Steve Wackowski served in the first Trump administration and is a former congressional staffer.
An alum of the first Trump administration’s Interior Department has been named the new president and CEO of the Alaska Oil & Gas Association.
Steve Wackowski, who served as Interior’s senior adviser for Alaska affairs from 2017 to 2020, joins AOGA after nearly two years with Santos, a prominent oil and gas driller in Alaska.
He replaces Kara Moriarty, the previous AOGA president who joined the Trump administration earlier this year as senior adviser for Alaskan affairs at Interior.
A change in China’s trade policy could benefit Alaska.
President Donald Trump has suggested a possible oil and gas deal for Alaska with China following his meeting with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday: “A very large-scale transaction may take place concerning the purchase of oil and gas from the great state of Alaska.”
Why It Matters
China has previously avoided purchasing U.S. crude oil and has been reselling U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) since early this year. America only accounted for around five percent of China’s LNG imports and two percent of its crude oil imports in 2024, according to Chinese customs data. Trump’s announcement indicates a change in China’s trade policy.
Backing from the Pentagon, White House, and Capitol Hill, coupled with soaring metals prices, is fueling new growth for the sector.
With the price of copper, gold, and silver hitting new all-time highs, the Pentagon looking North for secure supplies of critical minerals, and a White House administration focused on unleashing the resource potential of America’s Last Frontier, the mining sector in Alaska has reached critical mass in 2025.
While Alaska’s mining industry has been building toward critical mass for decades, the 2024 election started a reaction that could sustain sector growth over the coming decade.
This chain reaction is visible across the state: in the Ambler Mining District, where a road reauthorized by the Trump administration is opening the metals-rich region for development and exploration; at Graphite Creek near Nome, an Alaska Native– and federally-backed mine project that will help break America’s dependence on China for graphite, the largest ingredient in lithium-ion batteries; and in the emerging West Susitna Mining District, where a high-grade antimony project backed by the Pentagon is establishing a cornerstone for further development of this Southcentral region enriched with millions of ounces of gold and billions of pounds of copper.
The significance of Alaska’s mineral wealth and strategic Arctic location is now a headlining topic of national conversation – from the Pentagon to the White House and Capitol Hill.
“Strategically, Alaska is one of the most important states for our nation, with its location, minerals, land, and natural resource assets,” Congressman Pete Stauber (R-Minn.) said during an August tour of Alaska with his colleagues on the House Natural Resources Committee.
And as federal policies help catalyze the development of key resource regions, record-breaking metal prices are adding another surge of energy to world-class, though often remote, mining projects across Alaska. This is especially true for Donlin Gold, where soaring prices and a newly motivated partner are providing the impetus to develop a million-ounce-per-year mine decades in the making.
This pipeline of federally backed and market-supported projects is building on an already growing mining sector in Alaska, which is on pace to deliver more than $5 billion worth of gold, silver, zinc, lead, and coal this year.
The Senate on Wednesday will vote on whether to advance a proposal overturning a Biden administration rule limiting drilling in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve.
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) introduced S.J. Res. 80 in September, saying it would roll back “key parts of Biden’s Last Frontier Lock Up” in a social media post.
The resolution would specifically move to overturn a 2022 decision from the Biden administration that protected millions of acres in the NPR-A from oil and gas development.
The Alaska delegation has long complained that the Biden administration was too aggressive with land protections in the state, arguing that extractive industries like oil and gas were essential to the economic well-being of communities and the state.
Permits, planning and preconstruction activities for Ambler Access Project.
The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority on Friday reestablished permits that allow planning and preconstruction activities to resume on a road across federally managed lands to the Ambler Mining District, an area with large deposits of strategic metals.
The permits reestablish a 50-year right-of-way granted in 2020 during President Donald Trump’s first term. It was revoked in 2024 by the Biden administration following challenges by environmental organizations and Indigenous groups in Alaska. The road would provide access to a mining district with untapped deposits of copper, cobalt, zinc, gallium, germanium, gold, and silver and would advance the current Trump administration’s push to develop domestic supplies of critical materials.
Last week, the Department of the Interior announced a package of actions to boost energy development in Alaska that includes reopening the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas leasing and completion of right-of-way permits for the Ambler Road project. On Friday, Alaskan government officials executed the permits with the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the National Park Service.
Supplemental permitting for 39-million-oz gold mine is now covered under federal program.
The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) Oct. 27 announced that the 39-million-ounce Donlin Gold Mine project in Alaska has been accepted for streamlined federal permitting under the FAST-41 program.
“On behalf of the Permitting Council, I am proud to welcome the Donlin Gold Project to FAST-41 coverage,” said Executive Director Emily Domenech.
Established in 2015 by Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41), the Permitting Council is a federal agency charged with improving the transparency and predictability of permitting critical infrastructure projects – including mines, natural gas pipelines, renewable energy, electricity transmission, telecommunications, and certain emerging technologies.
The Permitting Council is pleased to announce the latest project to gain FAST-41 coverage– the @DonlinGold Project! The mine has the ability to produce an estimated 34 million ounces of critically needed gold over its lifetime. Learn more: https://t.co/ATfPjeCgqUpic.twitter.com/nSWLTnvjCs
During an event with Alaska’s congressional delegation and Alaska’s governor, the Department of the Interior announced a sweeping package of actions to boost energy development, modernize land and resource management across Alaska, and improve public health and safety for Alaskans. These steps include reopening the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas leasing, completing right-of-way permits for the Ambler Road, moving forward with the King Cove–Cold Bay Road corridor through a land exchange, and providing land allotments for eligible Alaska Native Vietnam-era veterans. Together, these actions reduce regulatory barriers, support local communities, and strengthen Alaska’s role in national energy security and economic growth.
“From day one, President Trump directed us to unlock Alaska’s energy and resource potential while honoring commitments to the state and local communities,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. “By reopening the Coastal Plain and advancing key infrastructure, we are strengthening energy independence, creating jobs and supporting Alaska’s communities while driving economic growth across the state.”
Oil and Gas Leasing
The Coastal Plain of Alaska holds some of the most promising untapped energy resources in the United States and plays a critical role in strengthening national energy security. The Department has issued a new record of decision reopening 1.56 million acres of the Coastal Plain to oil and gas leasing—reversing the previous administration’s 2024 plan that restricted development to the statutory minimum. This action fulfills the direction of Executive Order 14153, Secretarial Order 3422, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The Department is also restoring leases to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, allowing development to move forward. The leases were cancelled by the previous administration in a decision later overturned by the courts.
Additionally, the Bureau of Land Management published a call for nominations to solicit feedback on what tracts should be made available in an oil and gas lease sale within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska this coming winter. The lease sale, which is directed by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, will mark the first in the 23-million-acre reserve since 2019.
Ambler Road
Following President Trump’s approval of the appeal filed by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service have reissued the necessary right of way permits for the establishment of the Ambler Road Project. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit has also been reissued. Additionally, the Department has conveyed nearly 23,600 acres near Ambler to the State of Alaska, completing the state’s selections in the area and advancing local control over land use and resource development and supporting local decision-making and economic growth.
Izembek and King Cove Land Exchange
For nearly 50 years, the community of King Cove, Alaska has advocated for a life-saving road to connect King Cove to the Cold Bay airport to address their critical public health and safety needs. Pursuant to the land exchange agreement and accompanying decision document, signed by the Department of the Interior, an official patent was issued to the King Corporation conveying lands from within Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. The exchange advances a decades-long effort to provide reliable access to emergency medical care for King Cove residents while increasing subsistence access and the number of wilderness acres to protect important wildlife and habitat in the region.
Land Allotments for Alaskan Vietnam Veterans
The Department is highlighting opportunities for eligible Alaska Native Vietnam-era veterans to apply for up to 160 acres of federal land they were unable to claim while serving their country.
During today’s event, the Bureau of Land Management issued three Certificates of Allotment under the Alaska Native Vietnam-era Veterans Land Allotment Program, awarding 160 acres each to three deserving Alaska Native veterans of the Vietnam war. Established under the 2019 Dingell Act, the program allows eligible Alaska Native veterans who served between 1964 and 1971 to claim federal land without proof of prior occupancy. Applications remain open until Dec. 29, 2025.
Together, these actions highlight the Trump administration’s commitment to responsible energy development, fulfilling statutory obligations and improving Alaskan’s quality of life. They demonstrate Interior’s continued focus on reducing regulatory barriers, expanding domestic energy production, supporting local economies, and securing Alaska’s role in fueling America’s energy and economic security.
National Energy Dominance Council working non-stop to get AKLNG built.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and the lead developer of a planned gas export facility in Alaska said Friday that interest in the project is surging, though it would still be years before gas could flow through a proposed pipeline.
Burgum said the National Energy Dominance Council he chairs is working “basically all the time” on how to get the Alaska liquefied natural gas proposal built. Gas could make its way from Alaska to Japan in as little as eight days, he said, and demand may far outpace the capacity of the proposed pipeline.
The Glenfarne Group, meanwhile, said it signed a letter of intent with Tokyo Gas, a Japanese utility company that would buy 1 million metric tons of LNG per year from the project.
“This agreement validates the strength of Alaska LNG’s commercial offering,” said Glenfarne CEO Brendan Duval in a statement.
EXPORTING NATURAL GAS FROM ALASKA’S NORTH SLOPE: The Trump administration is reportedly considering storing natural gas produced in the North Slope of Alaska and exporting it directly from that region.
The details: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum proposed the idea earlier today during an event held by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, adding that unnamed foreign investors have expressed interest, according to Bloomberg.
“It could be a second project, just tapping into that gas field and figuring out a way to move it out by ship,” Burgum said.
Shipping natural gas from the North Slope could prove difficult, primarily due the region’s icy landscape. This would likely limit when an export facility, which would cost billions of dollars to construct, could actually be built. Burgum attempted to assuage concerns by reportedly insisting that there are conservative months when ships would be able to pass through the ice.
From the Washington Examiner, Daily on Energy, October 24, 2025
Glenfarne Alaska LNG has signed an agreement with Tokyo Gas for 1 MTPA of LNG, marking its fifth deal in seven months and strengthening the commercial momentum of the 20 MTPA Alaska LNG project.https://t.co/viH9fiVRZb
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump gave his blessing to AUKUS, the Biden-era three-way defense pact between the U.S., the U.K. and Australia, allowing Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to breathe a sigh of relief, after the Pentagon embarked on a review of the program earlier in the year. AUKUS has been going too slowly, the president said at the White House on Monday, without referencing the shipyard constraints that had triggered the review.
“We do actually have a lot of submarines. We have the best submarines in the world, anywhere in the world, and we’re building a few more, currently under construction,” he said. “I think it’s really moving along very rapidly, very well.” U.S. Navy Secretary John Phelan, who also attended the meeting, said the plan is to “take the original AUKUS framework and improve it for all three parties, and make it better and clarify some of the ambiguity that was in the prior agreement. So it should be a win-win for everybody.” Read the full story here
INTERIOR TAKES NEXT STEP TO OPEN ALASKA FOR DRILLING: The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management is publishing a call in the Federal Register this week for nominations and comments on what areas in the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska should be made available in an oil and gas lease sale this coming winter. It’s a crucial step toward deciding what plots of land will be made available for oil and gas leasing.
The details: The lease sale is expected to be the first in the region since 2019 and is directed to take place under the Big, Beautiful Bill Act. Under the law, the agency is directed to hold no fewer than five lease sales in the NPR-A by 2035. As each sale is required to make at least 4 million acres available, this would make nearly the entire reserve open for oil and gas exploration and drilling.
About the region: NPR-A, a roughly 23-million-acre area in Alaska’s North Slope Borough, was first set aside in 1923 as an emergency oil supply for the U.S. Navy. Jurisdiction of the land was transferred to the Interior Department in the 1970s, opening it up to oil and gas leasing. Since then, only around 1.6 million acres have been leased in the region.
Read more from Callie here. From the Washington Examiner, Daily on Energy, October 21, 2025
The proponents of the $44-billion Alaska LNG are expected to complete by the end of the year the crucial engineering and cost study for an 800-mile-long pipeline set to service the export project, U.S.
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum has said. “There’s a lot of optimism about the Alaska LNG project, and the FEED study should be coming out in December of this year, and I think that we’re going to see a lot of interest in that project,” Burgum said at an event hosted by the American Petroleum Institute (API), as carried by Reuters.
The Alaska LNG project is designed to deliver North Slope natural gas to Alaskans and export LNG to U.S. allies across the Pacific. An 800-mile pipeline is planned to transport the gas from the production centers in the North Slope to south-central Alaska for exports.
In addition, multiple gas interconnection points will ensure meeting in-state gas demand. The Alaska LNG project is a joint venture between U.S. energy developer Glenfarne Group and Alaska Gasline Development Corporation, a company owned by the state of Alaska. Energy companies are ready to commit to buying $115 billion worth of LNG from Alaska once President Donald Trump’s pet energy project gets done, Glenfarne said in June, noting that as many as 50 companies have expressed formal interest.
U.S. officials toured Asia earlier this year in search of potential Asian investors in the LNG project. The LNG export facility is strongly supported by the Trump Administration, which has also been pressing Japan and South Korea to buy more LNG as a way to reduce America’s trade deficit with its Asian allies.
Japanese and other Asian companies have been considering investments in the $44-billion Alaska LNG project, but so far they have appeared to be concerned that the costs may be too high, considering the cold weather in Alaska and the scale of the pipelines needed to bring the project on stream.
The European Commission is launching a new Critical Raw Materials Center to monitor, jointly purchase and stockpile minerals vital for defense, automotive & tech applications. Europe’s “independence moment” is here. Read more: https://t.co/8afAjw5Ti0
— National Mining Association (@NationalMining) October 22, 2025
Every five years, the fading US town of Taft puts on a days-long “Oildorado” festival to celebrate its glory days at the center of California’s black gold rush.
Thousands flock to its parade of cowboys on horseback, antique cars and floats featuring oil pumps — a hat tip to the Wild West of yore.
This year, nine months into Donald Trump’s second term, the tone has shifted from reminiscence to renaissance.
Shrugging off climate change concerns, the US president has embraced fossil fuels with a stated goal of “unleashing American energy” and removing “impediments” to domestic energy production.
Some of Taft’s 7,000 residents are anticipating a comeback for the petroleum industry in California, which has pledged to abandon oil drilling by 2045 to meet its climate goals.
“I’m 100 percent satisfied with President Trump,” Buddy Binkley told AFP, a minority view in a heavily Democratic state. “And as for the state of California, I think he’s putting a nice pressure on them to hopefully turn around their prejudice against oil.”
The 64-year-old retired maintenance supervisor with oil company Chevron sported a red cap with the words “Make Oil Great Again,” a play on Trump’s MAGA motto and a slogan featured on several parade floats.
“The oil industry in California is suffering due to political reasons,” Binkley said. But with Trump in power, “I think it may go back the way it was.”
Japan’s largest thermal power generation company, JERA Co, Inc, is considering procuring liquefied natural gas (LNG) produced in the state of Alaska in the United States.
In September, it signed a letter of intent with Glenfarne LLC to advance discussions about LNG offtake from the Alaska project. The letter of intent is not legally binding and does not promise future purchases. However, it is a preliminary step to negotiate actual prices and procurement volumes.
Alaskan LNG can be transported to Japan in just under 10 days.
Unlike MiddleEastern LNG, Alaskan LNG can also be freely resold to other countries. Therefore, there is no risk of being stuck with surplus LNG. Moreover, it can also be imported in times of emergency.
Increasing Japan’s LNG procurement volume from the United States would contribute to Japan’s energy security and strengthen Japan-US relations. US-sourced LNG currently accounts for around 10% of Japan’s LNG imports.
The Trump administration’s tariff polices are making drilling and completion equipment more expensive and could hamper companies trying to build out the power needed to win the AI race, Liberty Energy CEO Ron Gusek said Oct. 17 during a third-quarter earnings call.
Liberty, which is nurturing a burgeoning power business targeting data center loads, reported a slowdown in its oilfield services business for Q3 while stressing growth opportunities in power and announcing a target of delivering 1 GW of capacity through 2027.
Tariffs on imported steel and other materials endanger both businesses and the administration’s priorities around energy production and AI, Gusek said.
“The Secretary of Energy has called the race for AI dominance our next Manhattan Project,” and winning the race requires foreign-made power equipment and other components, Gusek said, invoking Liberty’s founder and former CEO, Chris Wright, who now heads the US Department of Energy.
“Much of this is currently made overseas, and much of it is now subject to tariffs,” he said. “Is this a path to winning a race the administration has identified is so critical to our nation’s future? I would argue, no. It’s a path to mediocrity at best.”
Happy Monday! Go to the TEA Newsroom for the top energy stories to start your week:
🗞️ National avg gas price below $3: first time since 2020 🗞️ UN delays carbon tax vote after Trump-led pushback 🗞️ Offshore drilling gains momentum, onshore fades ➕ more!https://t.co/A4xwqnF9xz
