News broke today that Interior Secretary Deb Haaland will be visiting Alaska in September to fulfill a promise made during her confirmation hearing.  Power The Future inquired with the Secretary’s office in early March whether or not she’d ever been to Alaska, but has not yet received a response.  During her hearing, it was strongly inferred she hadn’t crossed Alaska off her list of US states she had visited. During questioning from Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) about the decision the courts had placed to shut down further progress on the King Cove-to-Cold Bay road, Haaland said she would not make…

With all of the amazing summer opportunities available to Alaskans in full display – long, sunny days; plentiful fish; amazing hikes with abundant wildlife, flora and fauna – it is easy to forget that a battle is being waged against our state’s energy community. The eco-Left hasn’t stopped with its mission to ‘decarbonize’ our nation, in an effort to offset the ‘existential threat of climate change.’ In Alaska, radical, out-of-touch organizations attack our energy community at every turn.  They protest opportunities to put Alaskans to work.  They urge their small (but tightly-knit and energized) groups of supporters to intervene and…

Look no further to Joe Biden’s nomination of admitted eco-terrorist Tracy Stone-Manning to head the Bureau of Land Management to know that he values politics over safe timber management.  After all, Stone-Manning’s affinity for spiking trees – a practice she wrote a letter touting on behalf of radical eco group Earth First! – shows her deep-seated disregard for loggers and their safety. Biden’s continued championing of Stone-Manning’s nomination is mind-boggling.  So, too, is his announcement this morning that our nation’s largest national forest is now completely off-limits to commercial forest management.  The Tongass National Forest in Alaska’s southeast panhandle has…

As new Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson assumed his role and responsibilities on July 1st, little did he know the numerous “presents” his predecessor was leaving for him. Anchorage’s former interim Mayor, Austin Quinn-Davidson, sits very far left on environmental issues.  In fact, her wife, Stephanie, helped author a ballot initiative in 2018 that would have gutted resource development opportunities throughout Alaska.  Thankfully, the measure was soundly defeated by voters.  Quinn-Davidson has now retreated from City Hall’s top office to her spot on the Anchorage Assembly, where she and her liberal colleagues enjoy a 9-2 advantage over right-of-center Assembly members. But,…

One of the most egregious actions taken by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland since she assumed the Interior Secretary’s role was to put a two-year moratorium on Public Land Orders (PLOs) issued during the last months of the Trump Administration. That action – including locking out Vietnam-Veteran-era Alaska Natives from acquiring land parcels owed to them under ANCSA – was met with swift rebuke from Alaska’s Congressional Delegation (all of whom supported Haaland enthusiastically during her Congressional review and hearings). But it was the Dunleavy Administration who took official action yesterday, filing suit against Haaland and the Department of Interior to…

If you look at the “bright side”, one good thing happened to Alaska’s economy this year.  The American Rescue Plan and the other various Congressional stimulus plans injected over $1.5 billion into the state, providing a short-term life-ring to a budget that was originally projected to be that much in the red.  Now, those a bit more pragmatic know growing government, especially via handouts, is anything but a solid foundation for a stable financial future. The Alaska Legislature and Executive branches haven’t agreed on much these past four months when it comes to building a longer-term financial plan for the…

Last year, July 4th didn’t seem all that celebratory.  Even though Alaska was less locked-down than many states, and even though we have truly rural areas where we could ‘social distance’ while enjoying time with family, the typical festivities in 2020 were missing. Now that we’re here in 2021, with COVID largely a thing of the past in Alaska, it is time to celebrate!  We’ll see crowds in rivers, fishing for species that taste amazing on the BBQ. We’ll see runners in Seward climbing up and skittering down Mount Marathon, making their own history in a race that started its…

The past six years, the Municipality of Anchorage was led by two mayors (one elected, one selected after a sexting scandal brought down the first) who were beholden to – among other groups – the numerous eco-left groups that call Anchorage home. Because of those groups’ undue influence on the administrations, decisions were made around climate and energy policy that grew government, decreased consumer choice and added costs to the city budget, ultimately impacting taxpayers’ wallets. One of the most egregious acts by the elected mayor was to unveil a comprehensive “Climate Action Plan” that includes a laundry list of…

As we’ve written about previously, the Alaska Industrial Development & Export Authority (AIDEA) holds executed leases for nine tracts in the 1002 area of ANWR.  Their board previously allocated $20 million to purchase and begin to develop lands within the 1002.  Yesterday, the board considered spending $1.5 of the money to begin seismic studies, designed to locate potential oil and gas deposits in their lease-held areas. The push-back during the public comment period in the board meeting was expected; after all, coordinated attacks from eco-Left groups had been heard during previous board sessions.  This time was no different, as feelings-over-facts, outlandish…

With President Biden’s move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue came a new push to move America “green”.  The idea is to move the electrical grid from one dominated by traditional energy sources, to one driven by wind, tidal and solar solutions.  It is obvious the Administration has not thought this transition very well, as to do so correctly would lead to a huge increase in domestic mining and tens of new jobs in component manufacturing for the solar panels, wind and tidal turbines and the electronics to run everything.  Instead, Biden and his eco-Left-centric leadership team have bypassed the route that…