Skip to main content

Scalise Receives 'Thank You' Letter from Gov. Sarah Palin

September 11, 2008

Washington, DC -- Congressman Steve Scalise recently received a letter of thanks from Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. During the American Energy Tour: Part I, Scalise and nine other members of Congress met and had dinner with Gov. Palin to discuss energy issues.

On the American Energy Tour: Part I, Scalise and the Congressional Delegation visited the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), the TransAlaska Pipeline, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab in Colorado. The American Energy Tour reflects the “all of the above” energy plan promoted by House Republicans to combat high gas prices – a plan that increases production and supply of American energy, encourages more conservation and efficiency, and promotes the use of alternative fuels. The “all of the above” strategy is aimed to reduce dependence on Middle Eastern oil and lower gas prices at the pump.

“During dinner, Gov. Palin and I had the opportunity to discuss the importance of a strong national energy policy, and also discussed the major ethics reforms both of our states enacted during the last year,” Scalise said. “Gov. Palin and I see eye to eye on increasing America’s supply of oil and natural gas. We come from two of the largest energy producing states, and we both understand the need to increase the supply of American-made energy to reduce our addiction to Middle Eastern oil and lower gas prices at the pump. We can also attest that oil and natural gas development can peacefully coexist in an environmentally safe way with our natural habitat.”

Below is the text of Gov. Sarah Palin’s letter.

The Honorable Steve Scalise
1205 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Representative Scalise:

My staff and I very much enjoyed our dinner with you Saturday night in Fairbanks. Thank you for allowing us to join you.

Please be assured that I will do everything within my power as Governor to facilitate the construction of a pipeline to bring natural gas to markets in the lower 48 states. We in Alaska are very much aware that this project is an essential component of national energy policy, not to mention its importance to our state as well.

I appreciate your support for environmentally responsible oil and gas development in a small portion of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Simply stated, the coastal plain is the most promising unexplored petroleum province in North America. As such, the coastal plain has the potential to produce a million barrels per day.

Concerning related issues, I urge you to oppose the so-called Alaska provisions in the Democrats’ energy legislation considered by the House last week. In our opinion, most of these provisions are more rhetorical then real. In other words, their enactment would contribute little to the domestic production of oil and gas and might possibly lead some Americans into a false sense of security.

In particular, the NPR-A provisions would do little to accelerate the BLM’s existing program of exploration and leasing there. To the extent that there are obstacles to oil and gas development in NPR-A, they arise primarily from the frequent litigation brought by certain interest groups and not form defects in administrative implementation.

Similarly, not much is new in the provisions relating to a natural gas pipeline. The federal pipeline coordinator was vested with most of these responsibilities in legislation enacted in 2005. Bringing in the President and expanding somewhat on the scope of coordination might help marginally but is not much of a substantive change.

Other provisions relating solely to Alaska or to the nation generally present similar problems of redundancy or conflict with existing law. But, in the interest of brevity, I will not dwell upon them here.

In closing, I want to say how nice it was to meet you, and I hope that your brief visit to Alaska will not be your last. We in Alaska look forward to a productive dialogue with you on energy issues that affect my state and the nation. In this regard, Alaskans are acutely aware of the vast quantities of oil, natural gas, and minerals that are located here, and we are ready and willing to provide these resources to our nation, which needs them so badly as this critical time.


Sincerely,

Sarah Palin
Governor

###

Contact: Luke Bolar
202-226-4309