President Joe Biden’s administration delayed releasing bad news for Alaska until Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) finished a question and answer session with Alaska’s legislature.
The U.S. Department of Interior and U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday it would not allow work on the road to Alaska’s Ambler Mining District, reversing a pro-mining ruling under former President Donald Trump’s administration in July 2020.
Permit work for the Ambler Road project began during former President Barack Obama’s administration in 2010 and received final federal approval under Trump.
Biden’s administration held off announcing the news until Murkowski finished addressing a joint session of the Alaska State legislature earlier on Tuesday.
“So the Biden administration did a favor for @lisamurkowski today by holding an announcement of bad news for Alaska until after she was finished with her Q&A with the state legislature,” Tim Murtaugh tweeted. “Biden protecting one of his own, apparently.”
After her remarks that did not mention the Ambler Road project, she held a question and answer session with members of Alaska’s legislature. Many insiders in the nation’s capital reportedly “knew in advance that the decision would be against Alaska’s interest in mining development at Ambler.”
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland speaks at the Cherokee Immersion School Friday, Dec. 3, 2021, in Tahlequah, Okla. (AP Photo/Michael Woods)
Kelly Tshibaka, Murkowski’s Trump-endorsed opponent, criticized Murkowski for her tie-breaking vote to confirm Interior Secretary Deb Haaland after news of the department’s decision was released:
Once again, from over 4,000 miles away, Deb Haaland has decided that she knows more about how Alaska should manage its natural resources than we do…
Even though Haaland has never set foot in Alaska, despite promises to visit to hear our concerns and learn about our priorities, she has repeatedly enacted the Biden Administration policies that directly attack our industries, our working families, and our entire state economy…
To be clear: Deb Haaland would not be the Secretary of the Interior without Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who cast the tie-breaking committee vote to advance Haaland’s nomination for final confirmation. Murkowski even expressed reservations about Haaland’s radical environmental positions and the harm she could cause Alaska, but she voted for her anyway to please her D.C. pals.
During Murkowski’s address to Alaska’s legislature, she defended her vote for Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, calling it “one of the most consequential measures” that she has ever worked on.
During the question and answer session that followed, Republican state Rep. Kevin McCabe said his constituents wonder if Murkowski regretted her vote for Haaland and asked her if she would change her stance looking back.
“I’d like to change her mind on the decisions that she has made that have negatively impacted the state of Alaska,” Murkowski said, responding to McCabe’s question.