Lisa 4 U.S. Senate
Accomplishments – Business
- Won Senate Approval for Opening ANWR as part of Budget Process Twice, in 2005 and 2007 (Unfortunately the implementing bills did not pass)
- Convinced the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to finalize a wetland permit for Kensington Gold Mine, allowing the project to advance to final construction; expected to create more than 300 jobs (2009).
- Raised the federal loan guarantee for a gas pipeline to $30 billion plus inflation from the 2004 cap of $18 billion—increasing the likelihood that financing can be obtained for the Alaska natural gas pipeline. (2009)
- University of Alaska Ketchikan, Small Business Development center – $350,000 (2009)
- Protected permits that allowed the opening of the Kensington Mine in Juneau. 2009.
- Increased funding to pay for pre-timber sale layout, planning and road construction in Southeast, Alaska.
- Saved the High Energy Cost Grants Program – $17.5 million (2009, FY10 Agriculture and Rural Development Appropriations Bill) that provides financial assistance for the improvement of energy generation, transmission, and distribution facilities serving eligible rural communities with home energy costs that are over 275 percent of the national average.
- Increased funding to the Northwestern Alaska Career and Technical Center – Nome
- Increased funding to the Joint Pipeline Training Center.
- Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Juneau — $308,000 to expand vocational training including distance learning (2009)
- Won first federal outer continental shelf revenue sharing for Alaska. PL 109-58. Passed 2005.
- Reauthorized trans-Alaska oil pipeline. Passed 2003.
- Sponsored and won inclusion of an amendment to expedite a right-of-way through Denali National Park and Preserve for a “bullet” gas line to Southcentral (2009).
- Secured federal loan guarantees for the Alaska Gas line. Passed 2004. A needed North Slope conditioning plant, and accelerated permitting and judicial review to speed the line’s construction.
- Achieved completion of a 12-acre land exchange from the Forest Service to the City of Coffman Cove for economic development activities (PL 111-11, 2009).
- Increased pipeline loan guarantee to $30 billion and provided access to the federal financing bank, tax breaks in the 2009 energy bill (Passed by the ENR Committee but still pending a floor vote.)
- Created a consolidated permitting office for Alaska to speed up offshore exploration for oil and natural gas in the 2009 energy bill. (Passed by the ENR Committee but still pending a floor vote.)
- Sponsored an amendment approved by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in the American Clean Energy Leadership Act to create a consolidated federal interagency permitting office to speed oil and gas development on the Outer Continental Shelf off Alaska (2009).
- Won approval of legislation to create the Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area to promote tourism on the Peninsula (PL 111-11, 2009).
- Created the Renewable Energy Deployment Grant and Geothermal Grant program(2005) to create a 50 percent federal match for renewable energy projects and to assist geothermal projects in high cost areas.
- Reauthorized methane hydrate research. Passed 2005 and 2007.
- Introduced the Arctic Deep Water Port Act to direct the Secretary of Defense to determine the feasibility of building a deep water port in the Arctic.
- Introduced the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment Implementation Act to direct the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to work with the International Maritime Organization to establish agreements among the US, Russia, Canada, and other Arctic nations to coordinate shipping infrastructure such as navigation aids, icebreaking escort, tug and salvage, oil spill prevention and response, maritime domain awareness, vessel tracking and search and rescue.
- Co-sponsored successful amendments in 2008 and 2009 to create and expand the homebuyer tax credit.
- Sponsored and won approval of an amendment to the American Clean Energy Leadership Act for the Methane Hydrate Research Act Extension to authorize test wells for Alaska’s next most profitable energy resource (2009).
- Revised biomass definition for Timber Development: Won amendment to American Clean Energy Leadership Act in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to change the definition of renewable biomass to allow more wood fiber deemed unsuitable for timber mill use from the Tongass and Chugach National Forests to qualify for use in biofuels and to satisfy a Renewable Electricity Standard. (2009).
- Required the U.S. Forest Service to offer profitable tracts of red cedar timber to Alaska mill operators for sales and that requires that Alaska and West Coast sawmills be given the first right to process the timber in order to keep jobs in the United States (2009).
- Won $2.5 million of additional funding in the FY09 Interior Appropriations bill (PL 111-88) to allow the U.S. Forest Service to prepare several 10-year timber sales in the Tongass National Forest to help the timber industry and mill operators (2009).
- Gas Pipeline Financial/Regulatory Incentives: Won a series of provisions in 2004 (PL 108-324, PL 108-357, and PL 108-199) to to aid Alaska natural gas pipeline construction including: $18 billion loan guarantee, indexed to inflation; accelerated depreciation allowing the builders for tax purposes to depreciate Alaska sections of the line over seven years, instead of 15 for tax purposes, a tax credit for construction of a North Slope gas conditioning plant; : a streamlined permitting process and expedited court review; created an Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline Coordinator’s Office; a ban on a northern route for the line, preventing construction in the Beaufort Sea to reach a MacKenzie Valley route, provisions requiring FERC to protect in-state use of the gas and an authorization for the $20 million worker training program in Alaska with $3 million going for a labor training facility in Fairbanks; provisions to encourage Alaska-hire and US-manufactured steel; and a provision encouraging individual Alaska ownership of a portion of the gas line.
- TAPS Lawsuit Protection Legislation (2003, PL 108-7) guaranteed the TAPS pipeline cannot be forced to shut down because of legal challenges over the pipeline’s 30-year reauthorization renewal.
- Authored and won passage (2004, PL 108-325) of the Craig Land Exchange bill, under which the City of Craig exchanged to Sunnahae property and trail to the Forest Service for prime recreation and hiking trails for the site of the former Wards Cove Packing Company site, a prime location for economic development in Central Prince of Wales Island.
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