Alaska’s senior US Senator, Lisa Murkowski, addressed a joint session of Alaska’s Legislature on February 19th.   Murkowski, who has served in the Senate since 2002, started with a walk down memory lane, reminding the Legislature that during her time in the Alaska State House (1999-2002), she faced some of the same challenges the Legislature faces today. The overall message of her talk was summed up in her early comment: “Alaskans always come together to rise to the occasion.”  Her discussion focused on a number of topics: The federal shutdown and its impact on Alaskans; the opioid epidemic that affects not just…

Power The Future Alaska State Director Rick Whitbeck was defending responsible energy development in ANWR during a public meeting in Anchorage last night when “Antifa-style” eco-extremists verbally assaulted and issued a “terroristic threat” against him. Whitbeck, representing Power The Future, was given the opportunity to read a brief statement during the Department of Interior public meeting about proposed resource development in ANWR. Watch his speech here. One eco-extremist threatened Whitbeck at the end of his speech, reports Must Read Alaska. When Power the Future spokesperson Rick Whitbeck spoke on behalf of resource development and the distance the drilling site is to Gwich’in land,…

After activists hijacked the last Department of Interior (DOI) ANWR public comment meeting in Fairbanks last week, DOI altered the meeting structure, giving people the opportunity to give testimony to everyone at once. Unsurprisingly, eco-groups took advantage of this change to grandstand at length in front of DOI and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) leadership to push their extreme environmental agenda. While proponents of responsible energy development, including Rick Whitbeck, Power The Future’s Alaska State Director, spoke respectfully for short time periods averaging less than four minutes, opponents rambled for nearly ten minutes per speaker. Self-awareness about how many people wanted…

As we noted last week, the Department of the Interior is holding a series of Environmental Impact meetings to discuss needed energy projects in Alaska. We told you that extreme environmental groups were marshaling their supporters to disrupt and to try to overturn President Trump’s decision to open a small section of ANWR to oil and gas leasing and development. Unfortunately, we were right. The Department of the Interior had set up the meetings so that people could individually, without the pressure of speaking in front of a room, give their input one-on-one. This was a change from ‘standard’ public…

The Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management is requesting the public’s input on energy development in ANWR that will help further improve Alaska’s booming energy economy. Now that the shutdown is over, environmental groups who want to stop development in ANWR will likely use this as another opportunity to disrupt. ANWR development is crucial for Alaska to move forward and gain more good-paying jobs. Congress and President Trump have approved these efforts, but extreme environmental groups are refusing to stand down. Power The Future is calling on supporters of a stronger economy and more jobs to make your voices…

As mentioned last week in a piece on Alaska’s oil and gas outlook, State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources Commissioner-Designee Corri Feige was upbeat and enthusiastic about Alaska’s resource development future. In a recent speech to the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, the Commissioner provided a near-real-time look at how Alaska’s mining industry was producing profits for its shareholders and revenue for the State.  In addition, she outlined a number of mining projects that were somewhere along the path between concept and production. In 2018, Alaskan mining was a $3.15 billion industry, which was a 12% increase from 2017.  With…