The holidays are a time for celebration, and in Alaska, we have a substantial achievement worth trumpeting far and wide. ConocoPhillips Alaska announced this week that its Greater Mooses Tooth 2 (GMT2) project produced its first oil on December 12th.  This project, in the National Petroleum Reserve – Alaska (NPR-A) is a big win for responsible development on the Slope, in the face of an all-out assault on the industry from the current federal administration. In announcing the momentous occasion, Erec Isaacson, president of ConocoPhillips Alaska, noted, “Projects like these continue to create hundreds of jobs in Alaska and contribute…

From time immemorial, Iñupiat Esikmos of the northernmost areas of Alaska have depended on sound ecosystems for their subsistence-based, traditional lifestyles.  They’ve counted on the lands and seas above the Arctic Circle to sustain their families and communities.  For 50 years, they have also learned how to balance those ecosystems with responsible development; realizing that working with energy producers to maximize their financial and employment returns, while minimizing the environmental impact of extraction of oil, gas and minerals, was the optimal way to maintain their traditional lands. When the Biden Administration – on its first day in office – fulfilled…

It was exactly one year ago that the Bureau of Land Management published its intent to offer the first lease sale for lands within the Coastal Plain (10-02 area) of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). That notice, kicking off the formal lease-sale process, led to immense posturing by environmental zealots and advocacy groups, including calling the Congressionally-approved sale “an act of violence”. The hopes of so many a year ago may not have faded, but certainly, the circumstances have changed – significantly. After holding the sale earlier this year, the Biden Presidency was then sworn in and immediately halted…

In one of the more curious opinion pieces seen in the Anchorage Daily News this year, a group of tribal and environmental activists call on the local power company to change how it produces and accepts power from a hydro project, in order to protect salmon migrations in the area. The Eklutna Lake hydro project consists of a dam across the Eklutna River, and its power output is exceptional.  Per the project website, enough power was created in 2018 to meet the electricity needs of nearly 25,000 residential homes in Southcentral Alaska for an entire year. With renewable energy making…

Rumors are running rampant that the Biden Administration will repeal the exemption to the Tongass National Forest “Roadless Rule” today. Should that happen, it’ll be another direct assault on the majority of Alaska, and a win for the extreme environmental movement in the state. Over the objection of Alaska’s entire Congressional delegation and Governor Mike Dunleavy, a lock-down of the Tongass via “Roadless Rule” reinstatement would stifle opportunities for continued access to the entire 17.4 million acres of the forest, which stretches nearly the entire length of Southeast Alaska. Power The Future’s Alaska State Director, Rick Whitbeck, issued the following…

By Rick Whitbeck, Alaska State Director Yesterday, the Resource Development Council of Alaska virtually held its 2021 Annual Resources Conference.  An incredibly packed schedule of speakers awaited all of us who registered for the various sessions.  Here were my takeaways, as they relate to continued advocacy for Alaska’s energy workers: Opening remarks by Governor Dunleavy were mostly upbeat, as you’d expect from a Governor who has spent the first three years of his administration advocating for responsible development.  His words of warning regarding the Biden Administration’s all-out attack on our oil, gas and mining industries were the first of many…

At least Alaska isn’t California. Alaskans who have gone to pump gas in the past few weeks have no doubt felt a sense of ‘sticker shock’ when the dials stopped spinning.  With standard unleaded gas now averaging $3.68 a gallon in Anchorage, $3.81 in Fairbanks and $3.61 in Juneau, we’re significantly over the national average of $3.41.  Our statewide average of $3.72 a gallon is the sixth highest of the 50 states, trailing Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Hawaii and California, whose $4.65 per gallon average is downright depressing. A year ago, our average price was $2.49!  How could things change so…

US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm recently spoke at The Auto Innovators Summit, where she – among other topics – opined on the need for the US to increase its domestic supply chain capabilities for electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing, stating: You know, mining has a lot of opposition to it among the environmental community because some companies have not done so sustainably, right? But here’s the kicker, that in America we have got the means to sustainably extract critical minerals. And we’ve got an abundant group of minerals beneath us. And to do so in a way that’s in partnership with the…

For decades, Alaskans have strongly favored responsible development of the Coastal Plain within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  While environmental radicals may say otherwise, the people who know best – Alaskans – understand that drilling on the Coastal Plain would be done safely, bring jobs to our state, and lead to billions of barrels of oil being brought to market, and to a world that will drive its demand for the foreseeable future. The hard work by Alaska’s Congressional delegation to open the Coastal Plain to development paid off in late 2017, as ANWR was opened as part of the…

For Alaskans, air travel is an integral part of life.  The ability to fly – whether commercially or via private aircraft – is the ability to traverse the vastness of our great state. More Alaskans per-capita own private pilot licenses than any other state’s residents, and it seems as though everyone knows someone with a private plane. Alaska’s location in the far north requires air travel for those looking to leave the state for the rest of the US or the world.  With no direct railways between the Continental US, and only one road out through Canada connecting the state…