WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today joined several of her colleagues to discuss high gasoline prices and Republicans’ plans have to alleviate the pain at the pump.

(Click picture to watch)

“The president has stated that under his administration that we are seeing more increased production then at any other time. It’s important to kind of peel back the onion here though and see where we’re seeing the production. It’s on state lands. It’s on private lands. When you look at the activity on federal lands, we have seen a net decrease. An 11 percent decrease in production on federal lands when it comes to oil, and a 14 percent decrease on federal lands when it comes to natural gas. So the words are not matching the actions that are coming out of this administration.”

“You’ve all heard the stories about what Alaska holds in terms of our oil and natural gas resources, but the fact of the matter is that there is nothing that is being produced on our federal lands right now.”

“ANWR has a potential of 10.6 billion barrels of oil. Offshore, Alaska has an estimated 26 billion barrels of oil. The USGS just came out with a new estimate for the oil and shale gas that is available up north, another 2 billion barrels of shale oil. So the potential is there, but the fact of the matter is that we have not been able to access it.”

Murkowski is the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee.

Click here to watch the full press conference.

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