Leaders of the US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee clearly are continuing its tradition of working together to reach bipartisan solutions wherever possible. Chair Lisa Murkowski (R-Alas.) and Ranking Minority Member Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) showed this during their recent joint appearance at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
This always has differed from the Environment and Public Works Committee where the top Democrats and Republicans exchange barbs regularly, more like their counterparts in the normally more contentious House of Representatives.
Energy and Natural Resources Committee members traditionally have been more civil. Leaders from both parties normally come from producing states but foster a legislative climate where debate can be lively and still lead to bipartisan results.
Murkowski and Manchin showed this on Oct. 30 when they spoke at CSIS. They also revealed how their states, which historically have produced fossil fuels, are having to start looking at both alternatives and other issues.
“Some 85% of our state’s budget comes from oil. Think about what that means in terms of depending on one resource,” Murkowski said. “We’ve seen the price of oil go down, along with production from older fields along the North Slope. That has had substantial impacts on our state’s budget and put our governor and his administration in a pretty tight space.”
Federal tax reform legislation, which became law late in 2017, included a provision Murkowski championed that finally authorized oil and gas leasing along the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain, she said.
“Alaskans also recognize that as significant as this oil resource is to us, we are still the state that has, if not the highest, then maybe the second-highest energy costs in the country,” Murkowski said. “Our communities are remote, so it has required us to be very innovative and push out in areas you might not expect such as renewable energy.”
‘An ocean of wet gas’
Manchin explained that West Virginia is transforming after being one of the country’s top coal producers. “We also were blessed with natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica shales. Now, we have the Rogersville shale, which is much deeper. But we have an ocean of wet gas—propane, butane, and ethane,” he said.
“What West Virginians haven’t seen yet from all this gas are jobs and opportunities. During World War II, we also had a tremendous petrochemical industry along the Ohio and Kanawha rivers. They’re down to around 50% of that footprint now, but they could be revitalized. If we could use the wet properties in the gas that’s being produced, we have a chance to reinvigorate our manufacturing base,” Manchin said.
Nick Snow
NICK SNOW covered oil and gas in Washington for more than 30 years. He worked in several capacities for The Oil Daily and was founding editor of Petroleum Finance Week before joining OGJ as its Washington correspondent in September 2005 and becoming its full-time Washington editor in October 2007. He retired from OGJ in January 2020.