Source: United States Senator for Alaska Lisa Murkowski
05.20.22
U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) led a group of her Senate Republican colleagues in a press conference this week to discuss the recent record-high gas prices across the country and call out the Biden administration for their failed energy policies.
“I come from a state where we are an energy producer. But we pay some of the highest energy costs in the country, and right now our gas prices are the sixth highest in the country. Statewide, regular gas has increased by more than 52 percent over last year. As of yesterday, Alaska’s statewide average was $5 a gallon. This is the highest ever average in our state. We’re used to somewhat high prices but when it’s on average, over $5 dollars in places like Anchorage and Fairbanks, think about what that means to our rural communities. Over 80 percent of our communities are not connected by road, so fuel comes in by barge and fuel comes in by air. At Fort Yukon, the Yukon River, gas is $7.25 a gallon. Up in Noatak, just above the Arctic Circle, it’s a stunning $11 a gallon. And so think about what that means—it’s not just what you’re paying when you fill up your car, it’s everything else that’s associated with it.
“Right now, we have an administration whose plan is to blame anybody but them and their policies. They are quick to put it all on Putin. Yes, there is a war. Yes, we recognize that, but these price increases started long before Putin crossed into Ukraine. This is not something where you can just blame big oil and go after price gouging. This is not something where you can attack others when it is failed policies that this administration has put in place. It really comes down to basic supply and demand and we know that supply matters and domestic supply matters. If we’re not learning anything from Ukraine and Russia and what we’re seeing in Eastern Europe, domestic supply matters.
“So, the Biden administration needs to reverse its anti-supply actions, it needs to take its bad ideas off the table, it needs to restart approving crucial projects that deliver greater supply.”
Click here to watch Senator Murkowski’s remarks.
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Click here to watch the full press conference, which included: Senators Lisa Murkowski, John Barrasso, John Kennedy, Ted Cruz, Senator Joni Ernst, Steve Daines, James Lankford, John Hoeven, Shelley Moore Capito, John Boozman, and Cindy Hyde-Smith.