WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) today delivered a speech on the Senate floor reminding her colleagues of the broad economic and geopolitical benefits of America’s energy renaissance, which is helping the nation to address geopolitical threats, and enabling the energy security and economic well-being that will make progress on climate possible.

(Click for video of Murkowski’s floor speech)

“American technology and know-how are delivering energy abundance, keeping energy affordable, enabling energy to be cleaner than the next most likely alternative, permitting us to rely on ever more diverse energy sources and, finally, improving energy security for people in our country and around the world,” Murkowski said.

The American energy revolution is creating jobs, generating revenues, stabilizing world energy prices, and diversifying world energy supplies, but it is under threat from the Obama administration through over-regulation and the lack of access to federal lands and world markets.

“Nearly the entire oil and natural gas production resurgence in the United States has occurred on state and private lands, not the millions of acres managed by the federal government,” Murkowski said. “Despite the rhetoric of ‘all of the above’ and no small amount of credit-taking by the administration, combined hydrocarbon fuel production on federal lands actually fell from 2008 to 2012. That’s a disappointing trend that must be reversed.”

Federal energy policies need to be reexamined and reoriented for a new century, Murkowski said.

“In January, I laid out the case for why we need to renovate the architecture of the U.S. energy trade. We have substantial opportunities for exports of coal, petroleum products, natural gas, natural gas liquids, renewable technology, nuclear technology, and even crude oil,” she said. “I have called for lifting the de facto prohibition on crude oil exports as a preemptive measure. We need to lift it to prevent future losses of production and jobs when our trade restrictions inevitably collide with the surge in light tight oil and condensate production. We must increase the value of energy as an American strategic asset for global security and price stability.”

Murkowski said the policies and regulations being called for by Democrats who spent Monday night talking about climate change would have serious consequences for American families.

“If you are living in a remote area of Alaska, where supplies are brought to you by air or sometimes by barge, you have a different perspective on life. Although you can look around and see the impacts of climate change, your first priority is being able to live. The cost of basic heat during the winter is one of the largest expenses families endure. If the cost of heating fuel rises from $4 a gallon to $10 a gallon, there will be families that will not be able to survive,” Murkowski said.

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