White House weighs ‘all options’ to pay for Alaska mining road
Hannah Northey, E & E News, June 2, 2026 (subscription required)
The Trump administration is working with private mining companies on a plan to finance the divisive Ambler mining road in Alaska, including the government possibly taking partial ownership of the project.
The federal government is working with Vancouver-based Trilogy Metals, Australian-based South32 Limited, and their joint venture Ambler Metals, to create a “framework agreement” that would govern the financing and construction of the 211-mile-long gravel road, according to Trilogy’s Monday news release.
President Donald Trump is pushing to advance the gravel road, which is slated to dissect swaths of pristine wilderness in Alaska to provide access to a remote mining district in northwestern Alaska.
Furie Operating Alaska becomes HEX Operating, and HEX Cook Inlet becomes HEX Energy.
HEX Rebrands Inlet Operator Furie Under Parent Company Colors
Alaska Business, June 2, 2026
After refurbishing and renaming a monopod platform in Cook Inlet, the state’s only Alaskan-owned natural gas producer is renaming the legacy company it bought the platform from. HEX LLC is rebranding its operations under a single name.
Consistent Identity
HEX was founded by John Hendrix, an oil industry veteran from Homer, in 2019, one month before he acquired Furie Operating Alaska for $15 million at a bankruptcy auction. Furie brought the Julius R platform to the Kitchen Lights Unit in 2015 and owned onshore assets in Nikiski as well.
Last year, HEX upgraded the platform and renamed it Allegra Leigh after Hendrix’s granddaughter. The company brought online two new gas wells producing more than 3 million cubic feet per day, and a third well in the Kitchen Lights Unit was reworked and returned to production.
“Through disciplined investment and a long-term commitment to Alaska, we have doubled our natural gas production and invested over $40 million locally into Alaska’s economy,” notes Hendrix, the president and CEO of HEX.
She sees the gas line as potentially boosting the state’s lagging economy and helping the municipality deal with its looming energy crisis
Anchorage municipal manager leaving for job with Alaska LNG developer Glenfarne
Zachariah Hughes, Alex DeMarban, Anchorage Daily News, June 2, 2026
Top staffers in Anchorage’s city leadership team are shuffling around, with Municipal Manager Becky Windt Pearson leaving her role to head legal affairs for Glenfarne Group. That’s the company currently leading efforts to develop the Alaska LNG megaproject.
According to a Tuesday morning statement from Mayor Suzanne LaFrance’s office announcing the departure, Windt Pearson will be in charge of “corporate and legal affairs for Alaska LNG.”
Windt Pearson said she’d had no plans to leave her role at the city but was approached this spring by Glenfarne and saw an opportunity to advance a project she believes will benefit the municipality and Alaska.
“We’ve talked about this project for decades in this state,” Windt Pearson said of the gas line during an interview Tuesday. “Right now, for a confluence of reasons … the project feels like it really has more potential to move forward than it has to date.”