U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today unveiled the broad, bipartisan Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015 with Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. Focused on a wide range of energy-related opportunities and challenges that have arisen over the past eight years, the bill's provisions will help Alaskans produce energy, save energy, pay less for energy, and protect the reliability of their electricity supply -- without raising taxes or adding to the federal deficit.
"This bipartisan bill is the result of months of hard work -- listening sessions, legislative hearings, and bipartisan negotiations. Through it all, I have worked hard to ensure the ideas and concerns brought forward by Alaskans are included in its text," Murkowski said. "Our bill features major provisions that will help us produce more of our world-class mineral base, harness more of our abundant energy resources, support our efforts to invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency, and much more. From hydropower to methane hydrates, and from permitting reforms to new initiatives to tackle high rural energy costs, my bill will provide significant benefits to residents all across our state."
While the result of a bipartisan negotiation, the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015 reflects many of the Alaska-specific priorities that Murkowski, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, laid out at the beginning of the 114th Congress. She and members of the staff from both sides of the Energy Committee collaborated with stakeholders in Alaska on the bill's contents, and held meetings in multiple communities in the state during the May recess.
Among other provisions, the energy bill will protect grid reliability in Alaska, streamline the approval process for projects like the Alaska gasline, and clarify state eligibility for the federal energy loan guarantee program. It will promote the development of hydropower, biomass, methane hydrates, geothermal, marine hydrokinetic, and other resources in Alaska. The bill reauthorizes the federal weatherization and state energy programs, which create jobs and reduce energy costs for local residents, and limits the growth of government by repealing many existing provisions of law that are obsolete or expired.