“The fundamental issue is that we need to get politics out of the permitting process. These reviews and decisions must be made on the technical merits. Policymakers and regulators also need to communicate more about what they do and why they do it. People expect the technical folks in the regulatory agencies to make good decisions. Explaining what they do, why they do it and how they do it will help increase public trust.”
Critical Conversations with Pebble CEO
North of 60 Mining News, February 5, 2026
As the United States accelerates its transition toward electrification, artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, and next-generation defense systems, a hard reality is coming into focus – the U.S. remains heavily dependent on foreign producers, including geopolitical competitors, for copper and a long list of minerals and metals critical to the 21st-century economy.
Closing this supply gap has become as much a national security imperative as an economic one, and few domestic mine projects embody the promise and controversy of this challenge as clearly as the Pebble project in Alaska.
Hosting the world’s largest undeveloped deposit of copper, alongside significant quantities of gold, silver, molybdenum, and rhenium, Pebble represents a rare resource capable of contributing meaningfully to America’s critical minerals needs.
Leading this effort is Pebble Partnership CEO John Shively. As a longtime Alaskan who came to the state as a VISTA volunteer in 1965 and served as commissioner of the state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) during the 1990s, Shively has spent decades working at the intersection of mining, policy, and community engagement.
In this installment of Critical Conversations, Shively discusses what makes Pebble uniquely strategic among domestic mineral resources, how its multi-metal profile fits into national critical minerals priorities, and what its development could mean for Southwest Alaska, the state as a whole, and the nation’s industrial future.
Since 1999, BLM-organized lease sales have generated more than $294m, benefitting both the US Treasury and the State of Alaska.
BLM announces oil and gas lease auction in Alaska
Shree Mishra, Offshore Technology, February 6, 2026
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an agency within the US Department of the Interior, is set to conduct a major oil and gas lease sale in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A) on 9 March 2026.
This event will offer more than 600 tracts covering around 5.5 million acres, marking the initial lease sale under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The initiative aims to harness Alaska’s substantial energy resources.
Established as the Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4 in 1923 by President Harding, the NPR-A was designated as an emergency oil supply for the US Navy due to its potential petroleum value.
In 1976, management of the 23-million-acre area on Alaska’s North Slope was transferred to the Department of the Interior’s BLM following the enactment of the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act.
Under current legislation, the BLM is required to organize a minimum of five lease sales by 2035, each spanning at least four million acres.
“Every industry now is starting to lean more heavily on nonresidents, including ones that have historically not. Even things like state government and local government, we’re starting to see more nonresidents,” Krieger said.
Almost one in four Alaska workers doesn’t live in the state, new report concludes
The proportion of nonresident workers in Alaska is near an all-time high, but many hold seasonal jobs and earn less annually
· Nonresident employment near record highs: In 2024, nearly 23% of Alaska’s non-federal jobs were held by nonresidents—the second-highest level on record, just below 1992.
· Trend accelerating since COVID: The share of nonresident workers has steadily increased since 2020, following pandemic-era layoffs.
· Shrinking Alaska workforce is a core driver: From 2013–2024, Alaska lost about 34,000 residents aged 18–64 (a 7% decline), reducing the pool of “prime working-age” workers.
· Demographic pressures intensifying: Net outmigration, an aging population, more deaths than births, and fewer in-state workers are forcing employers to look Outside.
· Every sector is affected: Even industries that historically relied on residents—including state and local government—are increasingly hiring nonresidents.
· Wages roughly comparable overall: Average quarterly wages were similar—$16,302 for nonresidents vs. $16,531 for residents—largely because many nonresident jobs are seasonal.