Today, May 18, Glenfarne Alaska LNG, LLC and ConocoPhillips Alaska announced the companies have signed a gas sales precedent agreement to supply natural gas produced on Alaska’s North Slope for Phase One of the Alaska LNG project.
ConocoPhillips joins the North Slope’s two other major producers, ExxonMobil and Hilcorp Alaska, in agreeing to provide gas for the Alaska LNG pipeline. Glenfarne also has a gas sales precedent agreement with Great Bear Pantheon LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pantheon Resources plc.
“All major North Slope producers have now committed enough natural gas to support a Phase One final investment decision,” stated Adam Prestidge, President of Glenfarne Alaska LNG. “Today’s milestone agreement establishes the commercial terms for ConocoPhillips to supply gas and help Phase One of Alaska LNG provide energy security for Alaska. I appreciate Erec and his team for their continued collaboration and support as we advance this transformational energy project for Alaska.”
ConocoPhillips Alaska President Erec Isaacson said, “ConocoPhillips shares Glenfarne’s commitment to developing Alaska’s resources for the long-term benefit of Alaskans. Our participation in Alaska LNG supports reliable access to responsibly produced North Slope natural gas while complementing our ongoing investment in Alaska.”
What if the future of healthcare has more to do with the kitchen than the hospital?
That was the underlying message at the inaugural Food is Life, Food is Health summit in Napa, California, where Stanford physicians and researchers joined Harvard nutrition scientists and Culinary Institute of America leadership and faculty in a groundbreaking effort to rethink the role of food in modern medicine.
Hosted through a collaboration between the Culinary Institute of America and Stanford Medicine, the summit reflected a growing movement that no longer views culinary arts, nutrition science, and healthcare as separate disciplines. Instead, discussions focused on how preventive nutrition, microbiome science, culinary education, and food preparation may become increasingly central to chronic disease prevention and long-term public health.
For many Alaskans, the summit’s core message was familiar. Across the state, food has long been connected to culture, resilience, community, and health— whether through salmon and halibut fishing, subsistence hunting, berry picking, foraging, or traditional methods of food preservation, such as drying and fermenting.
But the summit approached these ideas through a scientific lens. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health nutrition leaders Dr. Walter Willett and Dr. Frank Hu, two of the world’s most influential voices in nutrition science and chronic disease prevention, participated in discussions focused on dietary guidance and longevity. Stanford professor of medicine and nutrition scientist Christopher Gardner, widely recognized for his work on the Stanford Twins Study, joined discussions exploring how evidence-based nutrition can be translated into realistic and culturally relevant meals people will actually enjoy eating.
Dr. David Eisenberg, Director of Culinary Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, moderated discussions exploring how physicians, chefs, dietitians, and farmers can work together to address chronic disease and broader public health challenges.
Presenters emphasized that scientific evidence alone was insufficient if healthy food lacked flavor, cultural relevance, affordability, or practicality. Discussions repeatedly returned to the idea that successful dietary change depends not only on nutritional science but also on deliciousness, sensory appeal, affordability, and long-term sustainability. Culinary arts and flavor development were treated as central components of public health itself.
At the Culinary Institute of America, known as the world’s premier culinary college, these ideas are no longer just theoretical. The school has already begun building programs around the growing connection between culinary arts, nutrition science, and preventive healthcare, including its graduate-level Culinary Therapeutics program, designed to prepare culinarians for emerging roles at the intersection of food, health, and wellness.
Meanwhile, the scientific evidence connecting diet to health and longevity continues to grow.
Among the summit’s standout presenters was Stanford microbiologist Dr. Justin Sonnenburg, one of the world’s leading researchers studying the gut microbiome and its connection to human health.
Sonnenburg explained that the microbes living in the human gut influence far more than digestion alone. His presentation examined connections between the microbiome and metabolism, obesity, immune function, inflammation, and even the central nervous system. He described the human body as “a walking ecosystem,” illustrating the close relationship between human health and microbial life within the gut. Sonnenburg also warned that modern industrialized diets and lifestyles may be reducing microbiome diversity, contributing to chronic inflammation, chronic disease, and poorer long-term health outcomes.
However, Sonnenburg also emphasized that the microbiome may be highly responsive to dietary changes. Growing research suggests that dietary fiber and fermented foods may help support healthier microbiome function and diversity.
Fiber and fermented foods were recurring themes throughout the summit. One session was dedicated entirely to the culinary versatility and nutritional value of lentils. Fermented foods were also recognized for their health benefits and longstanding role in traditional food cultures around the world. Examples discussed during the conference included yogurt, kimchi, kefir, sauerkraut, miso, and koji-based foods.
The summit also highlighted how chefs trained in culinary therapeutics may increasingly serve as translators between complex nutrition science and everyday life. Throughout the conference, chefs were treated not as secondary to the science but as essential partners helping transform evidence-based nutrition into meals people can realistically prepare, enjoy, and sustain over time.
The following is a reprint of a press release from Santos, approved and authorized for release by Kevin Gallagher, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.
Santos today announced first oil from the Pikka phase 1 development on Alaska’s North Slope, with oil flow established through the Lease Automated Custody Transfer (LACT) meter into the Pikka sales oil line.
Santos is the operator of the project and holds a 51 per cent interest in the Pikka Unit, with partner Repsol holding the remaining 49 per cent.
Pikka phase 1 has initiated production as part of the start-up and late-stage commissioning process that will lead to an initial ramp-up to 20,000 bbl/day (gross) over the next few weeks, while production is planned to be intermittent as key subsystems are progressively brought online. Production is then expected to be maintained at that level for about one month until water injection is established following the start-up of the Seawater Treatment Plant. Together with well inventory buildout and progression of well tie-in activities, the project is expected to reach a production plateau of 80,000 bbl/day (gross) during the third quarter.
At first oil, 28 development wells have been drilled, of which 21 have been stimulated and flowed back in line with pre-drill expectations. First sales revenue is expected approximately two to three months following first oil, with Santos and its partner alternating tanker shipments from the Port of Valdez.
Santos Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Gallagher said Pikka is a tier-one asset in one of the world’s super basins.
“Alaska has a huge runway ahead of it which will underpin value-accretive production growth for Santos for the long term. When the Pikka Field was discovered, the Nanushuk formation was recognised as a new generation play in an established global super basin and we are proud to be at the forefront of unlocking its resource potential. The Pikka phase 1 project has demonstrated Santos’ capability to develop this world-class resource safely, responsibly and efficiently. We are already implementing technical drilling improvements that save time and cost, and we will continue to drive improved performance into the future.
“As we now take Pikka phase 1 into operations, we are transitioning from project execution to our disciplined, low-cost operating model which will maximise the project’s value for our shareholders for the long term.
“Earlier this year, Quokka-1 appraisal results demonstrated the quality of our broader Alaska portfolio. At the end of 2025, Santos reported 2C contingent resources of 177 mmboe (net) for the Quokka Unit alone. With development of the Quokka and Horseshoe Units of the high-quality Nanushuk reservoir ahead of us, we have clear line of sight to strong production growth on the North Slope, subject to continued appraisal, development planning and final investment decisions. Santos plans to develop these resources with the same capital discipline and strong project execution capability we have demonstrated for Pikka phase 1,” said Mr Gallagher.
Join Sonia on The Social from the Must Read Alaska Show as she sits down with Tandy Hogate — host of the Sustainable Alaska podcast and co-founder of Common Ground Alaska — for a timely conversation on Alaska’s growing homestead revival.
In “From the Land Up: Alaska’s Homestead Revival,” Tandy shares how more Alaskans are reclaiming self-reliance through gardening, animal husbandry, food preservation, and off-grid living. With Alaska importing nearly all its groceries and facing real supply chain risks, this movement isn’t just a lifestyle — it’s a practical response to food security and resilience.
Tandy previews the third annual Alaska Homestead Expo and Marketplace happening Memorial Day Weekend, May 22–23, 2026, at the Big Lake Lions Club. This year’s event expands to a hybrid format with livestreamed sessions, full recordings, and an entire summer series of 65+ additional classes included with your ticket.
The phrase “biblical masculinity” is gaining traction in churches, men’s groups and online forums. It urges men to embrace a distinctly Christian vision of manhood rooted in self-giving love. In a culture marked by confusion about gender roles, declining male participation in faith communities and widespread family breakdown, this vision offers a clear, counter-cultural path forward. It is not about reviving outdated stereotypes or asserting dominance. Instead, it calls men back to the self-sacrificial leadership modeled by Jesus Christ and rooted in the very order of creation.
St. Thomas Aquinas teaches in the Summa Theologica, “to love is to will the good of the other.” This definition is simple yet profound. A man who lives biblical masculinity does not seek his own comfort or status first. He actively desires and works for the genuine good of his wife, children and community — even when that requires personal sacrifice. Such a man relates to women in a spirit of complementarity rather than competition or superiority. He practices responsible fatherhood by protecting, providing and leading through sacrificial service. These qualities matter deeply in marriage and family life, but they also answer a society hungry for true peace and ordered love. When men live this way, homes become stable, children thrive and communities reflect the harmony God intended from the beginning.
Scripture grounds this vision in creation itself. In the Book of Genesis, God places Adam in the garden “to cultivate and care for it” (Gen 2:15), establishing man’s fundamental call to guardianship and fruitful labor. Masculinity is presented as a complementary gift to femininity, never a claim of superiority. The two sexes together reflect the image of God in a unique way. The beauty and true strength of these gifts reach perfection when human sexuality is ordered toward the capacity for love. In the nuptial meaning of the body — male and female — sexuality is expressed as gift and love, with responsibility, and never reduced to power, exploitation, demeaning or domination. Rather, it calls men to “love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25). This verse from St. Paul is not poetic exaggeration. It sets the standard: a husband’s love should mirror Christ’s total self-gift on the cross— generous, faithful and life-giving.
Aquinas is the preeminent theologian on the human person. He taught that man is naturally suited for headship in the domestic order because reason predominates more strongly in him. This authority is not servile domination. Aquinas described it as economic and civil leadership exercised for the benefit of wife and children. He never used the English term “effeminacy.” He did, however, use the Latin word mollities — moral softness — to describe the unwillingness to forsake pleasure or endure hardship for the sake of a greater good. This vice, he taught, is directly opposed to the virtues of fortitude and perseverance. In practical terms, mollities is what causes a man to abandon prayer when it feels dry, to avoid difficult conversations with his children, or to shrink from the daily demands of providing and protecting. Biblical masculinity rejects this softness. It embraces the cross-like path of perseverance.
Today, exorcist and theologian Fr. Chad Ripperger diagnoses a profound cultural crisis of masculinity caused by widespread passivity and irresponsibility. He calls it the enduring “curse of Adam”— a reference to the fallen human tendency, inherited from original sin, to avoid responsibility and seek the path of least resistance. True biblical masculinity, Fr. Ripperger insists, is recovered only when men conquer passivity, embrace self-discipline, sacrifice and spiritual headship in their homes. Men must protect and provide for their families both materially and spiritually. Through prayer and self-denial, men must reject both modern male passivity and any selfish dominance that distorts God’s plan, which is that he continue in grace through His Son (Rm 11:22).
The urgency of this message is unmistakable. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 18 million American children— roughly one in four— grow up without a biological father in the home. Decades of research link father absence to higher rates of poverty, behavioral problems, school dropout and incarceration. At the same time, male participation in church life has declined steadily for years. Gender ideology has sown widespread confusion about what it means to be male, while secular voices routinely label traditional manhood as “toxic.” In response, biblical masculinity offers a counter-cultural path. It calls men back to the self-sacrificial leadership modeled by Christ and set in motion at creation.
St. Joseph stands as the quiet, powerful model of this vocation. Scripture calls him “a righteous man” (Mt 1:19) who protected the Holy Family during their flight to Egypt, provided for them through his labor as a carpenter and obeyed God without hesitation. His silent strength, daily sacrifice and total commitment to Mary and Jesus embody the very heart of biblical masculinity. Joseph did not seek the spotlight. He simply did what was required of him, day after day, with fidelity and trust. In him, men today find a patron who shows that real strength is often quiet, steady and oriented entirely toward the good of others.
Far from outdated, this vision of biblical masculinity bears real fruit. Men who live it build stronger marriages, raise more resilient children and contribute to a healthier society. In an age of confusion, moral decline, division and mental disorder, biblical masculinity is not about power. It is about love. It invites every man to become, in the words of St. Paul, “watchful, firm in the faith, courageous, and strong” (1 Cor. 16:13)— and to lay down his life so that others may live.
Dr. Cindy Sena-Martinez is a Thomistic Psychologist and Fullness of Life Coach.
The following is a reprint of a press release as provided by Lauren Giliam, Thompson & Co. PR.
May 15, 2026 (Anchorage, Alaska)– The Alaska Oil and Gas Association (AOGA), Alaska Support Industry Alliance, Alaska Chamber of Commerce, and Resource Development Council for Alaska today raised serious concerns regarding the Senate Resources Committee substitute for SB 280, warning the legislation would now impose sweeping oil tax increases without meaningful economic analysis, public vetting, or a clear understanding of the consequences for Alaska’s economy, investment climate, and future energy development. The latest proposal adds a new 30-cent-per-barrel tax on every barrel of oil produced in Alaska and increases the minimum production tax by 50 percent.
What began as legislation intended to help advance a long-term gasline solution for Alaska has now been transformed into a major oil tax increase that risks undermining both current oil production and the very investment environment necessary to support a future gasline project.
“Alaska’s oil and gas industry makes investment decisions on projects that require billions of dollars in capital and development timelines measured in decades,” said Steve Wackowski, president and CEO of AOGA. “Rushed and unvetted changes to Alaska’s fiscal system create uncertainty that investors price directly into their decisions. Ironically, legislation now titled the ‘Supporting Alaska Gasline Act’ moves Alaska in the opposite direction by undermining the stable investment climate required to advance both a successful gasline project and future North Slope development.”
The organizations also expressed concern that the proposal follows the committee’s advancement of SB 227, legislation that would fundamentally restructure Alaska’s oil tax system. During testimony and fiscal analysis on SB 227, the Department of Revenue acknowledged that provisions under the legislation could render multiple North Slope fields uneconomic under certain price conditions.
“Advancing major structural tax changes without rigorous modeling, clearly defined policy goals, or a transparent public process is deeply concerning,” said Rebecca Logan, president and CEO of the Alaska Support Industry Alliance. “Thousands of Alaska jobs and small businesses depend on long-term investment certainty in the oil and gas industry.”
“Alaska’s economy depends on maintaining a competitive and stable investment environment,” said Kati Capozzi, president and CEO of the Alaska Chamber of Commerce. “Policies that increase uncertainty or discourage investment ultimately impact state revenues, private sector employment, and the broader business community across Alaska.”
“Investors across the nation and around the world are watching the conversations taking place in Alaska’s Legislature, and the signals sent today extend well beyond oil and gas,” said Connor Hajdukovich, executive director of the Resource Development Council for Alaska. “As Alaska begins to see renewed investment, major projects advancing, and the first projected turnaround in TAPS throughput in more than 20 years, pursuing significant changes to the state’s oil tax structure without a transparent process or proper analysis of the long-term risks creates uncertainty at precisely the wrong time.”
The organizations emphasized that if lawmakers want to pursue serious discussions regarding Alaska’s fiscal future, those conversations should begin with clearly articulated policy objectives, comprehensive economic modeling, and a transparent public process — not last-minute tax increases inserted into legislation originally intended to improve the economics of a future Alaska gasline project.
About the Alaska Oil and Gas Association
AOGA is a professional trade association whose mission is to foster the long-term viability of the oil and gas industry in Alaska for the benefit of all Alaskans.
About the Alaska Support Industry Alliance
The Alliance promotes responsible exploration, development and production of oil, gas and mineral resources for the benefit of all Alaskans. It represents more than 500 businesses who provide support to the oil and gas and mining industries.
About the Alaska Chamber
The Alaska Chamber is a non-profit founded in 1953 working to promote a positive business environment in Alaska. The Chamber is the voice of small and large business representing more than 700 businesses, manufacturers, and local chambers across Alaska. Our member companies employ more than 55,000 hard-working Alaskans. The Chamber advocates for a positive investment climate that provides certainty and stability for Alaska. More information about the organization is available at www.alaskachamber.com.
About the Resource Development Council for Alaska
RDC is an Alaskan nonprofit trade association comprised of individuals and companies from Alaska’s oil and gas, mining, forest products, tourism and fisheries industries. RDC’s membership includes Alaska Native Corporations, local communities, organized labor and industry support firms. RDC’s purpose is to encourage a strong, diversified private sector in Alaska and expand the state’s economic base through the responsible development of our natural resources.
With 5 days left in the legislative session, the Alaska State Senate Resources Committee is investing much of their time on Senate Bill 280, a 7-page bill originally introduced to provide the Oil & Gas industry with tax breaks in order to encourage investment in the Alaska LNG project. After a string of amendments and rewrites, the now 52-page-long bill, SB 280 version L, now hits the Oil & Gas industry with four new taxes.
Rather than appeal to investors, the State has prioritized driving its own revenue. The new taxes now included in SB 280 are an alternative volumetric tax (ATV), tax on pass-through entities, an infrastructure maintenance surcharge, and a raised minimum tax floor.
The ATV would apply at rates of $0.06/mcf for gas treatment plant or carbon capture facility throughput before throughput exceeds 250 million cubic feet per day, increasing to $0.10/mcf after that threshold is reached. The tax would also apply at rates of $0.06/mcf for pipeline throughput before throughput exceeds 250 million cubic feet per day, increasing to $0.15/mcf after that threshold is reached. Finally, the tax would apply at a rate of $0.15/mcf for LNG plant throughput beginning at commencement of commercial operations. Rates would be adjusted annually for inflation based on CPI for urban Alaska.
The second tax hit is a proposed tax on pass-through entities involved in “producing, treating, supplying, transporting, or processing oil or gas, including LNG processing, marine transportation of LNG produced in the state, and carbon capture or carbon storage activities.”
The bracketed tax rate on pass-through entities, which will be taxed “as if the qualified entity were taxable as a C corporation,” is as follows:
Taxable income
Tax rate under SB 280 version L
Less than $1 million
0
$1-2 million
5%
$2-3 million
6% plus $50,000
$3-4 million
7% plus $110,000
$4-5 million
8% plus $180,000
$5+ million
9.4% plus $260,000
These taxes on pass-through entities would apply retroactively starting January 1, 2026.
The third tax hit is a new production tax surcharge labeled “Infrastructure Maintenance Surcharge.” It proposes a $0.30 per taxable barrel of oil produced. Proceeds would be directed to a Dalton Highway pipeline corridor maintenance fund. No tax credits, deductions, or other allowances would be allowed to offset this fee, and it would begin July 1, 2026.
The final hit would be to increase the minimum tax floor for production tax on North Slope oil from 4 percent to 6 percent of the gross value at the point of production when the average price per barrel for Alaska North Slope crude oil for sale on the United States West Coast is more than $25. This tax would apply to oil produced on and after January 1, 2027.
According to the fiscal note from the Department of Revenue’s Tax Division, revenues resulting from this bill are “indeterminate.” The fiscal note fails to analyze the economics of the bill beyond stating, “The revenue impact could be positive or negative and could impact state finances by hundreds of millions of dollars, or more, per year. Key uncertainties include the impact of this bill on whether the Alaska LNG project moves forward, and detailed final project cost and timing.”
Despite the fiscal note’s assessment of uncertainty, the presentation given by Chief Economist Dan Stickel shows a clear revenue increase for the State with SB 280 version L, although less than the State wanted with version H. However, version L significantly slashes municipal revenues. Here is a look at the math:
State Revenues
Revenue increase with SB 280 as introduced ($)
Revenue increase with SB 280 version H ($)
Revenue increase with SB 280 version L ($)
2042
-2.6 billion
0.8 billion
0.4 billion
2052
-4.9 billion
4.4 billion
3.1 billion
2062
-7.2 billion
10.5 billion
7.7 billion
Municipal Revenues
2042
-5 billion
-0.8 billion
-1.5 billion
2052
-9.2 billion
-1.3 billion
-1.6 billion
2062
-13.3 billion
-0.4 billion
-1.6 billion
The bill in its current form would also require the State to hire four new positions: a Corporate Income Tax Auditor 3, a Commercial Analyst, a Tax Auditor 3, and an Oil & Gas Revenue Auditor 4. This is estimated to cost $852.1 million, which would eat up the State’s revenue increase in 2042 and approximately 16% of the 2052 revenue. That leaves an estimated positive revenue of $10.3 billion in 35 years.
For comparison, SB 280 as introduced would have decreased State revenue by $14.7 billion in 35 years, which would have made investment in Alaska LNG substantially more attractive to investors. Unfortunately, SB 280 version L does not provide any incentive to invest in Alaska LNG.
According to a statement from the Alaska Oil and Gas Association today: “What began as legislation intended to help deliver a gasline for Alaska has now been hijacked into a sweeping oil tax increase rushed through the process without meaningful economic analysis, public vetting, or a clear understanding of the consequences. These changes jeopardize not only the prospects of a future gasline, but also continued oil investment and development on the North Slope.”
While the legislature burns through another session arguing about the budget, a few thousand Alaskans will spend Memorial Day weekend doing something more useful. They will be learning to feed themselves.
The 3rd Annual Alaska Homestead Expo & Marketplace runs May 22–23 at the Big Lake Lions Club, organized by Common Ground Alaska. Common Ground Alaska is a teaching farmstead that has been quietly building something the State can’t seem to figure out— a community of Alaskans committed to real food, practical skills, and genuine independence.
No task force needed. No line item. Just people showing up.
What’s Actually There
Two full days in person. Topics running from whole-cow butchery and iron forging to food fermentation, medicinal herbs, livestock care, and off-grid systems. Additional classes continuing live via weekly Zoom sessions through the summer. The keynote speakers are Josh and Carolyn Thomas of Homesteading Family, nationally known educators who have built a following teaching families how to grow, preserve, and live off the land.
But the backbone of this event is the Alaskan instructors. Dozens of them— people who have figured out how to make homesteading work in this specific place, with its 90-day growing seasons, its brutal winters, and its supply chains that could snap without warning. That knowledge doesn’t come from a YouTube channel. It comes from years of doing it here.
There’s also a wide selection of vendors at the marketplace featuring Alaska makers, growers, and small businesses— the kind that don’t need a subsidy to exist.
Why It Matters
The vast majority of food Alaskans eat is imported— a figure commonly cited at 95 percent, and one Governor Dunleavy used when signing the Administrative Order creating the state’s Office of Food Security. The number has been around since the late 1970s and experts debate the exact methodology, but nobody seriously argues the dependency isn’t real. That number does not get talked about much in Juneau, but the families heading to Big Lake this month know it well. They’re not waiting on a food security study. They’re building root cellars, freeze-drying harvests, making pasta from scratch, and growing their own herbal medicine cabinet.
The Expo added a dedicated family learning tent this year for exactly that reason: because this kind of knowledge transfers through practice, not curriculum.
The Details
This year’s condensed format is a direct response to attendee feedback. Organizers heard that travel is getting harder for many Alaskans, so they tightened the in-person schedule to two focused days during which you can hit the marketplace, attend sessions, and view demonstrations. Then you get virtual access to all the recordings from the weekend and additional virtual sessions extending into the summer, so you don’t have to miss a thing.
In-person/hybrid ticket (Friday & Saturday plus all Zoom sessions): $85 Virtual ticket (livestream and Zoom only): $45 Marketplace-only: $5
The Big Lake Lions Club is about 45 minutes from Anchorage. Worth the drive — and if you can’t make it in person, the virtual option means there’s no excuse to miss it!
If you are just starting out and think this event is only for people with a barn and five acres— it’s not. Half the people in attendance will be exactly where you are, and that’s the whole point.
On May 11, the Department of the Interior finalized the repeal of the Bureau of Land Management’s Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, better known as the Public Lands Rule.
In 2023, when the Biden administration’s BLM first proposed the rule, my colleague at Independent Women, Gabriella Hoffman, and I argued in the Wall Street Journal that it exceeded BLM’s authority and would undermine the effective management of 245 million acres of public land. The Biden administration finalized it despite bipartisan objections from Western states, including Alaska.
The Trump administration has now reversed it, and the legal and policy case for doing so is strong.
No state has more at stake than Alaska. BLM manages 70 million surface acres and 220 million subsurface acres of federal mineral estate in Alaska, more than any other state. In fiscal year 2024, BLM management in Alaska supported more than 4,300 jobs and over $170 million in economic activity.
The Public Lands Rule threatened that by inventing a new use for public lands that Congress never authorized.
The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 directs BLM to manage public lands for “multiple use,” which is “including, but not limited to,” the uses of “recreation, range, timber, minerals, watershed, wildlife and fish, and natural scenic, scientific and historical values.”
The Public Lands Rule elevated “conservation” as a co-equal “use” alongside these clearly-defined uses of land and created a “conservation leasing” mechanism that allowed third parties to lease federal land— specifically to keep it undeveloped.
As BLM’s own rescission document states, treating conservation as a “use” under FLPMA is “contrary to the BLM’s mandate and statutory authority.”
The rule was redundant with current law. All uses of land— even those productive uses under FLPMA, like timber, minerals, and grazing— already entail wise conservation of resources. Without conservation, BLM cannot achieve the other half of its dual mandate: “sustained yield,” which requires “achievement and maintenance in perpetuity” of resources. And millions of acres of BLM lands are already protected under other designations. The obligation to conserve already existed without the Public Lands Rule.
Conservation leasing is not an inherently bad idea, but the Biden administration’s version had serious problems. The rule never specified whether public access would be permitted on conservation-leased land. The rule as a whole gave individual BLM field officers broad discretion to block productive uses as “incompatible” with conservation goals. And BLM created the entire program through rulemaking rather than seeking congressional authorization.
The legal case against the rule was already clear. The Tenth Circuit ruled in Public Lands Council v. Babbitt that BLM “lacks the statutory authority to prioritize conservation use to the exclusion of other uses.” Congress signaled its own position in 2017 when it used the Congressional Review Act to repeal BLM’s Planning 2.0 rule, a prior attempt to embed conservation standards into the planning process through procedure.
Alaska’s Sen. Lisa Murkowski led that effort in 2017, saying that the prior attempt “shifts decision-making authority away from the impacted states,” and “disregards BLM’s multiple-use mission.” Public Lands Rule went much further than Planning 2.0.
The Biden administration withdrew 28 million acres of BLM-managed lands from development, suspended and revoked Coastal Plain leases, and blocked the Ambler Road. The Public Lands Rule would have handed environmental litigants yet another tool— alleging insufficient deference to the “conservation” use of land— to challenge any permitting decision on BLM lands in the state. The BLM itself notes that the rule’s requirements “risked incentivizing strategic litigation challenging the BLM’s planning and permitting decisions.”
The Trump administration has led a course-correction. Interior has reopened 1.56 million acres of the Coastal Plain to oil and gas exploration, opened 2.1 million acres in the Dalton Utility Corridor to state selection and mineral entry, reinstated Ambler Road permits, and held a National Petroleum Reserve lease sale that generated over $163 million. Congress has used the Congressional Review Act to cancel Biden-era land management plans that restricted development in Alaska, Montana, and North Dakota.
FLPMA already directs BLM to manage lands to “protect the quality of scientific, scenic, historical, ecological, environmental, air and atmospheric, water resource, and archeological values.” BLM has managed for conservation under its existing authorities for fifty years.
Alaskan communities live or die on federal land management decisions. The Public Lands Rule was designed in Washington by people who see Alaska as an infinite wildlife reserve and fail to see the people counting on responsible natural resource development alongside wise conservation, not as opposed to it.
The Public Lands Rule’s repeal restores the principle that Alaska’s public lands exist for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.
Sarah Montalbano is an energy policy analyst at Always On Energy Research and a senior fellow at Independent Women. She writes on Substack at Montalbano Mondays and grew up in Wasilla, Alaska.
