Alaska elected officials have been trying to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for generations. Yet while control of Congress has swung back and forth between the parties, ANWR has remained closed.
Fortunately for Alaskans, ANWR is just one of several massive oil plays on or near the North Slope. The National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, Chukchi Sea, and Beaufort Sea are also thought to have hundreds of millions of barrels of oil. Between 2009 and 2014, something remarkable happened: The federal government opened up exploration to these areas in response to pressure from former Sen. Mark Begich, and these areas could dwarf Prudhoe Bay in oil production.
It is no coincidence that we saw a huge expansion in oil exploration opportunity over the last six years: That is the same time we had a Democratic senator who used his clout to obtain concessions from the Obama administration.
Contrast that to the new Congress: freshman Sen. Dan Sullivan had barely sat down in his basement office before ANWR moved one step closer to wilderness designation. It is ironic that the self-appointed defender of fossil fuels has inadvertently led to a possible reduction in oil development potential.
Every politician is good at making promises, but few of them ever deliver. During the campaign, Sullivan and Sen. Lisa Murkowski promised more energy development. In fact, Sullivan's election has brought about hints of swift and far-reaching reductions in oil development potential in Alaska. Why? Because we no longer have any clout with the federal administration.
Over our relatively brief history as a state, Alaskans have learned some inalterable political realities. Seniority matters. A bipartisan delegation has more clout than one with only one party. It is in our state's interest to have at least one representative who can work with the president.
Unfortunately, nobody in our Congressional delegation has an effective working relationship with the president. They are too busy issuing belligerent press releases, trying to get a headline in Alaska at the expense of achieving real policy reforms. They are practicing the opposite of Teddy Roosevelt's maxim: They speak loudly, but don't carry a big stick.
Consider their reaction to the president's ANWR announcement. Sullivan, Murkowski, and Young railed against Obama's ANWR announcement, but they have no leverage to do anything about it. Too bad they're more focused on headlines than results.
Begich often disagreed with the president, on issues ranging from guns to oil development. But rather than just issue press releases, he worked hard to persuade the administration. As a result, he got the administration to approve new oil exploration in the Chukchi and Beaufort even though the president's national environmental supporters opposed it. Begich got Obama to open tens of thousands of acres in the NPR-A; development that will put tens of thousands of barrels of oil in the pipeline. These are real results, in stark contrast to our Republican delegation's empty rhetoric.
As voters, we should hold our current Congressional delegation to a higher standard. It isn't enough for them to issue angry press releases. They need to learn to be effective. Begich showed that a smart elected official can open massive swaths of federal lands and waters to development. Murkowski, Sullivan and Young should learn from his example. As voters, we shouldn't accept their angry condemnation of Obama as an acceptable substitute for doing their own job.
We also should remember that ANWR isn't the only game in town. Let's make sure NPR-A, the Chukchi, and Beaufort continue moving forward, and support the governor's efforts to boost production on state lands. What matters most is whether we're getting more oil in the pipeline and collecting revenue from it, and to accomplish that goal we need a Congressional delegation that does its job.
Rocky Plotnick is the finance chair of the Alaska Democratic Party and a small business owner in Anchorage.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.