ANCHORAGE — Gov. Bill Walker has lobbied members of President Barack Obama’s administration on opening up parts of an Alaska refuge to oil drilling.
Walker met with reporters Thursday after returning from Washington, D.C.
Walker told Interior Secretary Sally Jewell his hopes of filling the trans-Alaska pipeline with oil drilled from a small section of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He says both Jewell and the president have told him the proposal would be met with a lot of pushback.
The governor acknowledges it will be a challenge, but it was important for him to get his plan on the administration’s radar.
He says he might be able to craft a strategy from the pushback he heard. He says he’s not ready to give details yet, but does see a path forward.
