Today’s Key Takeaways: Trump focused on Alaska on Day One! Fairbanks Interior Gas Utility makes progress on mainline expansion. Friends of West Susitna to expand winter trails. Trump declares “Golden Age” for America.
NEWS OF THE DAY:
Trump to sign executive order supporting oil and gas drilling in Alaska
Callie Patteson, The Washington Examiner, January 20, 2025
President-elect Donald Trump will sign an executive order Monday bringing “drill, baby, drill” to Alaska, focusing on unleashing the possibility of oil and gas development.
An incoming White House official previewed the order Monday morning, calling the state “key” to U.S. national security and energy dominance given its abundance of natural resources.
Oil and gas development is expected to remain at the forefront of the executive action, though the official said it will aim to unleash all of Alaska’s “natural resource potential,” including timber, seafood, and critical minerals.
No other specific details were shared regarding the order, though the incoming White House official indicated the administration would support projects exporting liquified natural gas from the state to the United States and abroad.
The executive order is just one of several energy-focused actions Trump is set to take Monday in an effort to lower energy prices for Americans and secure what the Trump team calls “energy dominance.”
The executive order is just one of several energy-focused actions Trump is set to take Monday in an effort to lower energy prices for Americans and secure what the Trump team calls “energy dominance.”
The incoming administration accused outgoing President Joe Biden and his administration of limiting oil and gas production in Alaska, saying it has hurt the state’s “ability to produce wealth for American citizens.”
Alaska has taken center stage in the debate over increased domestic drilling in recent years, particularly as administrations have disagreed on leasing in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
During his first administration, Trump approved a total of nine lease sales in the region. Two were ultimately canceled by bidding companies, and the Biden administration reviewed and suspended the remaining seven
Biden’s Bureau of Land Management held an additional lease sale in the region earlier this month but failed to receive any bids for the 400,000 acres available. The sale was congressionally required through the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
While the administration said the sale was evidence that the oil and gas industry is not interested in drilling in the Alaskan refuge, state officials argued that the auction purposefully restricted oil and gas development.
Just before the lease sale, the state filed a lawsuit against the administration, saying the available acreage was the minimum required under the 2017 law. By comparison, the state said there are roughly 1.6 million available acres in the Coastal Plain.
Combined with existing restrictions on surface use, construction, and occupancy, the state said the available acreage would have been “impossible or impracticable” to develop on.
Last month, Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R-AK) accused the Biden administration of targeting the state in such agency actions, urging the president-elect to do away with what he described as “overreach … that lock up Alaska lands and resources.”
“Your election will haul in a new era of optimism and opportunity, and Alaska stands ready and is eager to work with you to repair this damage wrought by the previous administration and to set both Alaska and America on a course to prosperity,” Dunleavy said.
GAS:
Fairbanks’ IGU to transition from Cook Inlet gas, invests in cleaner energy for North Pole
Jack Barnwell, Fairbanks Daily News Miner, January 19, 2025
The Interior Gas Utility plans to continue its mainline expansion this summer and prepare to switch its liquefied natural gas source from Cook Inlet to Prudhoe Bay in April.
IGU General Manager Elena Sudduth highlighted the gas utility’s plans during a Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly work session on Thursday.
In 2024, IGU installed 16 miles of gas mainlines and 475 new service lines. Most of the mainlines were installed in the North Pole area, including Hurst Road, Dawson Road, and Flight Street.
MINING:
Could a push to expand winter trails boost a controversial mining road west of Anchorage?
Max Graham, The Northern Journal, January 17, 2025
Boosters of a mining road in the backcountry northwest of Anchorage are poised to get a $100,000 federal grant for trail work. Some locals see it as part of an under-the-radar effort to push the road forward.
The Denali Commission, a federal agency based in Anchorage, is known for funding mundane infrastructure upgrades in rural Alaska. Think waste management, heating systems and broadband — critical though not exactly attention-grabbing stuff.
But a new project on the agency’s funding list is now drawing an unusual level of scrutiny.
The commission is set to grant some $100,000 to Friends of West Susitna, a nonprofit formed in 2022 to advocate for the West Susitna Access Project.
That project is a state-proposed industrial road through the wilds northwest of Anchorage that would help mining companies reach remote deposits and open up large areas of public land for recreation. The effort has the support of Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration and pro-development groups, but it faces strident opposition from some lodge owners, sportsmen and conservation organizations.
The federal funding was recommended in October and isn’t yet finalized. It’s solely for maintaining a handful of backcountry winter trails near the remote hamlet of Skwenta, close to the proposed road’s halfway point; it is not intended to boost the state’s industrial project, according to Denali Commission officials.
But because Friends of West Susitna’s mission is to support a state-funded access road, and because it has ties to some of the resource development companies that could benefit from that road, the federal grant has prompted new concerns among skeptics of the larger industrial proposal.
In addition to its Denali Commission application, Friends of West Susitna has also proposed expanding a 42-mile winter trail along a route that’s similar to the one suggested for the mining road by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, or AIDEA, the state agency leading the development project.
POLITICS:
Trump Declares New “Golden Age” for America
The Wall Street Journal, January 20, 2025
The new president declared a sea change of policies, vowing to push forward priorities related to the border, energy and government reform.