According to The Hill, Alaska's Sen. Lisa Murkowski is adding four new staffers -- two of them Alaskans -- to the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee, which she serves as the top Republican member.
The two Alaskans Murkowski picked are former Romney-Ryan speechwriter Brian Hughes, and Kate Williams. Williams most recently worked for the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, but she previously worked in the senate as legislative director and chief counsel to the late Sen. Ted Stevens.
Murkowski's other selections are Lucy Murfitt, an energy and environment expert to retiring Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), and Ron Faibish of the Energy Department's Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago.
According to The Hill, Williams is set to handle oil-and-gas policy while Murfitt will work on Bureau of Land Management matters, Faibish will be coming to the panel as a fellow and Hughes will work on vehicle policy and alternative and bio fuels.
The Energy and Natural Resource Committee, chaired by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D- N.M.), considers and oversees some of the most fundamental and important energy and natural resources legislation considered by the U.S. Congress.