• Won Senate Approval for Opening ANWR as part of Budget Process Twice, in 2005 and 2007 (Unfortunately the implementing bills did not pass)
• Southwest Alaska Geothermal Project – $5.3 Million (2009)
• $1.5 million grant for Chena Hot Springs Energy to build the first mobile geothermal turbine, a project finished in the summer of 2009.
• Enactment of the Amchitka Nuclear Workers Compensation Aid Act (2004) – allowed compensation for workers who participated in nuclear tests in the Aleutians between 1965-1971.
• Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Juneau — $308,000 to expand vocational training including distance learning (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.
• Won first federal outer continental shelf revenue sharing for Alaska. PL 109-58. Passed 2005.

• Reauthorized trans-Alaska oil pipeline. Passed 2003.
• 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.
• 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)
• 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.)

• Sponsored and succeeded in passing a series of provisions to make a pending Renewable Electricity Standard less economically painful and more beneficial for Alaskans. The senator won provisions that will permit Alaska utilities that generate renewable energy, even though Alaska is not connected to the interstate transmission grid, to sell credits equal to the power they produce from renewable sources, to utilities in the Lower 48. The credits may help them to afford to pay off financing charges for installation of renewable projects (Amdt. 09844, Section 131). The Senator also won amendments that will allow Alaska Native corporations to qualify (Amdt. 09307) along with tribes to gain extra (double) credits from the generation of renewable energy, which may help to finance renewable projects in rural areas. (2009)
• Won an amendment to provide credits for the installation of additional forms of hydroelectric power, including lake-taps of any size, small hydro projects defined as projects up to 50 megawatts in size (compared to the current 5 megawatts in existing federal law), and pumped storage projects (Amdt. 09994). The RES standard, as adopted by the committee, should also permit homeowners, firms or businesses that generate renewable energy in excess of their needs – distributive energy – to gain triple credits to sell to utilities elsewhere to help fund renewable energy projects. (2009)
• Secured FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) funding for the reconstruction of the Humpback Creek Hydroelectric Project for Cordova Electric Cooperative (destroyed in 2006).
• 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.)

• Created the Renewable Energy Deployment Grant and Geothermal Grant program. Passed 2005, a program that creates a 50 percent match for renewable energy projects For geothermal projects in high cost areas
• Reauthorized methane hydrate research. Passed 2005 and 2007.
• Alaska Pipeline Coordinator Office Operations – $4.66 Million (2009)
• University of Alaska, Fairbanks – Extended Continental Shelf Mapping – $300,000 (2009, FY10 Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Bill)
• 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).
• 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).
  • Sponsored a bill (S. 923/S. 922) and won its inclusion as an amendment to the American Clean Energy Leadership Act that will provide new federal aid for an expansion of marine/hydrokinetic energy projects, tapping the tides, currents and waves of the ocean and in rivers to generate electricity (2009).
  • 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).
  • Won an amendment to the American Clean Energy Leadership Act to authorize a $90 million federal grant program to fund construction of repositories for surface rock samples, oil and gas well core drilling samples, well logs, micropaleontology samples, well cuttings and geochemical samples – all vital to further scientific understanding of soils—to jumpstart federal efforts to save the geologic information that is increasingly vital for oil and gas and geothermal and carbon capture and storage projects in the future (2009).
  • Succeeded in reauthorizing the National Geologic Mapping Act. The act overseas the government’s creation of maps vital for natural resource development nationwide and is of special importance to Alaska (PL 111-11, 2009).
  • Renewable Energy Tax Credits/Alaska Energy Aid: Secured an extension for three years of the Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit through 2012 for wind and to 2013 for most other technologies, the ability for renewable energy developers to take a 30 percent investment tax credit instead of the Production Tax Credit over a 10-year period, a removal of limits on energy credits so that people can claim a 30 percent tax credit for qualified small wind, geothermal heat pump and solar water heating devices regardless of cost, and a new authorization to permit another $1.6 billion of Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs) to be issued by states and local governments to provide tax-free bonds to pay for renewable energy projects.
  • Secured $26 million for Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block grants, $18.1 million for weatherization, and $28.56 million for the state’s energy program in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (PL111-5, 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.
  • Authored and won improvements in the Gas Pipeline Coordinator’s Office to allow for quicker staff hiring, expedited judicial review, and fee assessments to pay for permitting processes (PL 110-140, 2007).
  • Sponsored and won first OCS Revenue Sharing Program for Alaska as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (PL 109-58).  . The money must be used for projects and activities for the conservation, protection or restoration of coastal areas, including wetlands, for fishery projects, wildlife or natural resources, planning assistance and the administration costs of comprehensive conservation management plants, or the mitigation of the impact of the OCS activities through funding of onshore infrastructure projects and public service needs.
  • Sponsored provisions in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (PL 109-58):

1.    NPRA oil leasing: Allowed leases to be extended for 10-years;

2.    North Slope Science Initiative to improve scientific research in northern Alaska.

3.    Offshore Royalty Suspension: Allowed the Secretary of Interior to suspend or reduce federal royalty payments in OCS waters in Alaska, if needed, to encourage energy production.

4.    Gas Hydrate Research and Assistance: continued research into methane hydrates, increased authorized funding that resulted in a test well being drilled at Prudhoe Bay in 2007.

5.    Rural Energy Aid: authorized $550 million over a decade for rural energy development via the Denali Commission.

6.    Indian Energy Assistance authorized aid to develop rural energy projects

7.    Renewable Energy Aid authorized several billion dollars for research and grants for wind, solar, biomass and geothermal energy projects

8.    Alaska Natural Gas Line Report to require a DOE report each six months to spur development of an Alaska gas pipeline.

9.    Alaska hydropower to improve 2000 legislation that allows the state’s Regulatory Commission of Alaska to take over permitting of small hydroelectric projects in the state (under 5 megawatts) – so far not implemented by Alaska.

10.  Alaska Science Provisions to authorize an Arctic Engineering Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks ($3 million a year for six years) and the Barrow Geophysical Research Facility

11.  Reauthorized Oil Spill Recovery Institute (OSRI) located in Prince William Sound, allowing it to receive federal funding from oil spill account interest as long as oil development continues in Alaska.

• 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.
• Reynolds Creek Hydroelectric License Extension (passed 2006, PL 109-297) to give developers more time to proceed with construction of the 5 megawatt hydroelectric project located near Hydaburg on Prince of Wales Island (construction scheduled to begin next year).
• Authored and won passage Amchitka Nuclear Workers Compensation Aid and pushed for final regulations to expand and improve provisions of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Act for Alaskans affected by nuclear tests at Amchitka Island (2004).
• Provided $2 million for partial payment for the Juneau to Hoonah/Greens Creek Intertie in the FY04 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, and $500,000 for the Petersburg to Kake intertie line (2003, PL 108-137).

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