During President Barack Obama’s visit to Alaska, Governor Bill Walker says the most important conversation will be about Alaska’s access to oil and gas.
Gov. Walker: “He has talked about the gas line every single time I’ve talked to him about ways that they can help in that regard of permitting and what not. I’m very concerned about the ANWR issue and I’ll certainly be talking to him about that. About what the 10.02 section would mean to Alaska. The 10.02 section is about 8% of ANWR so it’s a significant opportunity for our future.”
Department of Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and President Obama announced in January their desire to designate the 10.02 area, or the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge’s Coastal Plain, as wilderness. That would prohibit Arctic oil and gas exploration in that area.
The proposed Alaska LNG Project in Nikiski is included in Gov. Walker’s list of items to address.
Gov. Walker: “He had talked when I was in the Oval Office a while ago about another project they did elsewhere, I believe it was in Florida, where the permitting was such that it only took a year to get the permitting. So accelerated permitting process, I’m very interested in that. Time is our biggest challenge in this project as other projects around the world are signing up markets so any way we can expedite this project I’m very interested in that.”
Other topics of interest will include Alaska’s current Medicaid expansion lawsuit, the loss of military troops due to budget cuts, and the state’s roll in the Arctic Council.