U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, announced three additions to the Republican staff of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The new additions to the committee include Heidi Hansen, Mary Leschper, and Pam Rice.

“Moving forward in the 114^th congress, the committee has set an aggressive agenda to review and update our nation’s energy and natural resources policies. The wealth of experience that Heidi, Mary, and Pamela have will be a valuable asset to the committee,” Murkowski said. “I am excited to have them on board and look forward to continuing the hard work of this committee with them.”

Hansen joins the committee as counsel with a focus on energy production on federal land and mining issues. She comes to the committee from the U.S. Army where she served as its senior civilian energy lawyer. In this capacity, she was integral to implementing large scale renewable energy projects on behalf of the Army and worked on various aspects of drafting and shaping energy policy as it relates to the Army. In 2007, she served in Baghdad during the surge as part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers efforts in furtherance of executing and constructing much-needed infrastructure such as hospitals and schools. Born and raised in Alaska, she graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of the Arts in International Relations and earned her law degree from the Washington College of Law.

Leschper joins the committee’s communications team as the Director of Digital Media. She brings with her valuable digital experience from the American Petroleum Institute where she spent the last two and a half years boosting the group’s online presence. Previously, she worked in Sen. Murkowski’s personal Senate office as legislative correspondent and press assistant. Leschper began her career in political communications on Sen. Murkowski’s 2010 write-in re-election campaign as a communications coordinator. She is a graduate of West Texas A&M University. A Texas transplant to Alaska, Mary has spent the last decade hiking, fishing, and kayaking as much as possible with her family in her beautiful adopted home state.

Rice comes to the energy committee on detail from the National Park Service as a Bevinetto Fellow. She will work through December and help with public lands issues. While Pam spent a few years working in Kenya and going to school in Minnesota, Fairbanks has been her home since she moved there in 1994 to attend graduate school at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.  Since then, she has worked for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Bureau of Land Management, and nongovernmental organizations. For the past 5 years, she has worked for the National Park Service leading the education, outreach, and visitor services at Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve and Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve.

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