Something is wrong. Alaska produces a lot of oil for America, and yet we pay some of the highest prices for energy in the country. Look at your utility bill. Check out the price of gas at the pump. Remember the dollars you spent to heat your house through the winter.

My priorities include: Lower Energy Costs; Alaskan Energy for Alaskans; Local Renewable Energy Resources; Promote Energy Independence for America; and Developing Alaska’s Natural Gas.

Former Democratic House Minority Leader Ethan Berkowitz, who served while Murkowski was in office, called the news tragic, but says he can’t forget what he called four years of bullying tactics: “There was an unholy alliance of big oil, the Murkowski administration and the Republican operatives that treated the Legislature and state assets as their own private domain.”

On February 26, Ethan stood with other Alaskans in Washington DC, including Governor Sarah Palin, to urge the Supreme Court to do the right thing. The message was clear - Alaskans are united in support of the 33,000 spill victims who have waited too long for Exxon to honor its promise and pay the debt it owes.

As Alaskans, we pride ourselves for being an “energy state,” but we pay too much for energy. This problem hits rural Alaska particularly hard, packing an added punch because communities already suffer from the loss of municipal assistance and revenue sharing, and our seniors have had their Longevity Bonuses taken away. While the state treasury counts billions in extra cash from the high price of oil, rural heating bills have gone through the roof, and in hub communities gas at the pump costs almost $5/gallon. In the most unfortunate cases, elders have had to chose between heating and eating, and some villages report paying almost $1 per kilowatt hour, ten times the price in Anchorage. That’s why it’s important that the debate over the gasline include solutions that will lead to lower cost energy.