A Message From the Folks Who Live There

“It’s About Jobs”:
Ice Road Trucker & Fellow Alaskans Testify on Need to Unlock American Energy in Alaska

Posted [on SotH website] by Katie Boyd on September 21, 2011

Opening up resource-rich areas of Alaska to new energy exploration and production will create jobs, ensure the continued flow of energy to the lower 48 states, and promote America’s energy security. That was the message shared by Alaskans today at a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on the government’s refusal to unlock more American energy production in that state. Boosting American energy production to address high gas prices and help create jobs has been a key plank of the GOP’s plan for jobs and the focus of our American Energy Initiative. Here are some of the highlights from today’s hearing:

“Development of ANWR Would in Turn Create Tens of Thousands of Jobs.” Fenton Okomailak Rexford, Tribal Administrator for the Native Village of Kaktovik and a member of the Kaktovik City Council: “[D]evelopment of ANWR would result in thousands of new contracts, all across the U.S., for materials and services. … The additional expenditures related to development of ANWR would in turn create tens of thousands of jobs, many of which could put unemployed Americans back to work in manufacturing facilities, the construction business, and other industries.” (Testimony, 9/21/11)

“Inaction Trumps Common Sense and Legitimate Need” for Jobs. Tim Sharp, Business Manager of the Alaska District Council of Laborers: “We seem to be caught up in contemplating our navel on process, permitting and politics at a time when it is obvious to most that we have oil in Alaska, development would generate thousands of needed jobs, and the leverage and impact the foreign producers could have on us would lessen. Instead, inaction trumps common sense and legitimate need. … I am addressing today the need for political action to offset our dwindling energy reserves in the next five to ten years but equally important the need for jobs today. ” (Testimony, 9/21/11)