Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said Thursday she plans to introduce legislation that would allow directional drilling for oil and natural gas resources below Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

“If we drill from state lands and waters, there will be no occupancy [of ANWR], no pipelines, building or facilities to impact the refuge or this wildlife,” Murkowski, the ranking minority member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said during her seventh annual address to the Alaska Legislature.

“America will get the energy it needs, and those concerned about the impact to wilderness will be able to enjoy and preserve the refuge exactly as it is today. It is the best of both worlds,” she told legislators.

Murkowski said current directional drilling technology would only permit about 10% of the refuge’s estimated oil resources and 80% of its natural gas to be produced, but future subsurface oil technology may substantially increase those percentages.

She said drilling from state lands would allow oil production to begin sooner. In addition, she noted that Congress approved the “no surface occupancy” precedent to develop a wilderness area when it approved the Wyoming Range Legacy Act of 2007, the first bill to permit underground oil development from beneath a wilderness area.

“I ask the new administration to approach this conversation over ANWR with an open mind,” she said. President Obama has said in the past that he is opposed to exploration and production of ANWR.

“We have an innovative, brand new approach to energy production. I urge those opposed to development in ANWR to take a close look at my proposal. It will not harm ANWR’s tundra or ecosystem or the Porcupine caribou herd, which does not travel on state lands,” Murkowski said.

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