By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
Rep. Mary Peltola told a Southeast Conference audience in Ketchikan Thursday that as a member of Congress she intends to prioritize the renewal of a federal fisheries law and wants to “move the ball forward on Willow,” a major North Slope oil project.
Peltola’s brief remarks at the annual meetng of the regional business and political association were her first as a sitting member of Congress to an Alaska audience, she said.
Her remarks were greeted by a standing ovation.
After being sworn in to Congress on Tuesday, Peltola, a Democrat, was named to the House Natural Resources Committee.
“I think the Natural Resources Committee is a perfect fit for Alaska and some of the work that we want to get done,” she said.
One of the foremost topics in the committee is reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the principal law controlling fisheries regulated by the federal government.
Peltola said that before his death this year, Congressman Don Young, R-Alaska, had a “handshake agreement” with Rep. Jared Huffman, D-California, about passage of the bill.
“He’s been letting me know what some of those agreements were, and we will be having a markup on Magnuson-Stevens on Wednesday. So I’m looking forward to that,” Peltola said.
She also said she intends to prod the federal government on the Willow oil project. The Bureau of Land Management is working on an environmental impact statement needed for the project to move forward on federally owned North Slope land.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, have said they support the project, as does Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
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