Washington—The US Interior Department would have jurisdiction over air permits for drilling offshore Alaska under a spending proposal introduced December 15, a move that supporters said would speed consideration of the permits. Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican-Alaska, negotiated with the White House, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to insert the provision, said her spokesman, Robert Dillon. House Republicans included it in their catchall spending bill for fiscal 2012.
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