Murkowski: WH delivering ‘double, triple, quadruple whammy’ to Alaska oil

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) railed against the administration on Monday, calling a coming move to restrict drilling in regions off Alaska’s coast a “triple gut-punch” to the state.

Murkowski said she was told during a meeting with an Interior Department official last week that “the administration intends to lay out a five-year lease sale plan, which will take additional offshore areas and put them into withdrawal.” 

Murkowski couldn’t specify which areas would be excluded from the 2017-2022 offshore lease plan, which determines where companies will be able to drill for oil and gas across the Outer Continental Shelf.

She expects offshore areas along Alaska’s coast to be blocked from the sales and expressed anger over the fact that Interior Secretary Sally Jewell hadn’t reached out to her personally. 

“What is happening is this double, triple, quadruple whammy,” Murkowski said. “Boom, boom, boom, forget it Alaska; lock it up, lock it up.” 

The heads-up on the auction plan comes as the administration also unveiled actions to protect the entire Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, enraging Murkowski and fellow Republicans. 

Murkowski said the multiple announcements felt like the administration was simply saying, “we are going to kick you while you are down, and kick you again, and kick you one more time.”

“You just don’t give a rip about Alaska when you just don’t think about us at all,” Murkowski said. 

She was told an announcement on the lease sales would come as early as Tuesday.