Today’s Key Takeaways: Looking for oil and gas near the Yukon River. Canadian companies eyeing investment in Alaska’s minerals. Clean energy gutted in senate version of big, beautiful bill.
OIL& GAS:
Alaska is considering whether to allow oil and gas exploration on state land near the Yukon River
James Brooks, Alaska Beacon, June 26, 2025
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources is considering whether or not to open state-owned land near the Yukon River to oil and gas exploration.
In a public notice published in May and renewed June 18, the agency said it “intends to evaluate the acceptability of an oil and gas exploration license proposal for the Yukon Flats area.”
The Yukon Flats cover a vast area of Interior Alaska, and the state’s proposal includes only “unencumbered” state-owned lands, primarily near the Dalton Highway, the town of Livengood, the Steese Highway and the Yukon River town of Circle.
The Yukon Flats are a relatively unexplored region when it comes to oil and gas potential.
This summer, the private oil company Hilcorp is drilling for oil on land owned by the Alaska Native corporation Doyon Ltd.
Historically, the prospect of oil development in the area has been controversial; the Yukon Flats are home to the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, which is home to large amounts of wildlife.
The refuge is not included in the state proposal, and most of the refuge is a significant distance from the state-owned land being considered for oil and gas exploration.
The state’s exploration licensing program requires a public comment period before the DNR commissioner makes a final determination about whether state lands in the Yukon Flats should be open to exploration.
After that determination, interested explorers would be able to submit license applications that would permit them to conduct seismic surveying and test drilling for oil and gas.
MINING:
In Canada’s ‘Silicon Valley’ of mining, speculators power a hunt for Alaska’s minerals
Max Graham, Northern Journal, June 29, 2025
Vancouver, British Columbia, home to dozens of companies searching the world for minerals, has a special interest in the northernmost U.S. state.
On a January evening, dozens of people crammed into a banquet space at the glitzy Pan Pacific Hotel overlooking Vancouver’s waterfront.
Buttoned-up corporate executives mingled with government officials by a wood-paneled bar. Old-school geologists and mineral prospectors buzzed around platters of chicken-and-waffle sliders.
The crowd was united by a passion for mining and — curiously, given the setting outside the U.S. — an abiding interest in the state of Alaska.
It was the final night of Roundup, one of the most anticipated conventions of the year for North American mining companies. Thousands of rock enthusiasts and businessmen had gathered to pitch investors, hear talks about mineral deposits and nerd out over geochemistry.
Organized by the Vancouver-based Association for Mineral Exploration, Roundup isn’t the world’s biggest mining conference. But it’s famous for its emphasis on the earliest stage of mine development: the highly speculative hunt for new sources of minerals.
With a special focus on the geology of western North America, the conference is an especially big deal for companies with prospects in Alaska.
Indeed, the soirée at the Pan Pacific was an annual “Alaska Night” cocktail party, where an eclectic mix of ore-loving northerners clinked beer glasses, sipped Smirnoff and munched on arancini. The mood, like the price of gold, was high.
“There have been a few years where times are glum,” said Robert Retherford, a veteran Alaska geologist. But this year, “the smell” of money “is stronger.”
Alaskans like Retherford make a pilgrimage to Vancouver each January, underscoring a fact little known outside of the industry: The tens of millions of dollars a year that fuel the hunt for Alaska’s minerals flow not from Anchorage or Seattle, but from Canada.
“This is where the money is,” Dave Szumigala, an Alaska geologist who works for the state’s land management agency, said at the Pan Pacific party.
POLITICS:
Clean Energy Gutted in Last-Minute Rewrite of Trump’s $1.2T Senate Tax Bill
Charles Kennedy, OilPrice.com, June 30, 2025
Senate Republicans stunned clean energy developers early Monday by inserting sweeping revisions to President Donald Trump’s $1.2-trillion “One Big, Beautiful Bill” just ahead of floor debate. The last-minute amendments slash wind and solar tax incentives, introduce excise taxes on imported Chinese energy components, and move eligibility criteria from start-date to in-service date, upending financing models across the renewable sector.
At stake is nearly $360 billion in clean energy tax credits passed under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Under the Senate version of the bill, production tax credits for wind and solar will now expire by December 31, 2027, five years earlier than originally planned. Projects that fail to reach full operation by that date will lose access entirely, regardless of prior investment or construction status.
The new language also introduces a 10% excise tax on clean energy equipment containing Chinese-origin critical minerals, including lithium, cobalt, and rare earths. Industry executives warn this will hit battery storage hardest and derail domestic solar supply chains still reliant on Asia for polysilicon inputs.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose Nevada battery plants depend on a mix of U.S. and Chinese components, called the bill “utterly insane and destructive,” warning it would “destroy millions of jobs.” Solar and wind developers were left scrambling, with one executive telling Bloomberg the revisions “blindsided” the entire sector.
Despite internal GOP dissent and stalled Medicaid negotiations, the Senate advanced the bill 51–49 in a procedural vote late Sunday. The final Senate floor vote is expected within 72 hours as part of an aggressive push to meet the July 4 deadline set by Trump.