Senator Murkowski Seeks, Receives Bodman Support for ANWR

SENATOR MURKOWSKI SEEKS, RECEIVES BODMAN SUPPORT FOR ANWR

Energy designee also supports Alaska natural gas pipeline during confirmation hearing

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski today won assurances from Energy Secretary designee Samuel Bodman that he will do all he can to support allowing oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Mr. Bodman also said he will work to facilitate construction of an Alaska natural gas pipeline project.

During a hearing on his confirmation before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Murkowski asked Bodman, currently the deputy secretary of Commerce, how he feels about oil exploration on the Arctic coastal plain, asking if we would commit to support additional oil development in Alaska.

"As I look through (your) comments, I will stand before you and make the case that ANWR fits neatly within (your desires for a national energy policy). It is what we are looking for when we are seeking increased domestic production in this country, a decreased reliance on foreign sources of oil and an ability to provide for this country in a manner that can be balanced, that can be done in concert with the environment. With the technology that we are using, it can be done right, we just need the permission of Congress to go there. I want your assurance that you and your department will work with us as we try to move forward, as we try to open up ANWR to oil exploration in a responsible manner," said Murkowski.

"ANWR has been part of the energy policy that this administration has proposed and I would expect to be an energetic advocate for it," said Bodman, who as a former professor of engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said he will attempt to educate Americans on how little impact oil development would have on the coastal plain.

"I am an engineer and I tend to think of things in analogies. ANWR is about of the size of South Carolina, and the coastal region that contains the hydrocarbons, is about the size of Delaware. It is a relatively modest - 15 percent of so - of the size of ANWR. And the surface area that will be needed with the new drilling technology to pursue oil would be about the size of Logan Airport in my old home town (of Boston, about 2,000 acres). So it is very small," said Bodman.

He said he supports ANWR oil development because America has the toughest environmental restrictions and thus is the best place for oil development to occur in order to protect the global environment. "I would rather see drilling go on in this country where we have law and the kinds of due process that has been well exercised over the years, and I think it can be done, so I would be very energetic about it," he said.

"I appreciate that short little educational exercise," said Murkowski. "It is important that people understand exactly what we are talking about when we are talking about ANWR and oil exploration and drilling, the size and changes in technology that allow us… to do it responsibly. And if we are true global environmentalists when we ought to want to drill responsibly in an area where we know we are doing it right, where we know we have the environmental safeguards and where we know that balance," said Murkowski, who invited Bodman to visit Alaska and tour Prudhoe Bay and ANWR at his earliest possible convenience.

Murkowski also asked the nominee for his support of construction of an Alaska natural gas pipeline. "This is a great undertaking. We are talking about a 3,500-mile pipeline. We were successful in the last Congress with getting some fiscal incentives at the federal level that will help a great deal. There is still much that needs to be done. I do anticipate the role and the assistance we will be seeking from your department … that we can count on your support, as we move forward with making this project a reality in the short term," she said.

"You certainly have my support Senator for two reasons. One, it is important that it be done…, and secondly, as I understand it, if I am confirmed, I will have some responsibilities specifically for the undertaking of (your) bill. Thus for personal reasons and those that have been legislated, you will have my support," said Bodman, who after leaving MIT, went to Fidelity Venture Associates, where he became president and chief operating officer before working for a Boston chemicals and specialty company, Cabot Corp., before serving in the Commerce Department overseeing NOAA, and other agencies.

Following the hearing, Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said the Senate would likely vote on the nomination Jan. 26.

http://murkowski.senate.gov/pressapp/record.cfm?id=230738