Alaska’s senior Senator Lisa Murkowski, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, criticized the Interior Department for presumably promoting a meeting with Alaska Natives who are opposed to drilling in the Arctic, arguing that they do not represent the true opinions of most Alaskans.

“Murkowski, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, held a hearing Thursday on the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s latest draft five-year plan for offshore drilling lease sales from 2017 to 2022…”

The Point Lay Tribal Council traveled 4,000 miles to Washington to urge the Obama administration to not broader oil lease sales in the Arctic .

“There “are many people in every village that aren’t being heard because they’re out there living their way of life,” said Lloyd Pikok, vice president of the Point Lay Tribal Council. “We aren’t a minority, we just aren’t being heard.”

The village council has passed a resolution urging the Interior Department to cancel all lease sales in the Arctic, citing the threats of climate change and other environmental hazards of drilling on their subsistence lifestyle.”

Read the full article here: Murkowski slams attention given to anti-Arctic drilling activist