolster energy security in Europe by allowing countries to find alternative sources, the Czech Republic ambassador to the United States told lawmakers considering a bill to do away with the trade restriction. "The larger the number of stable democracies among the world's exporters, the more robust the energy security of the Czech Republic and the European Union will be," Petr Gandalovic, the ambassador told the panel the House subcommittee on Energy and Power on Thursday. The country has worked to reduce its dependence on oil and gas from Russia, the top energy supplier to many Eastern European countries. A recently built oil pipeline connects the Czech Republic to the Italian port of Trieste via Germany.