WASHINGTON,
D.C. – U.S. Sen. Lisa
Murkowski, R-Alaska, today expressed support for energy efficiency and vehicle
technology legislation, while suggesting using revenue from increased oil and
gas production to pay for such programs.
“As we look to pay for legislation that comes before us, I
continue to believe that our best path forward is to produce more of our own
abundant resources and use some of the resulting federal revenues to fund
alternatives that reduce consumption,” Murkowski said. “Right now, Alaska alone has about
40 billion barrels of oil that are effectively off limits. By harnessing those
resources, as well as those in the Gulf of Mexico
and the Rocky Mountain West, we’d dramatically increase our energy security,
create thousands of new jobs, and generate tens of billions of dollars that
could be used to reduce our debt and fund alternative energy development.”
Murkowski expressed support for two efficiency bills, the
Reducing Federal Energy Dollars Act and the Energy Savings and Industrial
Competitiveness Act, considered Thursday morning at a hearing of the Senate
Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
“While ‘produce more’ grabs the headlines, we should be
working equally as hard at ‘use less,’” Murkowski said. “Improving the
efficiency of our use of energy is one of the best ways we can reduce our
dependence on foreign supplies and its an integral part of an ‘all-of-the-above
energy policy.”
Murkowski said a review of existing federal policy on
efficiency would help avoid duplication when considering new proposals. Such a
review would also provide an opportunity to consider whether existing programs
were effective or should be repealed and replaced, Murkowski said.
Murkowski also said she opposed a proposal to sell oil from
the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to pay for the provisions of the
Alternative Fuel Vehicles Competitiveness and Energy Security
Act. Murkowski said the proposal would undermine the purpose of the SPR as
a emergency backstop against serious supply disruptions.
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