U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee, today told Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz that DOE’s $29.9 billion fiscal year 2016 budget proposal falls short on fossil energy investment and ignores a true “all of the above” energy policy.

“My criticism of DOE’s budget proposal is that it embraces an ‘all of the above’ energy policy on paper and in words – just not in practice,” Murkowski said. “It includes significant increases for efficiency, vehicle, and renewable technologies, but virtually all funding for fossil energy would be directed to carbon capture, methane, or some other environmental consideration.”

The Obama administration has requested a 9 percent increase in DOE’s funding for 2016, but while the administration wants a $2.5 billion funding increase overall, funding for fossil energy research would actually decrease.

“There are several areas where this budget falls short and one is fossil energy. Oil shale, other unconventional resources are all but ignored. There is no funding for methane hydrate production research, which is important for the future of Alaska and the nation as a whole,” Murkowski said. “That doesn’t fit with the president’s rhetoric of an ‘all of the above’ energy policy and it’s not good for our long-term energy security.”

Murkowski described the funding levels requested by DOE – as with the rest of the president’s budget proposal – as unrealistic, but she praised Secretary Moniz as a steady leader who has worked to improve DOE’s performance and shown a willingness to find common ground with Congress.