Alaska Congressman Don Young will have a say in drafting the final version of Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s energy modernization bill. That’s because the U.S. House passed its own energy bill this week, to match the Murkowski bill already passed in the Senate. House leaders then picked Young to serve on the conference committee that will negotiate a compromise between the two bills.
“I’m very happy to be on the conference bill,” Young said. “It is really a big thing because you think Lisa, Sen. Murkowski is going to be the chairman, and I’ll be on the conference. It gives us sort of a double whammy, concerning Alaska.”
There are big differences between the bills. Murkowski’s bill is a mix of priorities from the left and right. It promotes both renewables and fossil fuels. The House bill is more Republican. Young said his top priority will be to ensure the final bill includes his Native American Energy Act. Young said it will allow tribes and Alaska Native corporations to cut red tape so they can produce more energy on their own lands.
“It doesn’t mean there’s going to be any more environmental damage or anything,” Young said. “It’s going to be, in fact, that they don’t have to wait for permits.”
The White House, though, said Young’s bill would undermine environmental protection and set unreasonable regulatory deadlines. It threatened a veto a few months ago, when the House passed it as a stand-alone.
Young said a big point of contention will be the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Murkowski’s energy bill would remove the expiration date of the fund, which was a key selling point for Democrats. The fund uses off-shore oil revenues to protect land, often by buying it. Young said the government already owns too much land, so he sides with House leaders who want to require congressional approval to buy more.
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at lruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Liz here.
