Politics

Murkowski leads colleagues on whirlwind tour of Arctic nations

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Lisa Murkowski headed out on a whirlwind trip of Arctic nations late Thursday, leading a fact-finding trip with two fellow lawmakers.

Murkowski, along with Sens. John Barrasso R-Wyoming, and Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, is heading to Reykjavik, Iceland; Svalbard, Norway; and Thule, Greenland, before heading to Alaska, where the three will stop in Barrow and Fairbanks.

Murkowski, the Senate energy committee chair said she wants to "demonstrate to my colleagues, neither of whom are from Arctic places, but who have an appreciation of energy and our resources ... what some of the challenges are in the Arctic, as well as some of the opportunities that we have."

And "I also want them to see how in the United States we're leading in so many different areas," Murkowski said.

The trip was born out of plans to bring Barrasso, who hails from a fossil-fuel-heavy state, to an Arctic energy conference in Fairbanks that begins Monday.

"And then we thought, you know what, instead of just going to Fairbanks for the energy conference, let's use this as an opportunity to showcase some of the other Arctic energy innovations" out there, Murkowski said in an interview.

Iceland relies on almost 100 percent renewable power, aside from transportation fuels, Murkowski said.

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"And so for letting colleagues know what more we can do in that realm, Iceland is a good stop," Murkowski said, noting she has visited the country several times.

But "I've not been to Svalbard," she said.

The Norwegian archipelago is home to premier Arctic research, Murkowski said.

Later, "we pop over the [North] pole, go to Barrow and go to several of the research facilities there," she said.

"I wish that we had more time in Alaska, but we don't. We've got to get back here for votes on Monday night," Murkowski said, noting that still, "it's a pretty impressive schedule.

"It's a good thing that the time zones actually allow us to gain time, because I don't think we're sleeping for like three days. It works on paper," she said.

Erica Martinson

Erica Martinson is Alaska Dispatch News' Washington, DC reporter, and she covers the legislation, regulation and litigation that impact the Last Frontier.  Erica came to ADN after years as a reporter covering energy at POLITICO. Before that, she covered environmental policy at a DC trade publication and worked at several New York dailies.

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