KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
Alaska Rep. Don Young wore a propeller beanie to a Congressional hearing this week.
Alaska Congressman Don Young gave Interior Secretary Ken Salazar a piece of his mind on the Obama Administration’s energy policy Wednesday. Young tried to drive his point home by showing up late into the hearing wearing a beanie on his head. It was topped by a propeller, and sported a pin that said "Obama’s Energy Plan."
— (House 1 :09 sec "As you see my hat … because there is no energy program.")
Young said he’s concerned about how seriously the Obama Administration will weigh public input on the future of ANWR, because he’s worried it could sway them against development. Tuesday marked the end of the public comment period on a management plan for the Arctic Refuge. It includes a recommendation that the Coastal Plain be designated as wilderness. The environmental group Alaska Wilderness League says more than 850-thousand people submitted comments to U-S Fish and Wildlife Service asking that it be off limits from oil and gas drilling. And Young says those should not weigh as heavily as the comments of pro-drilling ALASKANS.
— (House 2 :07 sec "What bothers me… coastal plain.")
Young said he suspects the signatures go with form letters.
— (House 3 :31 sec "This is a million signatures.. set of circumstances that need to be considered.")
Secretary Salazar repeated his position that drilling in the Arctic Refuge is, in his words, "not appropriate."
Salazar was at the committee meeting to talk about the Obama Administration’s oil and gas plan. Yesterday (Weds) the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced it has the information it needs to begin reviewing Shell’s plan to drill up to three wells per year in the Chukchi Sea beginning next summer. The company already has conditional approval for a similar plan in the Beaufort Sea.
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