By AUDREY STREB | DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION

Republican Alaskan Congressman Nick Begich said his state is a resource giant that can help unlock America’s energy potential in a sit-down interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The former Biden administration imposed a multitude of harshrestrictions on the energy industry in Alaska and chained the state’s oil and gas leasing across almost half of the massive National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), which President Donald Trump has been working to reverse. Now is the time to shield Alaska from future assaults on its energy industry and unlock its resource potential for the whole country given that the US has a president advocating for energy dominance, as well as a Republican-controlled House and Senate, Begich said.

“Alaska had about 70 executive orders and actions that specifically targeted our ability to develop mineral resources and energy resources in our state [under former President Joe Biden.] These are orders and actions that did not apply to other states. And others have said this — that’s more executive actions against the state of Alaska than sanctions against the nation of Iran,” Begich told the DCNF. “Alaska has a bigger role to play in our nation going forward. I believe we’re going to play that role. We’re going to play it an outsized way relative to the past, and we’ve got the perfect opportunity right now with a Republican House, Republican Senate, and a president that wants to make America great again to get those things done for our state, for our nation.”

After years of staying static, American energy demand is on the rise, and the US is not projected to meet its impending electricity needs, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The anticipation of more domestic manufacturing, closures of aging power plants, as well as the proliferation of new data centers that burn through large amounts of energy have driven up projections, experts explained to the DCNF previously.

Alaska’s vast energy resources, including oil and natural gas, can help supply America’s growing energy needs, Begich said. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act included major benefits for Alaskan energy, as it mandates leases that could open up about 30 million acres in Alaska on public lands over a decade.

“That’s almost the size of the state of Florida,” Begich said. “That’s how much land and opportunity is being unlocked for Alaska … [and] the rest of the United States for oil and gas exploration and development.”

There are vast amounts of natural gas that remain untapped on the North Slope, and developing the state’s resources could provide power America for decades “or even potentially hundreds of years,” Begich said.

Begich acknowledged that more congressional action is needed to protect Alaska’s natural resource development, which is why he is working on Congressional Review Act legislation to block future administrations from locking up Alaska again, as Biden did.

“When Congress successfully completes a CRA, it prevents any future administration from taking a similar set of actions without explicit congressional approval. So, we’re looking at those opportunities right now in Alaska to unwind what Biden did. And then to make sure that creates a firewall for a future administration,” Begich said. “They would need the full support of the House, the Senate and the presidency in order to do the sort of things that Biden was doing to Alaska.”

The Biden Administration cracked down on Alaskan energy through effectively rejecting necessary components for mining projects, shutting down oil and gas leasing across 13 million acres in the NPR-A, cancelled drilling leases, among other initiatives.

Alaska’s natural resources extend beyond the oil and gas industry, as it has vast opportunities for mining critical minerals, as the state holds 49 out of 50 on the critical minerals list, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

China has a chokehold on critical minerals vital for the economy and national security, though Alaska could help provide the much needed resources if mining is expanded in the state, Begich said.

Alaska can not only help supply America’s growing energy needs, but also contribute to the AI race, crypto mining and space technology innovation, Begich said.

“Energy consumption is now the primary driver of where crypto mining activity occurs. The same thing is true and increasingly true for AI,” Begich said, noting that data center and crypto mining developers are “going to go where the power is reliable, where it’s abundant and where it’s inexpensive. Alaska answers every single one of those [needs] very well. … Alaska is a natural place for AI data centers, for cryptocurrency mining, for traditional data centers… We’re cold, we’re abundant, and we’re reliable.”