DOI Moves to Reopen Alaska Petroleum Reserve, Boosting U.S. Energy Independence

June 18, 2025

The Department of the Interior has taken a significant step toward revitalizing American energy production with a new proposal to reopen much of Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve (NPR-A) for oil and gas development. Originally designated during the 1970s energy crisis, the NPR-A remains a crucial strategic asset.  Must Read Alaska reports, “The draft environmental analysis, released for public review and comment, recommends the selection of a new alternative based on the Trump administration’s 2020 Integrated Activity Plan. If adopted, it would open up to 82% of the 23-million-acre reserve, an area roughly the size of Indiana, for leasing, exploration, and development.”…



Alaska’s Energy Future Is Back

June 11, 2025

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is exactly the kind of fighter America’s energy workers, and Alaska, need right now. In his latest Fox News op-ed, Administrator Zeldin lays out what we at Power The Future have been saying for years: Alaska is key to America’s energy dominance, and the Trump administration is finally putting it back on track. After years of politically motivated restrictions, Administrator Zeldin is helping lead the charge to unlock Alaska’s vast resources from oil and gas to critical minerals and coal. As he wrote: “President Trump’s vision for us to unleash oil, gas, coal and even critical minerals in Alaska could generate billions…


Federal Focus Returns to Alaska as Burgum Joins Dunleavy on Energy Leadership

June 5, 2025

As the final day of Governor Mike Dunleavy’s Sustainable Energy Conference kicks off, U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum continues his extended tour of Alaska—bringing a level of federal engagement that matches the state’s energy significance. At a time when energy security is a top national priority, Alaska’s vast resources have never been more critical. The state holds billions of barrels of recoverable oil and is home to more than 70 known occurrences of rare earth elements, along with essential minerals like graphite, cobalt, and nickel—key components for the data industry’s needs and defense technologies. For too long, Alaska has been…


Back to the Frontier: 13 Million Acres Reclaimed for American Energy

June 3, 2025

The Biden administration tried to quietly shut down energy development across 13 million acres of Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve. Now, the Trump administration is undoing that damage. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum announced this week that the Department of the Interior will roll back Biden’s 2024 rule, which imposed extreme restrictions on oil and gas activity in areas that Congress explicitly designated for energy production. The rule created broad “Special Areas” where leasing was essentially banned unless operators could prove a negative, “no adverse effects,” on surface resources. In a statement reported in Fox News, Burgum made clear what was at stake: “The…


Who Shuttered Alaska’s Arctic Future? Biden’s Name Is on the Ban, But He Never Said a Word

May 30, 2025

In March 2023, the Biden administration quietly issued a sweeping ban on future oil and gas leasing in areas of Alaska, without fanfare and without a single word from the President himself. This move carries devastating implications for Alaska’s energy economy and long-term development prospects. This wasn’t a minor procedural action. It was a policy bombshell, sentencing Alaskans to a depressed economy, unable to utilize the resources beneath their feet. It effectively canceled Alaska’s next generation of energy development, locked up lands critical to the state’s future economic growth, and sent a chilling signal to every investor in responsible resource production. “Americans deserve to know which unelected…


Interior Taps Two Prominent Alaskans for Key Roles

May 30, 2025

The Trump administration and Interior Secretary Burgum have hired two proven Alaskan leaders, Drue Pearce and Kara Moriarty, for positions in support of the President’s Executive Order to unleash Alaska’s extraordinary resource potential.  Adding these positions reinforces the importance of Alaska resource development to the President’s commitment to United States energy dominance Pearce, a former Alaska Senate President and Senior Advisor to US Interior Sectary Gale Norton, among the many roles she has played in her decades of work forwarding pro-Alaska policy, will be serving as Counselor to the Assistant Secretary of Lands and Minerals. Moriarty brings a wealth of…


Congressman Nick Begich Champions a Game-Changer for Alaska’s Economy and Future

May 8, 2025

In a bold and strategic move, Congressman Nick Begich is delivering a lifeline to Alaska’s economy and securing a brighter fiscal future for the state. In just 125 days since taking office, Begich has proven himself a fierce advocate for Alaska, spearheading a groundbreaking budget reconciliation proposal. This proposal is a long-overdue fix to Alaska’s share of oil and gas leasing revenues. Under current law, Alaska receives only 50% of the revenues from federal mineral leases on lands within the state — a figure far below what many believe is fair, and well below the 90% the Alaska Statehood Act…


Alaska Poised to Lead America’s Energy Future 

April 29, 2025

Alaska’s vast reserves of natural resources, from oil and gas to critical minerals, have long positioned it as a central player in America’s energy landscape. With momentum building for renewed development, the state is ready for an energy boom that could reshape the nation’s energy future and diminish reliance on foreign adversaries. Speaking at the State Financial Officers Foundation conference in Orlando, Alaska Department of Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum discussed the economic lifeblood that resource development represents for Alaska. “The vast majority of our state government funds come from mining and crude oil,” Crum told Fox News Digital. “It’s not just a…


China’s Rare Earth Halt Delivers Urgent Call For Support of Alaska’s Critical Minerals

April 14, 2025

In August 2023, Power The Future released a study titled “Where Green Meets Red,” which raised warnings about relying on China for critical minerals. By obstructing domestic mining projects, the Biden administration cut off access to 49 of the 50 critical minerals identified by the U.S. Geological Survey as essential for modern technologies. Fast forward to today. China has suspended exports of rare earth minerals, highlighting the vulnerabilities of American reliance on foreign nations for critical minerals and further emphasizing the necessity to invest in domestic resources. During the Biden administration, opportunities for critical rare earth minerals within the United States, particularly in Alaska,…