Cook Inlet LNG, a unit of Louisiana-based Gardes Holdings, is seeking approval from the US FERC to initiate the pre-filing process for its planned FSRU-based LNG import project in Alaska’s Cook Inlet.

Cook Inlet LNG seeks OK to start pre-filing process for Alaska FSRU project
LNG Prime Staff, June 3, 2026

The LNG terminal developer, which revealed plans for the FSRU-based project earlier this year, submitted a request on June 1 to initiate the Commission’s pre-filing review process for the project.

Cook Inlet LNG plans to construct and operate an LNG import terminal and related facilities approximately two miles (3.22 km) offshore of the West Foreland in Alaska’s Cook Inlet.

The project will utilize existing oil and gas production platform and pipeline infrastructure and will not require new facilities beyond a mooring system for an FSRU and a short segment of replacement pipe in the existing pipeline connecting the platform to the local pipeline grid, it said.

The project will deliver between 20 and 30 Bcf/year of gas to customers.

This new player on the North Slope, along with the Spanish company Repsol, has invested more than $3 billion in the project at a recently-discovered field west of Prudhoe Bay

‘We will produce so much oil’: Oil company Santos shows off drilling in Pikka
Alaska News Source, June 3, 2026

For endless miles, white, glittery snow is propelled across the tundra by the blowing winds of the Arctic.

If you’re lucky, you’ll see a caribou or Arctic fox, maybe a migratory bird or the chicken-like Willow ptarmigan. Watch out for polar bears.

It’s here — an Alaska Airlines plane ride north to Deadhorse — where Australian company Santos is betting big on a new oil field: Pikka.

“It will be the anchor asset that underpins our long-term growth,” Bruce Dingeman, Executive Vice President and President Alaska with Santos, said at this year’s Santos Investor Day. He went on to call it a “core growth pillar in Santos’ portfolio.”

This new player on the North Slope, along with the Spanish company Repsol, have invested more than $3 billion in the project at a recently discovered field west of Prudhoe Bay. Lawmakers, oil advocates and the industry call the production a “major milestone,” and “historic” and predict roughly 400 full-time jobs.

“This is one of the most significant achievements on the North Slope in decades and further cements the region’s renaissance. Pikka will help refill the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, create great jobs for Alaskans, and bring billions to the state over its lifespan — benefiting all who live here,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski said in a news release.

Santos expects Pikka to produce 400 million barrels of oil over its expected lifetime of 30 years.

“We don’t have pollutants going into Crooked Creek. That’s not what’s at issue in this,” Donlin attorney Eric Fjelstad said. “We have a fill project right next to the creek that takes water, has the potential — and to underscore it’s not all the time. It’s one year and 10. It’s 10% of the time. This whole scenario that we’ve been talking about — 90% of the time doesn’t happen.”

Donlin Gold defends its state water permit in Alaska Supreme Court
Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media, June 3, 2026

The largest tribe in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta squared off against Donlin Gold and the state of Alaska Wednesday in the state’s Supreme Court.

The Bethel-based tribe, Orutsararmiut Native Council, argued that the Donlin Gold mine – which would be about 180 miles upriver from Bethel – should not have received a state water permit.

Earthjustice attorney Tom Waldo, representing the tribe, said the proposed mine would draw from Crooked Creek, “de-watering” salmon spawning sites and potentially killing tens of thousands of eggs and fry.

Waldo told the justices that Donlin could propose another approach that protects salmon spawning in Crooked Creek, a tributary of the Kuskokwim River.

“But if they cannot find those solutions, the mine should not be certified,” he said. “It violates the Clean Water Act, and it harms ONC and the other tribes and villages who need those salmon.”

Lawyers for Donlin and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation argued that the water permit was properly issued. They said that the anti-degredation rule in federal law, which the state administers, wasn’t written for situations like this.

“We don’t have pollutants going into Crooked Creek. That’s not what’s at issue in this,” Donlin attorney Eric Fjelstad said. “We have a fill project right next to the creek that takes water, has the potential — and to underscore it’s not all the time. It’s one year and 10. It’s 10% of the time. This whole scenario that we’ve been talking about — 90% of the time doesn’t happen.”

The justices did not say how they’d rule but will issue a written opinion at a later date.

The Mother Kuskokwim Tribal Coalition and other anti-mine activists are planning a Rally for the River in Bethel for Friday, June 5.

The Number Senator Wielechowski Left Out

Sen. Bill Wielechowski, in a Facebook post, recently raised fair questions about the proposed tax agreement. But he left out a number.

What matters most here, is what was left out of the senator’s framing. The key testimony did not come from Glenfarne or the governor. It came from John Sims, president of ENSTAR, the utility responsible for delivering natural gas to hundreds of thousands of Alaskans. ENSTAR does not make money on construction or tax policy. Its job is simple: secure reliable gas at the lowest possible cost for its customers. If anyone in this system is obligated to speak for ratepayers, it is ENSTAR.