Flipping off Alaska: Peltola votes to lock up ANWR, NPR-A, then against Native justice, health, education

It’s another flip-flop for Alaska’s famously flipping representative in Congress.

Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola this week voted against an appropriations bill that would block the Biden-Harris Administration’s lockup of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s areas — sections that were specifically set aside in law for oil leases. She voted to keep the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska’s oil and gas in the ground, too, starving Alaska’s economy and American security.

The bill passed the House, 210-205, without Peltola’s support; all Democrats voted against it except for Rep. Vincente Gonzalez of Texas.

The legislation that Peltola didn’t support will, if passed by the Senate, force Interior Sec. Deb Haaland to restart the Biden-canceled oil and gas lease sales in Alaska. President Joe Biden has kowtowed to the environmental lobby and only granted the Willow project its leases. Almost other oil and gas leases in Alaska have been killed or delayed under false reasoning that they need more study.

Peltola’s vote is yet another flip flop in a series of positions she has changed. In April, she said, “Closing off NPR-A is a huge step back for Alaska, failing to strike a balance between the need for gap oil and natural gas and legitimate environmental concerns, and steamrolling the voices of many Alaska Natives in the decision-making process.”

Among the items in the appropriations package that relate to Alaska and energy security for America, the bill requires the Secretary of the Interior to:

• Resume quarterly onshore oil and gas lease sales.
• Issue 5-year offshore oil and gas leasing programs on time.
• Conduct lease sales in the Alaska region.
• The bill prohibits funds being used to cancel oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.
• It also:
• Expands access to critical minerals by blocking certain Bureau of Land Management withdrawals.
• Prohibits the EPA from imposing extra fee (taxes) on oil and gas producers created by the Inflation Reduction Act.
• Ensures ancillary mining activities, including exploration operations and construction of a mine access road, are permitted with or without the discovery of a valuable mineral deposit, codifying the Rosemont decision.
• Prioritizes funding for public safety programs by providing $2.81 billion (+14.5%) for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, including $746 million for Public Safety and Justice programs, which is 34% above the FY24 enacted level.
• Provides $1.47 billion for the Bureau of Indian Education (+7.5%), including $271 million for education construction, which is 15% above the FY24 enacted level.
• Provides $8.56 billion for the Indian Health Service (+23%) along with $5.98 billion in advance appropriations for FY26.

Read all the provisions of the appropriations bill that Peltola voted against here: