Today’s Key Takeaways: Window closing for decisions on AK gas shortfall. New York establishes “punitive fee” on American energy. Western Alaska Minerals in the news. Final thoughts from Alaska’s outgoing congresswoman.
NEWS OF THE DAY:
Regulators, advocates warn of utility inaction as Alaska gas shortfall looms
Nathaniel Herz, Northern Journal, December 24, 2024
State regulators and advocates say they’re growing increasingly concerned about urban Alaska’s energy supply as the region’s utilities hurtle toward a shortfall in local natural gas as soon as 2027 — without a clear plan to replace it.
“The window for making decisions is closing,” said Bob Pickett, a longtime member of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, or RCA, which oversees the state’s utilities. “If things just sort of slide and there’s no leadership, and we’re in the same position 12 months from now, we are looking at a dire, dire, situation. And people should get angry.”
Utility leaders say they’re advancing plans to build the port infrastructure needed to receive cargoes of liquefied natural gas that they expect to fill the gap. And they say they have contingency plans in the event of a gas shortfall that should keep Alaskans from losing heat and power.
But they also acknowledge that they’re running out of time to begin construction.
OIL & GAS:
New York to Charge Climate Adaptation Costs on Top Fossil Fuel Emitters
Jov Onsat, Rigzone, December 20, 2024
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has signed a law that retroactively penalizes the biggest emitters in the fossil fuel sector to help the state fund climate adaptation measures.
Voted 92-49 by the assembly June 8, the Climate Change Superfund Act applies to the biggest fossil fuel emitters from 2000 to 2018.
The fund charges a total of $75 billion to the “largest one hundred fossil fuel producing companies”, or $3 billion annually over the next 25 years, according to the text of the legislation published on the assembly’s website. The bill number is S02129B or A03351-B, two identical pieces of legislation with different sponsors.
“This landmark legislation shifts the cost of climate adaptation from everyday New Yorkers to the fossil fuel companies most responsible for the pollution,” the governor’s office said in an online statement.
Welcoming the new law, Sierra Club Atlantic chapter conservation director Roger Downs said, “New Yorkers are desperate for climate solutions because they have directly experienced how increasingly severe storms, floods, droughts, heatwaves, and public health emergencies are hurting our communities and undermining the affordability of everything.”
A spokesperson for lobby group the American Petroleum Institute said in a statement to Rigzone, “This type of legislation represents nothing more than a punitive new fee on American energy, and we are evaluating our options moving forward.”
MINING:
Western Alaska Minerals Announces Grant of Options and Restricted Share Units
Mining.Com, December 30, 2024
TUCSON, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / December 30, 2024 / Western Alaska Minerals Corp. (the “Company” or “WAM“) (TSXV:WAM) announces that it has granted a total of 1,095,000 stock options (the “Options“), 785,000 of which have been granted to certain directors, officers and an investor relations employee of the Company. The Options are each exercisable to purchase one subordinate voting share of the Company at an exercise price of $0.45 for a period of 5 years. The Options will vest immediately.
The Company has also issued an aggregate of 75,000 restricted share units (the “RSUs“) to certain employees and an officer of the Company. Each RSU entitles the holder to be issued one subordinate voting share of the Company on vesting. All the RSUs will vest one year from the grant date.
About WAM
Our mission is to advance a mineable and scalable CRD, ultimately reshaping the mineral landscape of western Alaska and establishing a new CRD district.
WAM’s CRD system encompasses a 373Koz AuEq NI 43-101-compliant indicated and 152Koz AuEq Inferred resource* at the past producing Illinois Creek gold-silver mine*, and the high-grade Waterpump Creek silver-lead-zinc deposit with an inferred resource estimate of 74.9Moz at 980 g/t AgEq*, open to the north. Within the same CRD system sits the Honker gold vein prospect. Twenty-five kilometers northeast of the Illinois Creek CRD lies the Round Top copper and the TG North CRD prospects. All prospects were originally discovered by Anaconda Minerals Co. in the early 1980’s. WAM’s 100% owned cover 73,120 acres (114.25 square miles or 29,591 hectares). Since 2010, WAM, along with its precursor company, Western Alaska Copper & Gold, reassembled the Anaconda land package and has been engaged in exploring the district.
Headquartered in both Alaska and Arizona, WAM brings together a team of seasoned professionals with a shared vision of pioneering new frontiers in mineral exploration. Our strategic approach is underpinned by cutting-edge technology, innovative techniques, and a deep understanding of the geological intricacies of the region.
*Information on our historical gold and Waterpump Creek resources, as well as historical work performed by Anaconda Minerals Co. and NovaGold (2005/2006) can be found in our NI 43-101 report, dated April 2, 2024, authored by Bruce Davis, PhD, FAusIMM, titled “Western Alaska Minerals Corp. ILLINOIS CREEK PROJECT UPDATE Illinois Creek Mining District, Western Alaska, USA” on our website: https://www.westernalaskaminerals.com/_resources/pdfs/Illinois-Creek-NI43101-Technical-Report.pdf?v=0.317
POLITICS:
Alaska’s outgoing congresswoman on running, losing and an indelible moment
Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media, December 27th, 2024
Congresswoman Mary Peltola is still in office. That changes Jan. 3, when Nick Begich III is sworn in as Alaska’s representative in the U.S. House.
But “in office” is a metaphor. She no longer has a physical office at the Capitol. The House booted her from her office suite after she lost. This awkward administrative send-off is routine for any losing House candidate, but it came as a surprise to Peltola. As it would. She is the first Alaskan to lose re-election to the U.S. House since 1966.
She sometimes sounds philosophical about her defeat.
“I’m not upset about the loss at all,” she said, from a political consultant’s office a few blocks from her old digs at the Cannon House Office Building. “I have known my whole life that politics is about timing and luck. It’s all about timing. And two years ago, the tide and the wind and the current were all in our favor, and this time, they were totally against us.”
In 2022, she won a special election and then the regular election. Back then, the two Republicans in the race, Sarah Palin and Nick Begich, went after each other. Peltola could stay above the fray. At the Alaska Federation of Natives convention that year, Palin had nothing but praise for her Democratic rival.
“We’re in Mary’s house. I know that. And I’m just as proud as all of you are,” Palin gushed at the time.
This year the political seas had changed. Other Republican candidates dropped out, focusing conservative support on Begich. And Donald Trump was on the ballot, inspiring more Republican voters to the polls. About 18,000 Alaska Trump voters split their ticket to vote for Peltola. Still, she fell about 8,000 votes short. With the presidential race as it was, Peltola says hers was unwinnable.
“We worked really hard. There wasn’t anything more we could have done to squeeze out 8000 more votes. That’s a lot of votes in Alaska,” she said. “There were a lot of Democrats who supported me, and a lot of Republicans and independents and nonpartisans. And who can be upset about that?”
She’s proud of her work for Arctic oil development at Willow, against the supermarket merger, as well as her work on fish policy and icebreaker acquisition.
But she’s pessimistic that the House can tackle the nation’s problems. The hyperpartisanship runs too deep, she said, and the two-year election cycle drives everything. The fundraising pressure is unrelenting.