Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued Administrative Order 344 on Thursday, establishing the Alaska Energy Security Task Force.
The purpose of the task force is to develop a comprehensive statewide energy plan that will evaluate the energy generation, distribution, and transmission for the State of Alaska and its communities. The development of the plan will include collaborating with both the public and private stakeholders, his office said. The statewide energy plan, including proposed timelines and milestones, will be presented to the governor upon completion.
“Despite Alaska’s position as a leading producer of energy, the cost of energy in Alaska, especially in our rural communities, is extremely high,” Dunleavy said. “As everyone has been reminded by the war in Ukraine, access to and cost of energy are influenced by global events. I’m establishing this task force to create a plan that will reduce Alaska’s vulnerability to fluctuating energy markets by securing dependable and affordable energy for Alaskan residents.”
On Sept. 30, 2022, Governor Dunleavy established the Office of Energy Innovation to provide a central point of focus for Alaska’s efforts to reduce the cost of energy for residents. The Task Force will provide recommendations on overall energy policy for the State of Alaska, as well as strategies and tactics to achieve its goal of reducing the cost of energy for Alaskans.
The task force’s initial report to the governor is to be completed by May 19. Once the report is received, further clarification and deliverables may be identified that would require additional work by the task force, his office said.
The Alaska Energy Security Task Force will have 13 voting members and five ex officio members appointed by the governor.
The voting members are as follows:
- The Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation, or the Commissioner’s designee.
- The Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources, or the Commissioner’s designee.
- The Executive Director of the Alaska Energy Authority, or the Executive Director’s designee.
- One member from the University of Alaska with a background in energy.
- One member from a utility that represents rural Alaska or a community receiving power cost equalization.
- One member who represents a city, borough, or municipality.
- One member with a Railbelt utility background.
- One member from the oil and gas industry.
- One member from the mining industry.
- One member with a background in economic development.
- One member from the business community.
- One member from any segment of the Alaskan energy industry.
- One member of the general public.
The five ex officio members of the task force are as follows:
- One member from the Regulatory Commission of Alaska.
- One representative from the Denali Commission.
- One representative from the U.S. Department of Energy, Arctic Energy Office.
Good, maybe our pipeline won’t get “nordstream’d” like some others.
Nordstream’d or Keystoned? What will the state workers and grant writers do when the pipeline is shut down?
It’s pretty vulnerable. What you need is a refinery. Once the first bomb drops, they’re going to shut down all fuel deliveries to Alaska. Tankers will come up and take care of the Air Force bases and the Black ops zones. Everybody else is going to be on their own.
I have often pondered on that very same scenario, Greg.
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And I find it shocking, and pathetic, that back in the 1990s Alaska refined most of our own gasoline and diesel fuel, yet today we refine very little of it. That represents a dangerous dependence on an uncertain supply chain (and let’s not even talk about food in the same context).
Greg, you’re referring to an SHF scenario. Once it happens, it won’t be just fuel; but rather delivery of everything to Alaska will cease…. including supplies necessary to run a refinery. At that point, we will be re-living the Victorian era. Candles and soap of animal tallow, wood stoves, hand tools only, etc. Stored dry food and ammo will be essential. We would be tested.
Maybe a native will show you how.
I don’t think it will ever happen. First, we will shoot down most soon after launch. star wars paying off. Second, we are still behind closed doors working with Russia. Research Thor’s visit with Eisenhower, backed up by family members. We’re all in the same club it turns out.
We have 2 refineries what are you talking about??? Kenai makes Diesel,jet,gasoline. Valdez makes diesel and jet fuel.
Looking at the list it appears that nothing will get done except the Governor has found another way to spend more State Dollars and maybe create another report that no one will ever read….
Spot On Charlie !
You are correct sir. This is just another dog and pony show. When we see a couple of refineries and pipe lines being built along with more power generation then I might believe him. The north slope has all this gas build a large power plant and power northern Alaska. Sell fossil fuels at cost to in state residents as the oil is ours not the feds or anyone else. But he is full of hot air and it will be a do nothing committee with hefty paychecks.
Mark,
Who do you think is going to build these new refineries, pipelines, and power plants? How do you think they will come to be? Is it possible that a energy security task force might help facilitate such things?
No it will cost us twice as much and be union owned. Show me anything the government has done and done right. Private company’s ca do this.
Mark,
To be clear I’m not saying government should build these things, but which companies are lining up to build new refineries, pipelines, and power plants? The entire population of Alaska is the size of a small city in the lower 48. Like it or not government has a part to play in developing infrastructure, this energy security task force can do what government should do and help private companies bring these projects forward.
That is exactly right, this is an exercise in how to spend money without really trying, just like the natural gas pipeline 25 year exercise in a bunch of false information. It would be economically impossible to build a natural gas line and ever see a profit from it, as there will be net zero information of any value gleaned from this make work enterprise under the guise of “security”.
Maybe that is just a particularly unflattering photo of Governor Dunleavy, but wow is he looking haggard! It looks like the last three years have aged him 15 years. I guess that is what emasculation, along with being held hostage to the Covidian tyranny, will do to one.
It took Ukraine for a governor to do this? Really?
What happened to this guy? He came in as a constitutional conservative and now he is acting as a globalist big spending RINO.
Revelations !
Bureaucrats . They form taskforces to study what they already know.
It will not only be Bureaucrats but the campaign contributor’s payback … a bit of public cheese please !
Question one : What well of money is paying for the Gold Star Group ? It best NOT be the People’s PFD money! IF so then the People should approve it !
Question two: Could this be WALKER 2.0 failed LNG Boondoggle all over again ?
Question three : Is the Ukraine War creating another victim “the Alaskan Families ” at the hands of this Governors spendthrift policies ?
Question four : Is Joe Biden’s friends, pushing this behind closed doors, in the New World Orders control / fleecing of America / Alaska?
Last Question : Has our Legislature approved this?
Last question is do we want or need this?
This would be more government interference in private enterprise, except that, luckily, it’s just another do-nothing task force.
We do need to find a more enlightened way to distribute energy here in Alaska. Given that we are an energy producer we should also be refining oil in State for consumption in Alaska.
The other reality is our complete lack of infrastructure to ship energy across Alaska. This problem becomes quite obvious when you see fuel being flown to a village in 1947 DC-4.
Announcements of seating a select Committee are meaningless as long as our transportation corridors are closed to development. This problem is due to the fact that our State is wholly owned by an absent Landlord. Fix that Big Mike and these other problems will fix themselves.
I have advocated for a railroad from Fairbanks to the west coast of Alaska since 1978 and it never happened because of those that own the planes and barges that transport the fuel and goods to the west coast of Alaska. Juneau has zero interest in doing any form of PRODUCTIVE AND USEFUL infrastructure in our state, They are too busy building electric ferries, which will surely be the boondoggle that all the other marine endeavors the state has embarked on in the last 30 years have been.
We need our own refineries.
We HAD our own refineries, and not so many year ago!
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The pertinent question is, why have we allowed ourselves, or why have we been forced, to give up those refineries?
Same way that independent gas stations went out of business.the big boys did it.
Look to your state government for your answer. The state demanded the last operator of the North Pole refinery clean up the mess the state had allowed the previous operator to make. So, that operator left a huge central digit hanging in the air and told the state to shove their lease and closed the refinery. Marathon bought the facility to store fuel they make in Nikiski for the interior market in 2019.
It’s such a shame that hardly onyone can look at the positive side of this and hope it actually leads to some of the outcomes you want. We seem to have a governor that wants a reality check on important things like food security, energy security and public safety. If he is successful you will be very thankful when TSHTF.
Definitely a small step in the right direction. Hope it carries weight. At present, we are but an island.
I only qualify for one of those seats on the task force: a member of the general public. Where do I go to sign up?
It always amazes me when people comment on things they know nothing about and do so with such authority.
There are five refineries in the state, two on the slope, one in Nikiski, one in Fairbanks, and one in Valdez. These refineries provide MOST of the gas, diesel, and heating fuels used in state. They also provide a massive amount of fuel for all the military, civilian, and cargo planes that stop and refuel here.
That is no longer true, Steve-O. Around 75% of the gasoline used in Alaska, for example, is shipped in from the Lower 48.
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The North Star Refinery in North Pole shut down years ago, the refinery in Valdez has only a tiny capacity and output, and the Nikiski refinery has been running at reduced capacity (I forget all the excuses why) for quite a few years as well.
Jeff,
I’m not sure where your 75% number comes from, but Alaskans only consume about 7,000,000 barrels of gasoline a year. The refining process produces about half a barrel of gasoline per barrel of oil and since we have a statewide capacity to refine about 60,000,000 barrels a year that means about 30,000,000 barrels of gasoline per year. Our refineries likely do not produce gasoline at that rate since it’s not needed.
And yep, the Flint Hills refinery shutdown a few years ago but the Petrostar North Pole II is still operating, that’s why there’s five and not six refineries in the state.
Check out ‘https://www.eia.gov/state/analysis.php?sid=AK unless something has changed in the last few days since this update…
The cracking plants in Prudhoe used to produce all the gasoline and diesel fuel for slope operations until the advent of ULSD fuel and the lead free gasoline EPA crap. At that point all the fuel into Prudhoe is now imported to the oilfield. Additionally, the wholesalers of gas and diesel in Seattle long ago figured out how much it costs to produce fuel in Alaska and have managed to maintain a delivered price to the port at just enough of a lower cost to make importing fuel an attractive alternative to the refined fuel in Alaska. It is the same thing that happened to all our food production in Alaska. The wholesalers outside figured out how to sell it at a lower cost than local producers and our dependence on the Seattle port was complete.
Do a little research about production and imports.
Steve you are wrong. I know the owner of the tugs in Anchorage harbor and fuel comes by tanker from the lower 48. He docks them every week.
Mark,
How much fuel do these tankers bring, what kind of fuel is it, do they bring some specific kind of fuel or is it just “fuel”, and is “some” fuel the same as “most” fuel? I know that some fuel is imported, mostly jet fuel since the Flint Hill Refinery shutdown.
If you need all this information to prove you wrong then start an investigation. The fossil fuels that are shipped here are all types and a side note typical the gas at each station is the same product unless they ask for an additive. So the tanker with fuel goes to all. So next time you get gas you know really where it came from.
Mark,
It’s OK to say that you don’t know.
The Port of Alaska and Valdez are where the bulk of imported fuel comes in to the state and it’s almost all jet fuel that is imported ever since the shutdown of the Flint Hills Refinery. We can’t make enough jet fuel in state to meet the demand.
I know what you ask but your dead set on Alaskan refinery’s that make most of the fuels local and I am telling you that’s not true.
Mark,
Can you provide any actual information to support your claims, or am I just supposed to believe you and disregard facts? All of the information that I know of and can find shows without a shadow of a doubt that most of the fuel used in Alaska is refined in Alaska.
It would be very educational for a story on what exactly our state currently imports from the lower 48, besides politicians and lawyers. People seem to have no clue.
Easier to say what you don’t import. Shorter list.
Side note the tankers in Valdez do not take a full load all the time because the oil is blended with other oil per the refinery’s request. They make more that one stop for oil.
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