2008 Alaska Senate Debate: on Energy & Oil

Mark Begich: Short term: $2.5B for LIHEAP; 70M bbl from strategic reserve

Begich said he sent letters to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, urging them to join in a bipartisan effort to tackle both short-term relief & long-term solutions in a national energy package to give help and hope to America’s working families. Begich said the skyrocketing cost of home heating fuel prices “is crippling many communities & stretching pocketbooks,” and hospitals, schools and businesses are making tough budget decisions to cover record electricity bills. In his letter, Begich asked Senate leaders to:

add an extra $2.5 billion in funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program;
clamp down on oil market speculators and price gouging by producers and distributors;
release 70 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve;
double tax credits for energy-efficiency home improvements and allow employers to create pre-tax flexible spending accounts for transportation costs.

Source: 2008 Alaska Senate Debate reported in Fairbanks News-Miner Sep 9, 2008

Mark Begich: Long term: develop ANWR; build renewable energy plants

Congress must put aside partisan politics and implement a national energy package, Begich said in a letter to Senate leaders. In his letter, Begich wrote that American families need immediate bipartisan action from Congress and the president to bring short-term relief from high energy prices. As for long-term solutions, Begich urged Senate leaders to:

open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to responsible oil and gas development;
accelerate the sale of leases in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska;
provide incentives for oil and gas federal lease holders to develop quickly and supply the Alaska natural gas line;
create an loan fund to retrofit public buildings for energy efficiency;
offer low-interest loans to public utilities for transition to more efficient and renewable power generation;
build vocational education programs that train workers to construct, operate and maintain renewable energy generation plants and transmission systems.

Source: 2008 Alaska Senate Debate reported in Fairbanks News-Miner Sep 9, 2008

The above quotations are from 2008 Alaska Senate Debate between Mayor Mark Begich & Sen. Ted Stevens. Click here for definitions & background information on Energy & Oil. Click here for other issues (main summary page). Click here for more quotes by Mark Begich on Energy & Oil. Click here for more quotes by Ted Stevens on Energy & Oil.
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