We are now in a climate crisis -- we are beyond climate change. Alaska is ground zero for the negative effects of this climate crisis. We’re experiencing temperatures rising at twice the rate of the rest of the country, acidification of our waters and its consequences for our fisheries, rising costs of energy in Rural Alaska, and whole communities needing to be uprooted because they’re sinking into the ground. These effects threaten the daily life of communities across our state, but our current representative refuses to come home, look around and see these facts.
So many of our Alaskan industries, including fishing and tourism, depend on the preservation of the environment. Climate change could bring subsistence hunting and fishing in our Alaska Native communities to the verge of collapse. In Congress, I will fight to protect what makes Alaska so unique and important to the people here: our natural environment.
We should be enhancing the funding for climate change research, not casting doubt on it. UAF is one of the most cited research institutions in the world on climate change, and we should be steering more research dollars into our Universities.
+ ADAPTING TO THE CHANGING CLIMATE
Regardless of how successful the fight against climate change will be in the future, Alaska communities are already dealing with the impacts from the changing climate and must have federal support to survive.
I support securing the necessary federal funds to relocate threatened villages, invest in research and development of technologies to address engineering challenges associated with melting permafrost, and responsible mitigation to address coastal erosion.
+ INVESTING IN RENEWABLE ENERGY & ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Alaska can lead the world in new energy production and innovative energy conservation. Alaska should be at the forefront of new production, research and technology whether it is wind, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric or tidal. We have it all here.
We already have the most microgrids in the US per capita and we’ve seen massive success in Kodiak, which generates 99% of its electricity from renewable energy using a combination of wind and hydro.
Alaska should lead the country in developing climate technology, adapting to climate change, and advocating against its spread. We also need to model job creation in energy conservation construction techniques. We are already advancing such innovation at the Cold Climate Housing Research Center in Fairbanks. We should be investing in and developing these technologies ourselves rather than waiting for the world to sell them to us later. We have local solutions right here at home, but we need the leadership to deliver it.
+ NATURAL RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
I support responsible natural resource development, including oil and gas, mining, timber, and fisheries. Alaska is a natural resource state and mining is a key part of our economy However, so are our fisheries. I am opposed to the Pebble Mine Project because it is the wrong mine in the wrong location and represents too big a risk to our vital Bristol Bay fisheries. The current technology is underdeveloped and unreliable. I believe Alaska has strong environmental protections, and I support efforts to establish state primacy on federal regulatory issues where appropriate.