Energy Bill Passes Senate

ENERGY BILL PASSES SENATE

Murkowski: "Legislation Long Past Due"

Sen. Lisa Murkowski today issued the following statement on final passage of the energy bill in the U.S. Senate. The bill passed the Senate this afternoon by a vote of 74-26 and now heads to the President for his signature.

"This is legislation that is long past due. It is significant and it has balance. There are good strong conservation and efficiency elements. The renewable side has considerable successes as well. And there is strong encouragement for new production from natural gas to nuclear to oil and coal - measures that will help increase our energy security.

"I want to recognize Sen. Pete Domenici and Congressman Joe Barton who chaired the conference committee. They did a good job of moving forward difficult legislation in an open process.

"And for Alaska, the rural energy provisions are very significant. We will never be able to see true development in rural Alaska without bringing down the high cost of energy. By providing authorization for rural energy projects, we continue moving toward energy independence and reliability throughout the state.

"We need to understand as a country how important this energy policy is to our daily world. We are energy consumers. We are a nation that is dependent upon energy for what we do, for who we are. We are dependent on energy for the strength of our nation.

"After going so long without a specific policy or direction we cannot expect any plan to offer an immediate fix to the problems we face. We have to start somewhere. We have to put in place the procedures, the mechanisms and the things that will work. The policy before us is that starting point."

http://murkowski.senate.gov/pressapp/record.cfm?id=242308