Trump Threatens Alaska Drilling & Mining As Payback For Murkowski’s Trumpcare Vote
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Trump has big plans to help Big Oil in Alaska — including Arctic offshore drilling, the Salmon-destroying Pebble Mine, and of course, opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for more energy exploration (a wet dream of the GOP for almost 50 years). But now all that could be at risk, since he’s annoyed at Alaskan GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski for voting against Trumpcare.
Murkowski was one of seven Republican Senators who voted against the President (and Senate Leader Mitch McConnell). She also was one of only two GOP Senators (along with Maine’s Susan Collins) who voted against even bringing the messy mishmash of a healthcare bill to the Senate floor.
In a move worthy of Tony Soprano:
“[Wednesday] afternoon, each of Alaska’s two Republican senators had received a phone call from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke letting them know the vote had put Alaska’s future with the administration in jeopardy. […] Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan said the call from Zinke heralded a ‘troubling message.’
“‘I’m not going to go into the details, but I fear that the strong economic growth, pro-energy, pro-mining, pro-jobs and personnel from Alaska who are part of those policies are going to stop,’ Sullivan said. […]
“Sullivan said the Interior secretary was clear that his message was in response to the no vote Murkowski cast Tuesday on the motion to proceed with debate on the House-passed health care legislation.”
Sullivan was probably blindsided, since he had been a good soldier and voted with the President. But it doesn’t take much to set Trump off (as AG Jefferson Sessions is learning). A Trump-affiliated group actually went so far as to run ads against Senator Dean Heller (R-NV), one of the party’s most vulnerable incumbents, when he didn’t toe the Trump line.
But, as Joan McCarter notes at DailyKos,
“Murkowski, as head of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee in the Senate, is arguably a more powerful player for her state on energy issues than Trump could be. She also won reelection on a write-in vote. … Murkowski has no reason to fear for her job.”
And Trump hasn’t ever been precisely sane on the subject of Alaska….
What do you think Obama will do when Putin seizes Alaska?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2014
Actually Putin doesn't want Alaska because the Environmental Protection Agency will make it impossible for him to drill for oil!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2014
And if Zinke does withhold support for drilling and mining in Alaska? Great!
Background: Trump approves first new Arctic oil drilling – by Russian-connected company, of course
“I tried to push back on behalf of all Alaskans,” Sullivan told the Alaska Dispatch News. “We’re facing some difficult times and there’s a lot of enthusiasm for the policies that Secretary Zinke and the president have been talking about with regard to our economy. But the message was pretty clear.”
Environmentalists say, “Please continue…”
Arctic Caribou image by NOAA.
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