Alaska Gov. Seeks $50m to Drill for Gas and Oil on Federal Land [VIDEO]

Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell has offered to use money from his state's coffers to explore the extraction of natural resources from federal lands, saying the nation would feel an "economic boom" as a result of drilling for oil and gas in protected areas like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

His comments, which were released Saturday, were part of the Republican party's weekly address.

Parnell championed a "seven-year exploration plan to complete studies and exploration on this federal land," specifically mentioning the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR, according a CBS news report.

He said he is prepared to "seek up to $50 million from the Alaska legislature to help the federal government pay for developing" the federal land.

"This common-sense energy infrastructure project is truly shovel-ready, and yet the White House threatened it with a veto," Parnell said.

Drilling at the ANWR has long been a point of political debate between Republicans, who view the land as a resource to be exploited, and Democrats who express concern about maintaining the area's pristine condition.

"If Washington, D.C. Would start working with states to unlock access to federal lands, an economic boom would be felt across this nation, lifting wages, and creating hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs and improving our national security through energy independence," Parnell said.

"What we propose is a fact-finding mission on federal lands with the State of Alaska covering up to one-third of the cost, so Americans have the facts on ANWR, and can understand what's at stake for the country."

President Barack Obama has long rejected the the idea of drilling in the ANWR. When he still in the Senate he said, "I strongly reject drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge because it would irreversibly damage a protected national wildlife refuge without creating sufficient oil supplies to meaningfully affect the global market price or have a discernable impact on U.S. energy security."