WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today spoke on the Senate floor about the importance of developing America’s energy resources to reduce our dependence on OPEC, to create jobs and to raise revenues to address the ballooning deficit without raising taxes.

“Mr. President, the events of the past week are a very clear and direct reminder to us of the need to choose to end our nation’s dependence on imported oil. I will remind my colleagues, this is our choice. It is within our power to free ourselves from reliance on OPEC oil.

“The past few months, I’ve had an opportunity to visit our oil resources in the Gulf of Mexico; in North Dakota with the Bakken shale; up in Alaska with the offshore, as well as ANWR and the National Petroleum Reserve; and out in the Marcellus shale. We’ve learned one thing for sure – there is no scarcity of resources here in this country. Technological breakthroughs allow us to access these resources in a safe and reliable manner.

“This administration may talk a good game on oil production, but words and action are entirely different. Our problems result from a federal government that has actions and inaction that indefinitely delay, if not prohibit in many cases, access to our energy resources. We are not running out of energy. What we’re running out of is excuses for our continued reliance on OPEC.”

Murkowski is the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.