The Alaska Democratic Party platform, in its 2022 version that still is in effect today, already would leave Alaska with no economy except fishing.
Because of the party’s strong opposition to resource development, there would be no way to get anything to the villages because there would be no transportation.
Yet the party’s Climate Caucus, which is a standing subdivision of the party organization, like the Black Caucus and the Native Caucus, wants to go even further. It wants to go full Deb Haaland.
The Climate Caucus, which met via Zoom on Monday, is making edits to the party platform that eliminate all support for even the most regulated form of oil and natural gas extraction in Alaska.
The platform edits, for example, remove a section that has in the past offered cautious support for natural gas. The caucus simply wants the entire section gone:
“We support the monetizing of Alaska’s North Slope natural gas resources in a safe and environmentally responsible manner as soon as it is economically feasible to do so. Offshore drilling in the Arctic should take place only when there is demonstrated capability to clean up oil in broken ice, and when research and science prove it can be conducted without adversely impacting water resources, air quality, ecosystems, sensitive species, and public health. With respect to fracking, we support a priority for domestic and agricultural uses of water, and when faced with scientific uncertainty, we urge resource agencies to use the “precautionary principle,” to err on the side of risking no harm, when dealing with conflicts. We support research into the impacts of fracking on ground and surface water.“
In the party’s platform section relating to oil, the edits being made show that there is no support for any oil energy industry in Alaska, per the strikethrough of specific words in the draft platform:
“We support balanced,rigorous public dialogue about activities that impact Alaska’s environment. We support the protection of Bristol Bay watersheds with vibrant active participation from the Indigenous peoples and other people of the region and oppose the proposed Pebble mine given the danger it poses to the world’s greatest wild salmon fishery. We support responsible oil development performed in a manner that protects our fish, game, and wildlife resources. We support protection of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain and oppose unsafe oil and gas exploration, leasing, and development when it jeopardizes the human rights of the Gwich’in Nation who depend on the health of the Porcupine caribou herd and its habitats for their subsistence and cultural survival.”
The strikethrough of the word “balanced” tells much about the direction of the Alaska Democratic Party.
The officers of the Alaska Democratic Party haven’t yet voted on the changes being offered, but the debate over climate change positions will continue inside the party through the winter, spring, and summer, as the move to take Alaska’s economy into the dark ages continues. The party has its convention in Juneau on May 18, at which point it will vote on the revisions to the party platform.
If the party proceeds with the Climate Caucus changes, then some of its elected leaders may find themselves out of step with the party. Some oil and gas companies have supported Rep. Mary Peltola, who is the Democrats’ only statewide elected leader, and she has been sometimes supportive of oil, but cautiously.
