Jewell, Murkowski face off in high-stakes budget hearing

Republican senators delivered a full-throated attack this morning against the Obama administration's energy and natural resources policies, accusing the Interior Department of ignoring Alaskans, Gulf Coast residents and the goal of the U.S. attaining energy independence. The hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee marked the first of a handful of trips Interior Secretary Sally Jewell will make to Capitol Hill in the coming months to defend the agency's $13.2 billion budget before a hostile, GOP-controlled Congress. This morning was no exception, as Jewell faced Republican fire on a laundry list of Obama policy initiatives, including Bureau of Land Management efforts to regulate hydraulic fracturing and the venting and flaring of natural gas; the Fish and Wildlife Service's pending decision on whether the greater sage grouse deserves protections under the Endangered Species Act; and the National Park Service's work to award contracts to run park lodges, campgrounds and other visitor services. Murkowski's attack was among the most pointed -- and poignant given her outsize influence over Interior as chairwoman of the panel that writes the agency's annual budget. "I don't want to make this personal, but the decisions from Interior have lacked balance," Murkowski said in her opening statement. "You're depriving us of jobs, revenue, security and prosperity." Western lawmakers should be on alert for land restrictions in their own states, Murkowski said. "I think what we're seeing in Alaska is a warning for those in the West," Murkowski said. Western lawmakers should be on alert for land restrictions in their own states, Murkowski said...more