Rick Whitbeck: If you were in charge for a day, how would you help Alaska’s energy economy?

By RICK WHITBECK | POWER THE FUTURE

This past week, I appeared on the Amy Demboski Show to talk all things energy.  I took a call from someone named Bruce, who asked me what I’d do to help Alaska’s energy economy and future if I was in charge for a day.

It was a great question, and as I answered it, I thought about the myriads of opportunities this great state has under its crust.  So many of them have been stymied from moving forward under the Biden/Harris administration. 

Each of them have the potential for dozens, if not hundreds, of full-time, six-figure jobs.  Those could bring qualified employees and their families to our state and help reverse the outmigration trends of the past decade.  Many of the jobs would be filled by rural residents, who could then balance traditional lifestyles with employment opportunities not found in their villages.

They’re worth listing for the purposes of discussion and to act as a roadmap for a potential second Trump administration. 

To begin with, let’s once again authorize exploration and leasing activities in ANWR’s (the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) Coastal Plain. Those activities were first paused, then cancelled, as part of Biden’s 2020 campaign pledges brought to life. Legally-binding leases were voided, and Congressionally-mandated activities ordered reversed.  The potential for decades of jobs and billions of barrels of oil were negated; sacrificed at the altar of a fake “climate crisis”.

The blowback from eco-radicals over the one “win” we had under the Biden administration – with Willow’s reauthorization – led Biden to shut down areas the size of Indiana in the NPR-A to further development activities over the last six months.  If I had the power, I’d reverse those immediately, as most of those areas had already been through environmental and permitting approval processes.

The Ambler Mining District in Northwest Alaska is an area rich in copper, cobalt and other critical and strategic minerals. Even with Congressional mandates guaranteeing access to the area, Alaska’s Congressional delegation was unable to offset the extremist voices cajoling Biden to shut down access through the 16 miles of the Gates of the Arctic National Park. He heard the eco-left, ordered the areas closed, and in doing so, put domestic supply chains of those materials at-risk.  I’d re-open the permitting process, and believe Ambler represents one of the greatest opportunities in the nation for securing domestic supply chains of those minerals.

Projects with clean environmental impact statements – especially ones with an ability to change markets and supply chains alike – should be given expedited approval status. That’s the case with the Pebble Mine, and I’d sign permits to allow its development. Especially with Pebble’s final environmental impact statement coming back clean, with the science and studies debunking the eco-left’s fears that opening Pebble would decimate the Bristol Bay fishery over 200 river miles away, there’s zero reason not to bring the trillion dollars of product to market and create the 700+ jobs in the region.

There are many other opportunities that Alaska has to offer American energy security. The AK-LNG pipeline has federal loan guarantees and a supplier of natural gas, but still faces significant headwinds. Let’s figure out how to make that happen, and soon!  

The GraphiteOne mine near Nome would supply nearly the entire national demand for graphite. A coal plant in the Mat-Su Valley could help supply hundreds of megawatts of power to Alaska’s key population centers. The Ucore/Bokan Mountain rare earth elements project on Prince of Wales Island in Alaska’s Southeast Panhandle would be game-changing in an effort to establish domestic supply chains.

Simply put, Alaska can be the tip of the spear in helping America become energy dominant; a stated goal of Trump’s during his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention.

If I had 24 hours to make things move forward, these are the projects I’d focus on. I’d be exhausted at the end of the day, but Alaska’s energy future would be bright, jobs would last for generations and America would be more energy secure.  

Thanks, Bruce, for the question on Amy’s show this past week. It gave me a lot to think about, and man, it’d be fun to have that power for the day, for sure!

Rick Whitbeck is the Alaska State Director for Power The Future, a national nonprofit organization that advocates for American energy jobs. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @PTFAlaska.