Alaska’s North Slope has seen its share of significant oilfields over the past fifty years, and if ConocoPhillips had its way, the Willow project would have come online in 2025 as its next one. After ConocoPhillips secured its federal approval for the project – working through the complete NEPA process and spending years and hundreds of millions of dollars to get there – Federal Judge Sharon Gleason sided with radical environmental groups to invalidate the process and the permits.  This came after the Trump and Biden administrations both publicly supported the project and defended the process, in response to the…

Yesterday was “Alaska Day”; a day to celebrate Alaska becoming one of the best purchases of all time.  On October 18, 1867, the formal purchase of Alaska by the US from Russia was completed, with the US flag being flown in Sitka to mark the occasion.  At a total purchase price of $7.2 million – two cents an acre – the move was initially ridiculed by pundits, media and lawmakers alike. Then, in 1896, everything changed, when gold was discovered in the Klondike.  Thousands of prospectors rushed to Alaska, with towns and settlements springing up throughout the state. It was…

A recent Tweet from the Sierra Club got our attention, then we remembered the eco-left doesn’t have to worry about the little things…like credibility. The Tweet stated that 72% of Arizona’s voters were against drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for a number of reasons.  It then listed them, encouraged Arizona US Senator Krysten Sinema to overturn drilling regulations as part of the controversial “Build Back Better” Act, and showed a beautiful picture of what is presumably ANWR wilderness. Except the Tweet wasn’t – and couldn’t be – factual with nearly any of its information. First, according to…

A few weeks ago, the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC) released a report showing the carbon lifecycle of its project. The report, titled “Greenhouse Gas Lifecycle Assessment: Alaska LNG Project,” outlines how Alaska LNG reduces annual carbon dioxide equivalent emissions generated by a representative Asian regional coal supply chain by 77 million metric tons, a 50% reduction. According to data from the US Environmental Protection Agency, eliminating 77 million metric tons of carbon emissions is the annual equivalent of taking 16.8 million passenger cars off the road for a year. The Alaska Gasline Project has been in-process for years, with…

You probably read the news that half a million shipping containers – and hundreds of ships carrying them – are idled off the coast of California.  The reasons for the logjam are as varied as the cargo stuck on board:  shortages of dock workers and truck drivers; the Delta variant surge in countries where the ships originate from, that have affected supply-chain timelines there; and even a shortage of shipping containers. There’s also the global energy crunch, and it is affecting China and its factories heavily.  Because it doesn’t have enough power to sustain its entire grid’s needs, the Chinese…

If the highest oil prices in the past three years haven’t gotten your attention yet, just wait. If natural gas prices at 180% of last year’s haven’t sent a shiver down your spine, as winter approaches and monthly bills increase, just wait. If China’s energy issues, which are affecting supply chains for everything from electronics to heating systems hasn’t become your problem yet, just wait. And if you’re an oil and gas worker, wanting to work on any number of domestic projects, including a number of crucial, large finds in Alaska, the Biden Administration’s message to you:  Just wait. Between…

The news broke this week that Felix Gold, an Australian mining company with an office in Fairbanks, had withdrawn its application to develop leases it had negotiated with the State of Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority near Ester Dome. Eco-left organizations from Fairbanks launched a challenge Felix Gold’s plans to prospect on those lands, basing their opposition on the fact it would be disruptive to the families who had homes and farms in the area. Aside from the obvious fact that residences and farms had been built near active mining areas that have been developed for over 100 years, the…

Alaska seems to sit in perpetual “elections mode”.  With various local elections happening across the state in April, October, and November each year, Alaskans always seem to be hearing about the latest and greatest campaign promises from incumbents and challengers alike.  Biannual state and federal elections, with a potentially redistricted 2022 cycle, will bring even more election happenings, promises and shenanigans. Power The Future wants to remind its audience to pay attention to what elected officials and politicians are saying about energy, climate and ‘going green’, especially as endorsements roll in from environmental groups, who only want to dim Alaska’s…

A recent online article bemoaned the fact that food costs across the world are soaring, with year-over-year increases of 30% or more a norm across many countries.  The article posed the question as to why governments aren’t doing more to help lower them. Here in the United States, our government is trying to make them go even higher.  Alaskans expect our food costs to be higher than those in what we call the ‘Lower 48’, and the reality certainly meets those expectations.  A gallon of milk in Anchorage historically is $.70 higher than that in Seattle, and fruits and vegetables…

The stalemate over how to balance a state operating budget and pay a Permanent Fund Dividend will reach its 187th day today, as the Alaska Legislature prepares to gavel out of its third, 30-day special session without any visible solutions. When the original, 121-day session expired back in May, there was little consensus over how to legally pay for the upcoming year’s state government services.  As always, there was a block of anti-oil legislators who thought that strafing the industry for additional revenues was the answer; thankfully, though, the vast majority of their peers understood the impact doing so would…