Alaska deserves a senator who will unleash fullness of our energy potential

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By KELLY TSHIBAKA

In many ways, Alaska’s lands are sacred; they have been blessed with rich resource endowment, which have always been the key to our subsistence and economy.

The problem is that environmental extremists, now given renewed power by President Joe Biden’s administration, have prevented us from realizing our true potential of rising prosperity, self-sufficiency, and economic independence, balanced with environmental conservation. 

Alaskans deserve a U.S. senator who will fight for an Alaska-centric agenda that will unleash our enormous energy potential to create jobs and lower our fuel costs, not one who bows down to extremists and enables a radical D.C.-based agenda that wants to turn our state into a national park for the rest of the country. My energy platform will promote environmentally responsible growth and job creation in the energy industries which drive the Alaska economy.

Permitting processes for oil and gas leases on public lands are onerous and time consuming, taking years to complete. In the case of access to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), federal regulatory restrictions were in place for 60 years before President Trump cleared the way for energy production. Biden then suspended oil and gas leases in ANWR on his first day in office.

When bureaucrats don’t support something, they love to drag out the process. “Go slow” means “no go.” It costs our companies a lot of time and money, which often makes projects cost prohibitive, preventing Alaska workers from earning money to support their families. When I’m your senator, I will call for permitting processes to be completed within a defined time frame.

As your senator, I also will advocate for Alaska and First Alaskans—not the federal government—to own a majority of the land in Alaska. Alaskans should have the right to access and develop resources on the federal land within our state. President Trump was in the process of transferring 28 million acres of land to Alaska before Biden took office and promptly stopped the plan.

To make matters worse, Biden’s Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has started the process of seizing 44 million more acres, trying to take more land from Alaskans and federalizing nearly 73% of the state. 

We are owed land by the federal government, it’s as simple as that. Alaskans know best how to manage and responsibly develop our land and resources. No D.C. insider cares about the Alaskan environment more than the Alaskans who live and work here. We also develop resources in a more environmentally responsible way than the other countries from which the U.S. imports when the Biden administration prohibits Alaskan energy production. As your next senator, I will fight for timely completion of environmental and other regulatory reviews required for us to access and develop federal land. I also will demand the timely and orderly conveyance to Alaska of its public lands for potential development of natural resources.

Additionally, I will oppose carbon taxes on energy industries because it will increase costs on hard-working Alaskans who struggle to pay their bills. Carbon capture and sequestration technologies are much preferable to a carbon tax, because the private sector can develop and employ them to better deal with pollution, rather than simply making energy more expensive for Alaskans.

Our incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski has expressed openness to a carbon tax, as recently as October 2020, and it’s not the only area where she is failing us.

President Trump’s policies were demonstrably beneficial to Alaska, but Murkowski openly opposed him, both in his first election in 2016 and in his re-election campaign in 2020. This open antagonism of a president who was good for Alaska is not the kind of leadership our residents want. Nor does it help Alaska for Murkowski to openly support the Biden administration that is anti-mining, anti-oil and gas, and anti-Alaska.

Worse, Murkowski was the deciding vote in the Senate committee which advanced Haaland’s nomination for Interior Secretary. This means Murkowski is personally and singularly responsible for the imposition of the radical environmental agenda relentlessly targeting Alaska and opposing fossil fuel development in America. 

A senator’s real value is in the big moments, the critical votes, and Haaland’s nomination was one of those crucial times. Murkowski’s approval of Haaland will cost Alaska billions of dollars. It may make her popular with the D.C. cocktail party crowd, but it seriously hurts us back here at home. 

Murkowski also has failed to gain Alaska’s entry into an offshore revenue sharing agreement. Under the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas share hundreds of millions in revenues annually, which also support environmental conservation programs. Alaska has never been included in such an arrangement, which would have provided much-needed incentive for offshore exploration and production in Alaska. An energy revenue sharing pact for Alaska, similar to the one enjoyed by Gulf of Mexico states, would have grown the state’s economy, created jobs, and protected the environment.
 
All Alaskans ever want is fairness and the opportunity to access what is rightfully ours. The Gulf compact has been in place for 15 years and Lisa Murkowski has been in the Senate that entire time. Why was Alaska never brought to the table?

Alaska was once a place that afforded people abundant opportunity, but those days seem distant because of federal government overreach and overregulation, something our current senator has failed to adequately address. I have a fire in my heart to rebuild Alaska, and I believe that embracing the blessings of our bountiful natural resources is the key to that future.

Kelly Tshibaka is a Republican candidate for the United States Senate in Alaska.

24 COMMENTS

  1. Gosh, Kelly, we’re obviously long overdue for a true conservative to replace a swamp rat but I must ask how you’d respond to the allegations made in The American Conservative on April 27th which depict you as something of a swamp rat as well?

    It would be rude of me to link to it here on Suzanne’s site although you can find it quite easily online and it would be grand it you replied yourself rather than through a “representative” as you’d evidently done in corresponding with them.

    With all due respect, their article just doesn’t paint a pretty picture of you at all and now’s your chance to set the record straight as to whether they were unfair with you or if you’ve suddenly come to your senses and become the true conservative you’d like us to see you as.

  2. WOW(!!!) … What a promising and refreshing message, offering hope – enthusiasm – honesty – integrity. Certainly, as everyone knows, these highly sought after attributes have been absent with the current sitting Senator (aka – Daddy’s Little Princess).
    Kelly-T … You can count on my vote!

  3. Trolls and democrats need to go somewhere rather warm and uncomfortable – Kelly Tshibaka is the real deal, a conservative Alaskan who cares enough to do something about it.

  4. Ms. Tshibaka:
    I don’t envy the intense scrutiny that you are going to have to endure, nor do I envy the heavy lifting that will be placed upon your shoulders should you be successful in your bid. While Aunt Sally above could very well be a plant, she does make a good point, which is…we have heard a lot of bluster from a lot of politicians. Many agree that Murkowski has got to go, and her record is obvious. You, on the other hand, are mostly unknown. This is the advice my wife of 15 years gives me when I tell her about the things I have planned to do: “I’m from Missouri. Don’t tell me, SHOW ME!” So show us what you can do when the pressure is on. We don’t want the next election to feel like it does when debating whether or not to buy a new car, or just keep driving the old one because at least we know what’s wrong with it. If you can do that, I know a whole lot of people who will stand behind you and help you carry that load. Thank you!

  5. “Haaland has started the process of seizing 44 million more acres,”

    I didn’t find anything about Haaland seizing 44 million acres, just the following.

    “The Interior Department on Thursday announced a two-year delay of a determination on opening millions of acres in Alaska to mining.
    The effective date for the public lands orders, which affect 28 million acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land in Alaska, will be delayed for two years, according to the Interior announcement.”

    Anyone got more info on this? I’m concerned because Natives have 44 million acres.

  6. She’s speaking Joe Miller’s lines. Miller, who had the best creds of probably any candidate in recent memory, couldn’t beat the Murkowski machine because of the 24 hour/7 days a week Leftwing news assault on Joe. It was relentless and it paid off for the Democrats. Lisa received her stupid genes from her dad. Both a couple of dunces, and easily controlled by the puppeteers who will cheat at all costs. Kelly be warned: if you have baggage or skeletons, speak up now.
    .
    I see where Geldhof is sucking up to the Machine early, anticipating an invite to the Murkowski’s annual barbecue.

  7. Yeah, I think I heard this same song last fall with Sullivan and Young and also with Dunleavy, and it’s all been lies and do nothings. No Murkowski, no Kelly for me. Perhaps Caligula did one thing right making his horse a senator.

  8. Having known fellow miner Joe Vogler back in the day, and being registered as AIP since the party’s creation in the mid 80’s, I like what I’m hearing regarding states rights. Unfortunately, you seem sadly out of touch with reality regarding the “energy industry”. Even as Trump was trying to almost literally give away ANWR drilling rights to oil companies, the oil companies weren’t interested! At that same time EVERY major American bank was prohibiting loans for oil exploration in the Arctic. Etc, ETC! This IS capitalism working the way it’s supposed to work. Are you anti-capitalism?

    There is no longer anything “radical” or “extremist” about wanting to protect the environment. Our tuna is “dolphin safe” and our grocery store food is increasingly “organic”. Environmentalism is now mainstream America…which makes your views ‘extreme’ and ‘radical’. It might play to the “low information” voters of the rabid far right, but it will profit Alaska nothing if our US Senator is viewed as some kind of nutcase.

  9. How is rank choice voting, along with Dominion machines and drop off boxes in Anchorage going to hinder her chances ?
    What is our legislature doing to ensure a free and fair election ?

  10. Miller lacked credibility and integrity. At every turn he was found wanting. I’m conservative as hell but would never knowingly vote for a duplicitous individual.

  11. Antonio,

    Having a consensus does not make something correct. We have persecuted those that said the earth is round and the sun is the center of the solar system. This “environmentalism” is generally a scam. Look up defunct wind farms and other green projects that outlive their lifespan and are never cleaned up. The batteries to make electric vehicles require toxic chemicals to be mined in Africa, which does employ child labor and do not have OSHA to protect them. You are probably writing that from your iPhone produced in a Chinese suicide factory by 12 year old Muslim prisoners. We can start talking about how waterways are filled with trash and the state does not make companies deal with derelict ships along the coast. Lets go after the companies, with newly created criminal charges, for toxic chemical spills. I bet they would clamp down if they got life in prison for causing a huge disaster. How about we simply start making people take responsibility for poisoning water supplies with fire fighting chemicals?

    Organic is also a misnomer and idiots think it means something other than what it does. Go look up USDA standards and how much pesticide or what constitutes as organic fertilizer. I suspect you think a GMO is un-natural and do not know that crossbreeding crops for certain characteristics is also considered a GMO.

    Banks have been acting as a division of the Democrat party for years now and contribute a great deal to their campaigns. There have been many projects that would have benefitted the environment a great deal, but the banks put a stop to them (Nuclear reactors are a good example).. Banks have also de-personed people and not allowed them to use services, including Visa and Mastercard, because they held views people do not agree with. This is not capitalism, as the government does have a hand in most industry and we are a mixed economy. A capitalist system would not have import and export taxes or other methods of making products from other countries more expensive to compete with local products.

  12. And what is Lt Gov Kevin doing to ensure free and fair elections? It’s his job and his moment to shine is fading. Are you hiding in the closet and doing nothing Kevin? Or are you going to step up and be a leader? People say you are lazy, please prove them wrong, Alaskans need you!

  13. Concerned Citizen:
    .
    I doubt you speak for 30% of Alaskans. So please take your bias garbage back to your Left-wing friends and try trolling a different forum. And no need to report back to us here at MRAK because we don’t give regard to fools like you.

  14. John,
    Weird thing is that I agree with much of what you wrote. You’re also right that “Having a consensus does not make something correct”. However, it is not my opinion or yours that matters here. A “super-majority” of Americans believe in environmentalism. This is WHY there are no more dolphins in our tuna. This is WHY the banks won’t loan for arctic oil exploration. The banks are NOT an instrument of the left, they’re just sailing where the wind takes them. Right now, the ‘climate change’ wind has blown them to the left. WHY??? This is the question Conservatives don’t ask. Look, Kelly, and now our congressional delegation, have insisted on drilling in ANWR. They SOUND like baby seal killers! We want to drill, heard as ‘RAPE’, a WILDLIFE REFUGE. You hear how that SOUNDS John? NO one wants to be known as being friends with rapists. If Dan, Lisa, or Kelly keep up the ‘rape ANWR’ drumbeat all the other Senators/Congresspeople are going to be sidestepping away from them on the stage. They’ll end up like Bobbitt, ostracized with no committee assignments, no power to serve the people of OUR state. Being somewhat ‘religious’, I would like to continue to vote/support Conservative, but I’m NOT voting for a Lorena Bobbitt.

  15. JORDAN: Your post is chock full to the brim , and over-flowing, with boiler-plate buzz words and themes. Sounds like a chain-saw massacre movie trailer. Ahahahahahaha!

  16. JOSEPHDJ: Ahahahaha NO, the “buzz words” were all Kelly’s. Actually I’d liken her words as one of those dog whistles and clearly you hear that whistle and are obedient to it! Fortunately, most MRAK readers are becoming wise to the “whistle” and aren’t triggered by it. Unfortunately her “seizing” “sacred lands” got you to obey. I’m surprised that she stuck to ‘energy industry buzz words’. I’m sure she could have gotten you frothing at the mouth if she would have invoked the Second Amendment or told you; ‘without oil we won’t be able to produce any more American flags’! My post didn’t reveal my actual position regarding “environmentalism”. My father worked for Standard Oil during my childhood, so I owe my privileged upbringing to oil. However, I actually saw the Cuyahoga River BURNING when I was a kid and (this really ticks me off) I can’t eat Tuna anymore, with or without Dolphin, because of the mercury levels mostly caused by fossil fuels! Though I personally practice a life of simplicity, I’m all for “global warming”, if you guys don’t mind getting oil on YOUR hands! The point of my post was that a large majority of Americans believe in being ‘environmentally conscious’ and “drill baby drill” SOUNDS like ‘let’s rape a wildlife REFUGE’ to them! If I was your Senator, I’d promise not to say; “Canned tuna hasn’t tasted the same since they took the dolphin out”…or…”I miss clubbing baby seals”.

  17. Oh, I can assure you that I’m no plant, ANDREW TROY!

    We just don’t need an insincere carpetbagger (which isn’t at all to suggest at this point that Kelly is that sort of grifter) to replace Murkowski who definitely needs to go but The American Conservative’s piece doesn’t appear to make unfounded claims either. She should be able to easily refute them if she’s able to.

    I also think we’d be much better represented by a Mike Shower or a Ben Carpenter than someone with a resume like Kelly’s if either gentleman would care to take it on.

  18. Good talk about the energy industry – I couldn’t agree more.
    However, it will take a strong governor to assert our State’s Rights over the Feds – and boldly sieze our lands back and start developing them.
    Some junior senator – in reality – will have little to no say about whether drilling, mining, and logging activities occur in the State of Alaska.
    The Feds own 61% of your lands, the State owns 26%, and Native Corps own 12%.
    The Feds control more land in Alaska than the entire state of Texas – think about that for a moment.
    Why? How? Unfortunately, we have a “squish” governor, 2 senators, and a congressman.

  19. OK Aunt Sally. No offense intended. Just gotta be careful, there are some slick fish out there, and Murkowski’s camp are some of the slickest. Peace!

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