Lisa 4 U.S. Senate
Accomplishments – Unions
  • Won Senate Approval for Opening ANWR as part of Budget Process Twice, in 2005 and 2007 (Unfortunately the implementing bills did not pass)
  • Increased funding to the Joint Pipeline Training Center.
  • Trade Adjustment Assistance for Agrium Workers in Kenai and Soldotna in 2005 and 2008.  Won Trade Adjustment Assistance in 2005 after the Agrium urea/ammonia plant on the Kenai downsized and further assistance in winter of 2008 after the plant’s final shutdown.
  • Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Juneau — $308,000 to expand vocational training including distance learning (2009)
  • Increased funding to the Northwestern Alaska Career and Technical Center – Nome.
  • Co-sponsored successful amendments in 2008 and 2009 to create and expand the homebuyer tax credit.
  • 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)
  • 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)
  • 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 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 South Central (2009).
  • Alaska ANILCA Local Hire Provision: won an amendment in the Omnibus Public Land Management Act (PL. 111-11) allowing Alaskan employees hired by the National Park Service to win permanent employment and the ability to advance up the Park Service personnel schedule. This means that Alaska residents who work on a part-time or seasonal basis will be allowed to apply for other full-time positions in the Department.
  • Won an amendment to the Interior Appropriation Act for FY 10 (PL 111-88) to require 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).
  • Renewable Energy Deployment Grant/ Geothermal Grant Programs: authored and won two provisions that provide federal matching grants of up to 50% of the cost of designing and constructing all types of renewable energy projects in Alaska from wind, geothermal, ocean (wave, tidal and current), biomass, solar, landfill gas and small hydroelectric projects up to 15 megawatts in size; The second grant focuses aid exclusively on geothermal projects in high-cost areas. Utilities that receive grants must pay Davis-Bacon Act prevailing wages to workers. (PL 110-140, 2007)
  • Gas Pipeline Financial/Regulatory Incentives: Won a series of provisions in 2004 (PL 108-324, PL 108-357, and PL 108-199) 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. 
  • Won approval for Trade Adjustment Assistance for Agrium Workers (2005 and 2008) to provide job training and relocation assistance for laid-off workers.
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Paid for by Lisa Murkowski for US Senate
www.LisaMurkowski.com