Power The Future Executive Director Daniel Turner and I spent Thursday in both Fairbanks and Healy, Alaska.  In Fairbanks, we met with small business owners who depend on responsible oil and gas development on Alaska’s North Slope.  Their businesses – like hundreds of others across the state – look at Alaska’s resource prospects and are bullish on Alaska’s future. 110 miles down the road from Fairbanks is Healy, population just over 1000 people. The Usibelli Coal Mine employs 106 workers, with most living in and around Healy.  It was founded 76 years ago by Emil Usibelli, who ran the mine…

Alaskans know that a typical summer involves beautiful weather, abundant fishing, majestic peaks and valleys to explore…and forest fires. Alaska experiences hundreds of forest fires statewide, burning hundreds of thousands of acres each year. These fires draw personnel from across the state, supported as needed by Lower-48-based crews.  Most rural villages have “hot shot” crews – men and women who work seasonally where needed to fight the fires. This year, the Swan Lake fire broke out on June 5th, after a lightning strike hit lands in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.  The incident page notes that “the highest values at…

On Wednesday, June 5th, Alaska State Director Rick Whitbeck was the keynote speaker at the joint Kenai/Soldotna Chamber of Commerce luncheon.  His talk was titled “Alaska’s Energy Workers and their Importance to Alaska’s Economy”. Being a “facts-over-feelings” presentation, the crowd of 50 or so people were given statistics to back up Whitbeck’s assertion that nearly half of all jobs in the private sector are directly or indirectly tied to the resource development industries in Alaska, and they were presented with a list of development opportunities that Power The Future sees as significant and important for Alaska’s energy workforce. From continued…

A recent article from Alaska Public Media focused on a new way anti-development zealots are targeting the proposed gold- and copper-rich Pebble deposit:  By mailing “corks” – used at tops of fishing nets for flotation – to the Senator’s Washington, D.C. office. The hypocrisy of the environmental movement has never been more evident than with this action. First of all, the corks are generally made from either Styrofoam or a combination of polymers, all of which are petroleum based, which require both mined materials and other fossil-fuel-based equipment to produce.  Nothing like protesting development of a resource by writing on…