Calls for help filling Alaska pipeline
As President Barack Obama arrives in Alaska with climate change on his mind, Gov. Bill Walker has different ideas for the visit, and hopes to push for fossil fuel development.
President Barack Obama is visiting Alaska next week, where he’s expected to argue climate change is an urgent problem that requires international action. The message he’ll hear from Gov. Bill Walker? Alaska Dispatch News answers:
Walker wants the federal government to help Alaska access more fossil fuels — consumption of which is widely viewed as one of the primary drivers of climate change.
In a news conference Tuesday morning, Walker said he’d use a face-to-face meeting with Obama to highlight the state’s need for more resource development and the “economic climate change” it's going through. That’s a reference to the big budget deficit the oil-dependent state is facing following a drop in oil prices.