Begich Calls Democrats’ annual call to create more wilderness “short-sighted and predictable”

Permanently banning responsible development of the enormous energy resources beneath Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) takes billions of dollars out of the economy, costs Americans sorely-needed jobs and contributes to higher prices to heat their homes and gas up their cars, says U.S. Sen. Mark Begich. “This annual short-sighted and predictable effort to lock up the Arctic Refuge may score some points from environmental groups but does nothing to create jobs for unemployed Americans or assure a steady source of affordable energy for American families,” Begich said. “Instead of erecting a stop sign to responsible energy development, we should be green-lighting more domestic energy production and the thousands of jobs for Americans it creates.” Begich’s comments are in reaction to a letter organized Tuesday by two congressional Democrats urging Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to forever ban oil and gas development in ANWR by designating the most promising section of oil and gas as wilderness. Only 14 senators signed the letter authored by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) who annually tries to drum up support for wilderness in ANWR...more