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A Democrat eyeing a return to Congress in a crucial battleground state has pitched a policy platform geared toward expanded oil production, but she once turned her back on the issue while in Washington, D.C.
Former Rep. Mary Peltola is running to unseat Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, in a contest that could define the balance of power in the upper chamber. National Democrats have Alaska in their sights as a viable pickup opportunity in their quest to flip the Senate, but Peltola is running away from some of their greener energy policies to push for expanded oil production.
Earlier this month, she unveiled her “Making Energy Affordable for Alaskans” plan that zeros in on oil and gas development in her state, which is one of the top crude oil producers in the country.
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Former Rep. Mary Peltola is pushing for more oil and gas production in Alaska, but when she was in Congress, she urged Democrats to kill her own bill that would’ve done just that. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“Alaska has always been a leader in energy production, and as an independent voice for Alaskans, I will always stand up to anyone to invest in Alaska energy production so that we can create good-paying jobs and lower energy costs,” Peltola said in a statement introducing the plan.
“As D.C. price hikes create an energy catastrophe for Alaskans, we can’t afford more delays, political gridlock, or one-size-fits-all rules from the Lower 48 that leave Alaskans without solutions,” she continued.
In 2023, she did have an opportunity to do just that. During her time in the House, Peltola and Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minn., introduced the Alaska’s Right to Produce Act, legislation that would have reversed several Biden-era rules and regulations that limited or canceled oil and gas leases in Alaska.
When it came time to vote on the bill, which would have required the reinstatement of canceled drilling leases in the non-wilderness Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and overturned lease restrictions in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A), she urged her colleagues to vote against it.
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Peltola, in a letter sent to House Democrats first reported by the Alaska Story, called on her colleagues to vote against her own bill out of fear that it would go too far.
“I am the Democratic co-lead for this bill and voted for it in committee. However, this legislation has a significant unintended consequence that could adversely affect Indigenous communities and the Arctic Ocean environment,” Peltola wrote.
“The bill’s intent is to allow Alaska to maintain onshore oil and gas, but a provision within it would nullify the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area, potentially harming these communities and the environment,” she continued.
“I support oil and gas development. Alaska needs energy, and we have a wealth of resources that could be developed. However, the unintended consequences of this bill are too significant to allow it to pass.”
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Newly introduced Senate candidate Dan Sullivan, left, pictured alongside Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, right. (Sullivan for U.S. Senate; Brandon Bell-Pool/Getty Images)
A key reason that Peltola urged her colleagues to vote against the bill was because of a provision tucked away in the legislation that would have effectively pitted the oil and gas industry against the fishing industry in Alaska — two key economic drivers in the state. Peltola later introduced a clean version of the bill that didn’t include that provision.
She also scored wins for energy production in the state during her time in Washington, including getting the Biden administration to reverse course on ConocoPhillips’ Willow Project, an $8 billion oil drilling project in the National Petroleum Reserve.
“Mary’s record is clear: She will always put Alaska first, and no one from the Lower 48 will ever tell her how to vote or how to think,” a spokesperson for her campaign told Fox News Digital. “That’s why she took on her own party to secure the Willow project after years of delays and why she introduced legislation to open the ANWR and NPR-A for oil development, with input from Alaska’s fishermen.”
“Mary supports creating good-paying oil and gas jobs, securing America’s energy independence, defending the right of Alaskans to develop our own land, and bringing down the cost of energy for Alaska families – and that’s what she will fight for in the Senate,” they continued.
The bill did ultimately pass in the Republican-controlled House but died on the vine in the Senate, which was run by then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
And Schumer heavily recruited Peltola to mount a bid against Sullivan, giving her the full weight of the Democratic establishment in her race against Sullivan, who is seeking a third term in the upper chamber.
Though she’s portrayed herself as someone willing to buck the party, Sullivan’s campaign argued her record and list of endorsements showed the opposite.
“As a Congresswoman, Mary Peltola turned her back on Alaska time and time again,” Nate Adams, a spokesperson for Sullivan’s campaign, told Fox News Digital. “Peltola says whatever she needs to say to get elected, then goes to Washington and does whatever Chuck Schumer, AOC, and D.C. Democrats demand of her, even when it directly hurts the Alaskans she’s supposed to represent.”
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“Peltola’s shameless ability to say one thing to Alaskans and do the exact opposite in Congress might be why she cashed out and became a lobbyist when Alaskans fired her in 2024,” he continued.
Their battle isn’t as cut-and-dried as other contests on the Senate map, however. Dan J. Sullivan, a retired schoolteacher also running as a Republican, is on the ticket — a situation that Alaska Republicans tried to thwart through legal action over concerns that his candidacy was meant to confuse Alaska voters in their ranked-choice voting system.
Voters will choose among Peltola, both Sullivans and Gerald Heikes, another Republican eying the seat, in November.
