c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. >> lisa murkowski, senator for alaska, becoming a number of issues. >> host: senator lisa murkowski of alaska, not to any third generation alaskans around, are there? >> guest: there are getting more and more. we are contributing with that fourth generation. hopefully my two boys will want to plant roots in the state. yeah, it is something i'm quite proud of. i love my state. i love my family's history the there. >> host: what brought you great parents to alaska? >> guest: on my dad side the story goes that everybody wanted to come up for the gold and he

made it as far as pitch again which most alaskans most southern community and they realized they did not have enough money to get to goldfield so he stayed there in ketchich ketchichan. my mom was born in nome, alaska. her dad was brand new baby attorney and got a message from one of his buddies saying hey, come up to alaska and come to the sound and ketchichan and there's only one lawyer. long as there's one lawyer there is not much work. i need somebody. he came up as a young man and as they say, the rest was history. both my parents grew up in ketchichan and that's where i was born and moved around in

southeast alaska and became grew up and lived in anchorage and i've got good roots from the state. >> host: what's this difference between gnome and ketchichan? >> guest: probably a couple thousand miles. in terms of similarities you are both off the grid so to speak. ketchkhan is an island and gnome is up mainland but it may as well be an island in terms of its isolation. they are both communities that i think the pioneers look to as a place of opportunity. gnome for the gold rush and ketchikan was about the fisheries that drew not only people from the lower 48 but a strong filipino contingency and so, both pioneering towns in

their own right that way. both are beautiful communities to the state, i love them. >> host: what does your chairmanship of the energy and natural resources committee bring to alaska? >> guest: i think it allows alaska to be in that national spotlight when it comes to our energy resources. we are a resource rich state. i will have 720,000 odd folks but we have more natural resources whether they be trees, fish, oil, mineral, natural gas, coal, extraordinary mineral based and the opportunity to contribute to the national conversation on energy is extraordinarily important and

coming from an energy producing state like alaska becomes all the more important. >> host: natural gas is going alaska. >> guest: yes and we've been producing natural gas for decades. in fact, for 40 plus years we shipped lng out of the cook inlet area, down in the south central area , too japan. it was the longest running contract for export out of the united states for natural gas. it was coming right out of cook inlet there. we've got good gas reserves down in the thousands of area and cook england but we also have extraordinary untapped reserves up in our north slope and we have the potential for methane hydrate in unconventional gas so it is extraordinary. our challenge has never been to

have the resource but our challenge has been how do you move the resource to market. going back to your question earlier about the role that my chairmanship on the energy and national resources community can play that has been an important part of how we work without access to alaska resources. resources are there but how do you move them. >> host: senator murkowski, in your view as climate change affected alaska? >> guest: absolutely. absolutely. as one who is born and raised there and as one who travels widely around the state, particularly to some of our very remote areas, areas that are i would say predominantly on our coast but into some arctic areas where quite honestly there has

not been a lot of focus from folks on the outside, elected leaders or otherwise, i had an opportunity to come in and see for myself to sit down to hear from elders about what they have observed and these are folks that might not have a phd but they've got a phd in living. they can tell you what they are seeing and tell you what they are seen with the sea ice in the consequence of erosion that is coming up out because the sea ice is receiving and allowing those waves to build up. it's not just coastal erosion but other areas. what they are seen in habitats and things that are growing in places that had been before. and in migratory paths of where the caribou are following the fisheries so i am one who looks

honestly at the reality that i see in my state and i believe that our climate is changing and that we are seeing the impacts and how we are able to adapt and how we are able to mitigate is something that, as a lawmaker, i try to help our state with on a daily basis. >> host: also just passed legislation to help with the indigenous populations in alaska, didn't you? >> guest: loan guarantees, you know, when i think about the many ways that we can help that we, here in congress, can help those in our native communities deal with whether it's the impact of climate change through helping them develop

infrastructure that will push back against the tide that is pretty tough and expensive and offering assistance and technical assistance and loan guarantees, grant programs, scientific assistants, research data in there is a host of different ways we can help but it's important to recognize that these are not just initiatives that would be focus on moving a village. in a community that is threatened by erosion and they will lose their school or lose their airstrip. there are other impacts that we see with climate change. particularly, health-related impacts. if you have an area that is now fire that was before and levels of dust because you don't have paved roads so you got

respiratory issues that children may be dealing with so there are a host of different ways we have to look at this as an issue and the threats to the people are, i believe, a parent. >> host: there are three of you in congress representing alaska. 3714 miles from here is juneau, alaska. do you ever feel like you're fighting against the tide to get people here to understand? >> guest: it's always an education. i can talk about alaska to my colleagues and to members of the administration but even they will admit that they really do not get it until they flew to alaska and until they were in the situation where they realized weight, she was right.

there are no roads down there. these communities -- over 80% of our communities in the state of alaska are not connected by roads. your boss that wants to get around alaska well, good luck with that but we have our marine highway system that you get on the ferry and you can go up and we have the parks that go up in the richardson that goes down and that is a road system so when you think about rural everybody has rural in their state. when i talk rural they're like yeah, i understand. to them rural is you drive a long way and finally get to a rough and bumpy road and get to a town after that and go out the back end and then it's another rough, bumpy road. in alaska it's beyond role. it's bush in frontier. it is beyond what most people

can relate to. until you are there to be able to take the secretary of energy to a community outside of bethel, alaska where it's not connected by roads but in the wintertime the rivers freeze over the way we access it is we take a truck and drove downriver on the ice. the secretary that is the first time he'd ever been on a motorcade in the frozen river. you have to experience it. i thank you can i relate but you have to experience it. getting members of congress up to see it and getting cabinet members up to see it is important. we'll have a busy first week in august as everyone wants to come up for the summer and are not so inclined to come up in

wintertime. we keep working on that but it's just as good and maybe even better in the winter. >> host: if you bring members or colleagues up to the arctic national wildlife refuge do they see what the pipeline looks like and do they see what areas and what you want to open for more oil drilling? >> guest: when you go into the 1002 area, that piece of of an wire at the top of alaska in that north slope, the 1002 area that's been set aside not the pipeline. there is no pipeline. there is nothing in that 1002 area. there is a community of [inaudible] in the community has its own airstrip and they've got a school and community hall and

a little restaurant that's not really a restaurant but a little lodging but that is what is in that area existing and there is one stub of a exploration while that was made back in the early '80s and that is it and that is covered and looks like a small little skinny box sitting there. otherwise, there is nothing but flat tundra. green and margie in the summer and white and perfectly flat in the wintertime and that is the 1002 area. now, outside of those boundaries on state lands that is where you will see the development that has come about through exploration of the ongoing discussion and discovery of

that. it's 80 miles to the west then of where you would be in the 1002 area. when i take members up who want to see in more we will fly up to dead horse/the bay which is the original field built 40 plus years ago and in fact, i worked up in prude obey when i was out of high school and i was in scott college, excuse me. i worked as they were extracting the pipeline and i sent a full summer up there and it was extraordinary. you see that development and that is what people would call the elephantine. that was what changed the state of alaska in terms of revenues

to the state. then you have what would be described as more satellite fields that spoke out in state areas again further to the west of the area. what we are seeing now with the level of exploration and the fines they are seen between the satellite areas on the state lands and the opportunities within the npr a, national petroleum reserve, which is further to the west of the 1002 and that is where your scene strong development right now. >> host: what you say to people who are concerned about the environment and think that oil drilling or gas drilling would be a wrong thing to do? >> guest: i invite them to come up. it's important that they see. takes me back to my earlier comments about you need to see us to believe it and understand

it. what you see when you come in to prudhoe bay and the dead horse area is a mature developed, oilfield that was developed using the technologies from 45 years ago. it's a much bigger footprint. you then go out to the difference in the alpine field or what they're doing at cd5 and you look at the footprint and how we have reduced the footprint and so many times over people can't even believe that is the salt you're talking abo about? is this all your working office? the small grandma pat is hosting this level of exploration activity? the reason they're able to do it is because the changes in the technology that come about in

the past four decades plus. one well that can type down and spoke out in an area up to 8 miles in radius and that is what our technology is doing a hand delivering to us. you don't see it on the serum service and the caribou don't see it on the surface and the people who live in the region can't see it on the surface but this is what you're trying to do. we don't want to come in and take the land to take the land and that is not part of anybody's plan. we want to be able to access a resource below the service, do so in a way that is efficient in clean and environmentally sound and allows for the continued subsistence activity of the native people who live in the region and there's not a lot of

communities or people but we want to make sure the native people who have lived there for thousands of years are able to continue harvesting their caribou or continue harvesting the whale that come through on an annual basis that sustain them throughout the winter. there is a balance that goes on in alaska that i am proud to talk about because we made sure that the balance is there for the people first who lived the there, you need not only the jobs in the resource but the economy that comes with it and the reality that we have is that in the north slope borough we have a school system that is able to hire pretty good teachers and you have healthcare that is available for the people

who lived in this region that is to be admired and you can afford your utility cost in barrel and barrel is powered by natural g gas. [inaudible] is powered by natural gas that comes from the oil field. compare that to some of the communities that are still one 100% reliant on diesel fuel to stay warm. what development has brought to the people in the region it has brought about change and i know that there is resistance and there always is resistance to change but when it also brings the benefits of jobs and resources and the ability to live in a cold dark place to be able to be worn warm and make

sure that your kids are educated and you got the opportunity for healthcare and these are some of the benefits and advantages that having development in the region bring but the people still demand and i still demand, as their representative, that their ability to access the resources on the land for their subsistence and patrician but also as part of their identity. the people of the whale are the people of the caribou in the identify with their food source by name and we can't take that away from them. we are no longer doing active exploration in the off shore as shell was doing years ago but when shell was out there they had stipulations and agreements and memorandums of understanding that required that when the

whales were migrating through you are out of the water and the engines are not running and you can't be out there but when i tell that to people in the lower 48 come from producing places where north dakota or california and tell them that when the whale are coming through there's no exploration and no anything going on they say what? you can't do that but i say no, that is a condition. that's how you get your social license to operate. you have to work with the people who live there, the indigenous people who have been there for a thousand years. it's about balance and it's about balance and it is not easy but it's very important. >> host: senator lisa murkowski is chair of the energy and natural resource committee in the senate and she is the senior senator for alaska on a

question. in the next couple weeks, a lot of attention will be paid to you and when it comes to the bret cavanaugh nomination. you've had this before but what is that like to have that attention? >> i like to say that but, every one of us in the senate all 100 of us have exactly the same vote and i have one vote as does my junior senator from alaska as does the most senior member of the united states senate. i know there is a great deal of attention that has been trained on me because primarily of the issue of roe versus wade and what will happen when kennedy, who was the swing viewed as that swing member on the supreme court, when he leaves and judge cavanaugh were to replace them

what that will happen to the balance and it's not just the balance but on women's we productive issue but there are so many other issues that are a concern for alaskans constituents. restate the believes very strongly in ensuring that we are respecting second amendment rights, for instance. but trying to identify or to say that there is one issue that for me will divide my determination on this nomination or any future nomination for the spring court is not how i operate. i have been looking at judge cavanaugh and his record holistically just as i did with every other justice that had an opportunity to weigh in on, whether it was justice kagan or justice gorsuch or judge roberts. i am perhaps taking the time than some would like me to and some on the right with a you

need to be deciding right now they'll be supporting him and those on the left would say you need to decide right now that he is not acceptable. i don't operate that way. i will take my time. i will be thoughtful. i joked with my son who is finishing up law school that i feel like i'm back in law school because her reading the opinions i want to gauge myself. i know i will not be able to ask him a question on what you do in x case. i would not ask that question and he would not answer that question. but i'm trying to do is to certain if judge cavanaugh has the qualities that i think we are all looking for in a judge and the judicial temperament and the character and the intelligence in the balance and

the desire to truly follow the law rather than to try to move things in a more predetermined or perhaps political outcome. and so, i want to know how does he view president and what does he consider or how does he consider settled law to be settled. i'm looking forward to the conversation. i think it will be more than several weeks. the judiciary committee has two go through a pretty voluminous records request. you have a judge who's been on the bench now in the dc circuit for 12 years and is a lot opinion out there and you have his history in the bush administration so you have further records out there so i will be following all of it. i am okay been in that space of people accusing me of being too

thoughtful on this. i want to be thoughtful. i think alaskans expect me to be thoughtful. i'm welcoming their opinions and views and everyone comes out with something they care about so there is a process of how to be and as you have noted, i'm in this world because i have not been paid into either box. i won't be pegged into a box. i will do my own work on this and do what alaskans expect me to do which is be thoughtful. >> the c-span bus is traveling across the country under the capital store. the bus stopped in anchorage, alaska asking folks what is most important issue in alaska. >> i work with the science and engineering program here at the university in anchorage and we

feel the most important issue in alaska is education and workforce development. we see students coming to our university who are unprepared for college and not doing a great job of providing the environment to support them to their program. we want to help them all the way through middle school through high school to provide opportunities that helps with them academically, socially by providing inspiration and guidance and opportunities. >> i with rotary cares for kids. one of the ideas is nationwide. that is giving children garbage bags with their being removed from their home by ocs. we try to donate that issue in the state of alaska. we get backpacks and duffel bags to children with her being removed from their homes,

transition from one home to another or transitioning out of foster care. >> another issue that is important to me is that coming into fruition is one management. fisheries are extremely important to alaska from a commercial standpoint, from a sportfishing standpoint and tourism standpoint. we got problems that need to be dealt with on all fronts and they need to be dealt with soon or we may suffer severe financial consequences. >> my thoughts on the pst based on my understanding i've understand it's a way that all alaskans can get some of the profits from our oil revenues because we are a rich user state and as far as the way it has been handled lately i think it's been unfortunate the way it's been vetoed and that effectively is a regrettable tax because

alaska people do not know that we have no income tax and so we are a low tax state however, the way they vetoed a thousand dollars and it people had to basically pay a thousand dollars in taxes. that's inequitable, if you ask me. >> voices from the state on c-span. >> cleanup today a discussion on violent extremism on what steps are being taken to combat and prevent extremism in the united states and around the world. live coverage from the center for strategic and international studies begins at 11:00 a.m. eastern on c-span2. on capitol hill this week the house will debate extending the national flood insurance program

for four months repealing the medical device tax which pays for the healthcare law implementation. members may consider a compromise on 2019 defense programs and policies. in the u.s. senate is back at 3:00 p.m. eastern and law makers will consider the nomination of robert to be the next veterans affairs secretary. they will vote on confirmation at 5:30 eastern. follow the five on c-span is in the senate live on c-span2. >> tonight on "the communicators". tina pidgeon, general counsel for alaskan cable provider gci talks about how the company makes broadband possible for small villages across tundra, glaciers in mountains. then, incoming president of the alaska collaborative for telemedicine telehealth christopher dietrich on providing healthcare through telemedicine to remote communities in alaska. watch "the communicators" tonight at eight p.m. p.m. eastern on c-span2.

>> on the eve of the 100th anniversary of nelson mandela's birth former president barack obama delivered the annual medulla lecture in south africa to a crowd of almost 15000 people. president obama talked about promoting active citizenship in a changing world. this is about 90 minutes. ...