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Graphite One’s Gains: House Races Ahead
“By modernizing NEPA and reducing duplicative reviews and litigation, this bill restores certainty and helps unlock the infrastructure needed to deliver affordable, reliable energy and meet growing demand,”
USA House Passes SPEED Act
Andreas Exarheas, Rigzone, December 19, 2025
H.R. 4776, also known as the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act, has passed the U.S. House of Representatives with a vote of 221-196, the congress.gov website shows.
A summary of the act on the site states that this bill “limits the scope of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and modifies the environmental review of major federal actions under NEPA to generally limit the number of federal actions that trigger NEPA review and to expedite the review process”.
The congress.gov site shows that 210 Republicans and 11 Democrats voted for the bill and one Republican, and 195 Democrats voted against it. The SPEED Act still needs to pass the Senate and go to the U.S. president to become law, the site shows.
EXIM offers to cover 70% of the costs to develop a mine in Alaska and processing plant in Ohio.
EXIM offers $2.1B loans to Graphite One
Shane Lasley, North of 60 Mining News, December 19, 2025
Expanded letters of interest would cover 70% of costs for Alaska mine and Ohio processing plant.
To help ensure Graphite One Inc. has the financial wherewithal to establish an all-American mine-to-manufacturing graphite supply chain, the Export‑Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) has increased its loan offering to $2.07 billion, which would cover 70% of the costs to develop a mine in Alaska and processing plant in Ohio.
“Graphite One is building America’s graphite supply chain from the ground up – from the largest natural graphite deposit in the country in Alaska, to processing facilities in Ohio,” said EXIM Chairman Jovanovic.
A feasibility study completed in April details Graphite One’s plans to develop a mine at Graphite Creek near Alaska’s west coast and ship the concentrates to a processing and recycling plant to be built at an old critical minerals stockpiling facility near Warren, Ohio.
The processing link of the supply chain is designed to be scaled up in modules, each capable of handling 25,000 metric tons per year of Graphite Creek concentrate, allowing production to increase incrementally.
Rare earths found at Alaska deposit.
Graphite Creek hosts 14 high-value REEs
Shane Lasley, December 16, 2025
ActLabs analysis found that 85% of the rare earths found in tested garnets from the Alaska deposit are of the heavy and magnet varieties.
Recent testing by Activation Laboratory has confirmed that Graphite One Inc.’s Graphite Creek deposit in western Alaska hosts elevated levels of the heavy and magnet rare earth elements (REE) needed for high-tech manufacturing and high-performance alloys.
First reported in November, the Graphite Creek deposit hosts schist zones with rare earths-enriched garnets. Analysis completed by ActLabs found that 71% of rare earths contained in these garnets fall into the heavy REE category – yttrium, scandium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium – and another 14% are magnet rare earths – praseodymium, neodymium, samarium, dysprosium, and terbium.
“With Graphite Creek already confirmed by the USGS as the nation’s largest natural graphite deposit, ‘and among the largest in the world,’ the presence of 14 magnet or heavy rare earths at Graphite Creek further confirms that ours is a generational deposit for the tech applications transforming our world,” said Graphite One CEO Anthony Huston.
Permitting Peril: SPEED Act in Limbo
Behind every stalled project is more than a balance sheet—there are jobs not created, revenues not collected, and communities left with fewer opportunities.
Dunleavy to propose lower property tax to support LNG megaproject
Alex DeMarban, Anchorage Daily News, December 16, 2025
Gov. Mike Dunleavy plans to introduce a bill that would establish a low property tax for the giant Alaska LNG project, a move that would help support its development.
The bill, to be introduced at the start of the session, proposes a rate of 2 mills on the assessed value of the project, Dunleavy said in an interview Friday. That’s one-tenth of the 20 mills, or 2%, that the state levies on oil and gas infrastructure, a portion or all of which can go to local governments with such infrastructure, depending on their rates.
The governor said his bill would cover the length of the project’s lifetime, which has been estimated at 30 years or more.
This is basically the offshore wind protection racket in action…
| Attempt to tie Trump’s hands could doom permitting overhaul – Proponents for a comprehensive permitting reform bill in congress are finding out the hard way why getting this done eluded Joe Manchin in a Democrat-dominated congress in 2022 and is likely to elude Republicans in the current GOP majority congress. The reason being that so many members of both the House and Senate in both parties cannot resist putting their parochial political interests above doing what is best for the country. The tie-up on getting the current reform vehicle – called the SPEED Act – passed into law has to do with a provision inserted which would limit the ability of federal agencies to revoke already issued permits. This is basically the offshore wind protection racket in action, a response to the Trump Interior Department’s having revoked or suspended permits for several offshore wind projects who received their initial permits with highly suspicious speed and lack of proper oversight. Key Excerpt: In a letter to Westerman this month, a group of 30 House Democrats made clear that retaining “permit certainty” provisions is a prerequisite for their vote. The question is whether a debate of this issue, even if amendments to kill it aren’t adopted, will be enough to mollify enough Freedom Caucus members for the bill to pass — or if SPEED will be the latest permitting effort to crash and burn. The View from The Senate Even if the bill does pass in the House, it faces a much harder road ahead in the Senate. It’s unlikely that a sufficient number of Democrats would vote in favor to meet the Senate’s 60-vote majority threshold, without significantly scaling back the limits on environmental review that make the bill palatable to Republicans. “We are facing an affordable energy crisis right now, and the path out requires us to build big things in America. But the SPEED Act won’t get us there,” Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., told Semafor. “This legislation from the House is a sweeping overhaul… that rushes environmental reviews, sidelines community input, and paradoxically invites more litigation and delay — all while failing to meaningfully address skyrocketing energy costs and the need to build out and modernize our electrical grid.” From David Blackmon’s 5 Big Energy Stories, December 17, 2025 (subscription required) |
Supremes Set to Rock Climate Lawfare
Seeking new prospects, ConocoPhillips Alaska plans to drill four exploration wells near Willow and conduct seismic exploration across 300 square miles south of Willow that could lead to future drilling. The project will employ several hundred people this winter.
Lawsuit seeks to stop ConocoPhillips’ big winter oil exploration plans in AlaskaAlex DeMarban, Anchorage Daily News, December 11, 2025
An Alaska Native group and conservation groups filed a lawsuit Thursday to stop ConocoPhillips’ large winter exploration plans on the North Slope.
The Trump administration approved the plan last month in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic and other groups argue in the lawsuit that approval was done illegally, without conducting proper analysis to protect the tundra and wildlife such as caribou that families hunt for food, according to a prepared statement. They also say a one-week public input period was inadequately short.
ConocoPhillips said in a prepared statement that the lawsuit could hurt investment and jobs in Alaska.
“These actions by the same groups that have historically used legal maneuvers to delay exploration and development in the Petroleum Reserve jeopardize hundreds of local jobs and adds unnecessary risk to investment in Alaska,” the oil company said in a statement provided by spokesperson Dennis Nuss.
“We remain confident in the robustness of our plan and BLM’s permits and look forward to completing our work within Alaska’s limited winter exploration season,” Nuss said.
“Completing federal permitting for Alaska LNG ahead of schedule shows how the Trump administration is restoring America’s Energy Dominance by cutting unnecessary delays and unleashing our abundant resources,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum.”
Alaska LNG completes federal permitting ahead of schedule
Elizabeth Corner, World Pipelines, December 12, 2025
On 11 December, the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council announced the completion of federal permitting for the Alaska LNG project. The 20 million tpy LNG project will facilitate development of Alaska’s vast North Slope natural gas resources, providing Alaskans and its allies around the world with a long term and affordable energy source.
Alaska LNG first received FAST-41 coverage in 2017 and achieved initial federal approval in 2020. Project sponsor 8 Star Alaska, LLC, majority owned by Glenfarne, reactivated the project’s FAST-41 coverage in February 2025 for updated biological opinions and permit renewals. NOAA renewed the final permit, completing federal approvals for the project on 10 December.
“I am thrilled to see the Alaska LNG project finish federal permitting actions ahead of schedule,” said Permitting Council Executive Director Emily Domenech. “After delays during the previous Administration, Alaska LNG returned to FAST-41 coverage to help navigate the complexities of the federal permitting process. I’m particularly grateful to the agencies that continued work during the government shutdown, making it possible to complete this final milestone on time. This combined effort reflects our commitment to the State of Alaska and to achieving President Trump’s energy dominance agenda.”
“This confirmation is a watershed moment for American resource independence,” said Ionic MT founder and CEO Andre Zeitoun
IONIC MINERAL FINDS A TROVE OF CRITICAL MINERALS: Ionic Minerals Technology announced today that it has uncovered a substantial amount of critical minerals in Utah – possibly one of the most significant reserves in the country.
What did they find? Ionic MT said that it uncovered high-grade deposits of 16 different minerals at its Utah Silicon Ridge site, including lithium, alumina, germanium, rubidium, cesium, vanadium, niobium, and several rare earths.
Ionic MT told the Wall Street Journal that the company has been in talks with the Trump administration, which has expressed “clear enthusiasm about our work and its potential national impact.”
The discovery is a boost to the administration’s efforts to end China’s dominance of the global supply of critical minerals and rare earths, which it has used as leverage against the United States in trade talks.
At the same time, the administration has sought ways to grow the domestic industry of critical minerals and rare earths, and Ionic MT’s discovery could play a vital role in doing just that.
Key quote: “This confirmation is a watershed moment for American resource independence,” said Ionic MT founder and CEO Andre Zeitoun. “For the first time, we have a domestic, shovel-ready source for a full spectrum of critical minerals, all extractable with a faster, cleaner process than traditional hard rock mining and extraction.”
“With our mining permits and processing facility in place, we can now move rapidly to production, reducing a key strategic vulnerability for the United States,” he added.
Read more by Maydeen here.
From the Washington Examiner, Daily on Energy, December 11, 2025
Supremes Have Chance to End Climate Lawfare
All eyes will be on the Supreme Court later this week when the justices conference on Friday to decide whether to grant a petition for writ of certiorarion a high-stakes climate lawsuit out of Colorado. The case is a part of the long-running lawfare campaign seeking to extract billions of dollars in jury awards from oil companies on claims of nebulous damages caused by carbon emissions.
In Suncor Energy (U.S.A.) Inc., et al. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, major American energy companies are asking the Supreme Court to decide whether federal law precludes state law nuisance claims targeting interstate and global emissions. This comes as the City and County of Boulder, Colo. sued a long list of energy companies under Colorado state nuisance law for alleged impacts from global climate change.
The Colorado Supreme Court allowed a lower state trial court decision to go through, improbably finding that federal law did not preempt state law claims. The central question hangs on whether the federal Clean Air Act (CAA) preempts state common law public nuisance claims related to the regulation of carbon emissions. In this case, as in at least 10 other cases that have been decided in favor of the defendant companies, the CAA clearly does preempt Colorado law. It seems inevitable that the Supreme Court, if it grants the cert petition, would make the same ruling.
From David Blackmon’s Energy Additions, December 12, 2025
You Asked For A Miracle, I Give You America’s Oil Industry
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week approved Trans-Foreland Pipeline Company LLC’s request for an extension to convert a dormant LNG export terminal in Nikiski on the Kenai Peninsula to an import facility.
Regulators give more time for Alaska LNG import facility
Alton Wallace, The Center Square, December 9, 2025
Federal regulators have approved an Alaska company’s request for three more years to change an existing LNG export terminal into one that instead receives gas imported for use within the state.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week approved Trans-Foreland Pipeline Company LLC’s request for an extension to convert a dormant LNG export terminal in Nikiski on the Kenai Peninsula to an import facility, a regulatory filing shows. The facility would supply gas to electric utilities in the south central part of Alaska, according to the filing.
The Kenai plant, the first-ever LNG export terminal in North America, entered service in 1969 and was operational until 2015. Before it was idled, the facility exported liquified natural gas produced at gas fields in Alaska’s Cook Inlet, which are becoming depleted.
“In January 2023, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources published a study demonstrating that natural gas demand is projected to exceed supply beginning in 2027, with the gap widening significantly over time,” the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said in the filing.
The Commission initially authorized a plan to convert the LNG facility from export to import in December 2020. The regulator required that the conversion work be completed by December 2022, but then-owner Marathon Petroleum obtained a three-year extension shortly before the deadline.
Marathon sold its interest in the Kenai facility in November to Hilcorp Energy, a Houston-based company that is the biggest supplier in Alaska’s gas market.
Hilcorp, which produces most Cook Inlet gas, has said it cannot guarantee that future supplies will be at current levels. Three years ago, Hilcorp told Alaska’s two largest electric cooperatives they would need to find gas elsewhere by March 2028, when current supply agreements are set to expire.
Harvest Alaska, a subsidiary of Hilcorp that would operate the Kenai LNG import terminal, said existing storage tanks and associated facilities could provide up to 7 million standard cubic feet per day of gas for use in power generation.
Harvest says it is in “advanced talks” with global LNG suppliers. The company is targeting a final investment decision in the second quarter of 2026 and anticipates LNG imports could begin in the first half of 2028.
The plan to convert the Kenai facility to receive LNG could cost $500 million or more, according to utility studies and Alaska officials, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
Glenfarne Energy wants to build a separate, competing LNG import facility in Nikiski on the Kenai Peninsula that would later be converted to export gas.
New York and Houston-based Glenfarne is concurrently planning the Alaska LNG project, which includes construction of an 800-mile pipeline to move gas from the North Slope southward to Alaskan communities and to a future LNG export terminal.
When the pipeline across the North Slope is completed, Glenfarne and its project partners plan to build a new import terminal in Nikiski intentionally designed to be the first stage of the larger Alaska LNG export terminal.
In January, the state-owned Alaska Gasline Development Corporation sold a 75% interest in Alaska LNG to Glenfarne for an undisclosed amount.
“Contango and Dolly Varden are touting the deal as a step toward becoming a bigger, multibillion-dollar business. Once combined, their executives said, they’d have deeper pockets.”
Alaska mining company pushing Cook Inlet, Hatcher Pass projects will merge with Canadian firm
Max Graham, The Northern Journal, December 9, 2025
Contango Ore helped build Alaska’s newest major mine. Its merger with and Dolly Varden Silver comes amid a flurry of deals in the state’s mining industry.
A Fairbanks-based company with several Alaska mining projects, including two near Anchorage, could nearly double in size in a proposed merger with a Canadian firm.
The deal, announced this week, would combine Contango Ore with Vancouver-based Dolly Varden Silver Corp. It’s the latest in a recent flurry of deals in the global mining industry, including in Alaska.
Contango is involved in multiple high-profile projects in Alaska, including the already operating Manh Choh mine in the Interior. It’s also doing substantial exploratory work at two other prospects — one in Hatcher Pass, above the Mat-Su, and another on Indigenous-owned land surrounded by a national park southwest of Anchorage that’s drawn sharp opposition.
“State officials say corporate restrictions on oil and gas projects create uneven playing field”
Alaska hits back at insurers accused of using ‘woke’ underwriting to reshape energy policy as ANWR reopens
Charles Creitz, Fox News, December 8, 2025
EXCLUSIVE: The state of Alaska sent warning letters Monday to four major insurance firms, saying their climate-related policies may violate state insurance and consumer-protection laws by creating an uneven playing field for energy projects.
The news comes as Alaska’s congressional delegation led a successful effort to disapprove – or overturn – Biden-era restrictions placed on energy exploration in Section 1002 of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) on Thursday, effectively lifting those restrictions.
Alaska Attorney General Stephen Cox and Commerce Commissioner Julie Sande warned AIG, Zurich, Chubb and The Hartford that some of their policies may conflict with state rules designed to protect Alaska’s status as a leading investment destination, particularly for energy production.
“Alaska’s insurance code is built on a central premise: underwriting decisions must rest on risk, and that means no discrimination based on extra-legal political, environmental, or long-range policy commitments,” the beginning of each of the four letters read.
To paraphrase the late, great Hans Gruber from the fabulous Christmas season movie “Die Hard”: You asked for a miracle, I give you America’s oil industry.
Exxon Mobil Sees Higher Earnings, Greater Returns in New 2030 Plan – No single company played a bigger role in creating that 17-year miracle than ExxonMobil, which ranks as far and away as the largest producer in the prolific Permian Basin. While its European competitors flew off into ESG la-la-land over the last 6 years, Exxon largely maintained focus on its core oil and gas business, enabling it to maintain profits that vastly outstrip those of even is main U.S. peer, Chevron.
On Tuesday, Exxon announced a revised outlook which projects its profits continuing to rise over the coming 5 years despite the current challenging oil price picture.
Key Excerpt: The energy-and-petrochemical company on Tuesday raised its outlook to $25 billion in earnings growth and $35 billion in cash flow growth from 2024 to 2030, a $5 billion improvement in both metrics compared with its prior forecasts.
Earnings growth is projected to average 13% per year through 2030, with double-digit cash-flow growth, while share repurchases are expected to drive per-share growth higher, the company said.
Exxon said it expects to generate about $145 billion in cumulative surplus cash flow over the next five years, assuming oil prices averaging $65 a barrel. Return on capital employed is expected to reach over 17% in 2030.
From David Blackmon’s 5 Big Energy Stories 12.10.25