Todd Lindley: Repeal the Green New Deal

By
Suzanne Downing
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18

By TODD LINDLEY

Election Day 2024 will forever mark a turning point to the American people, who voted decisively to choose new leadership and a new vision for our county.  Alaska did the same, and were it not for the grossly disproportionate levels of campaign funding and union support for Democrats, Alaska’s Legislative races would have more closely reflected the national outcome.   

Since election day, President Donald Trump has wasted no time defining his strategy for governing and making cabinet-level appointments to implement his promises. Alaskans should choose its leaders with similar purpose and vision, in order to optimize our present opportunities.  Alternatively, our Legislature can choose its leadership for all the wrong reasons: to continue their raid on the Permanent Fund; to fund benefits and grow the public sector out of proportion to our needs; to foil innovation in education and in value-add manufacturing.    

President Trump, on the other hand, is appointing cabinet leaders who are in-step with the American people and who will deliver results: Tulsi Gabbard, who, as Director of National Intelligence, will not tolerate further infringements on our free speech or privacy; Gov. Doug Burgum, who, as Interior Secretary, will restore a free-market approach to our nation’s energy independence; Liberty Energy CEO Chris Wright, who as Secretary of Energy will deploy technological game changers in affordable and reliable energy; and Robert F Kennedy Jr., who,  as Health and Human Services Secretary, will root out corruption and reform our approach to human health and wellness. Policy-based, decisive action will be the hallmark of a Trump 2.0 presidency as he seeks to fundamentally change the way our government conducts business. 

Alaska is begging for leadership like this. We need a “Trump-like” shakeup to restore Alaska’s frontier spirit and sense that “nothing is impossible”.  Nick Begich carries such promise. 

With its vast store of natural resources but 70% of its lands owned by the Federal Government, Alaskans have suffered since Statehood under Democrat Presidents—through de-prioritization of state and Native land entitlements; cancellation of oil & gas leases; policies that prohibit traditional access over navigable waterways and Federal lands; adverse environmental regulations and rulings that pre-emptively kill in-state permitting of mines. The latest example of this has been the Biden administration’s net-zero, anti-carbon policies, and its massive subsidies of “green” energy through the Inflation Reduction Act designed to disrupt free markets and private-sector investment. 

We have been told these policies are good for America, but nothing could be further from the truth. Biden’s energy policy was based on aggressive climate and decarbonization goals driven by U.N. and E.U. mandates which favor foreign interests. To offset the negative impacts of higher energy prices and to shift wealth to green political supporters, Biden offered massive government subsidies that auctioned off forests to the highest bidder as “carbon mitigation”, and that financed wind and solar farms that discouraged production of cheap and plentiful oil and gas.  Now is the perfect time to pursue Alaska’s self-interest and repeal the Green New Deal in it’s entirety. Now is the time to unshackle ourselves from global climate accords and domestic tax credits with strings that undermine Alaska’s autonomy, upset our free markets and ultimately hurt the consumer. 

It is time for bold action by Alaskans. 

Natural resource development is the defining issue for Alaska at both a state and federal level. We can lead the U.S. in becoming energy independent and self-reliant with production of natural resources. 

Native regional corporation should lead this charge by touting their long history of stewardship over their own lands.  Understandably, rural Alaska is worried about the fragility of these lands and subsistence-based traditions, but Native leaders should question the globalist agenda and environmental justice activists behind climate change policy. Once they understand that it’s less about saving the world than transferring wealth and land control to global elites, they should resolve to help repeal every aspect of the Green New Deal. 

Legislatively, much of Alaska’s energy policy over last two sessions has been focused on harvesting as many federal tax credits through the Inflation Reduction Act and implementing decarbonization. The convergence of these two driving forces has led directly to two grand deceptions: First, that Cook Inlet gas reserves are inadequate to supply southcentral Alaska for many years to come; and second, that our local utility boards are truly making economic decisions in the best interest of southcentral consumers. In both cases, the opposite is true. Cook Inlet is awash in gas; we simply need to find a win-win scenario with producers. And southcentral utilities are embracing decarbonization at every level and forfeiting their independence by entering into load sharing agreements for renewable energy sources that are known to be uneconomic and unreliable during periods of the year when we need energy the most.

All Alaskans should support a full repeal of the Green New Deal and related legislation. Starting at the state level, these policies should be the first to repeal: SB48 Carbon Offsets; HB50 Carbon Sequestration; HB307 Integrated Transmission; and HB273 AHFC Green Bank. At the federal level in the spring budget reconciliation bill–the one annual opportunity to avoid a filibuster–there is every reason for our Republican congressional delegation to get behind Trump and give this disastrous policy the boot.  

The Green New Deal is a fraud on American consumers; its policies increase energy costs and do little to improve the environment.

Alaska’s state and federal delegations can take advantage of this opportunity and realize the prosperity that Alaska’s founders envisioned for our great state. If our “coalition” Legislature frustrates progress, as they are prone to do, then I suspect a motivated population will make primaries great again, hold politicians accountable to the people, and put courageous leaders in place at every level. 

Todd Lindley is vice chairman of the board of Alaska Gold Communications, parent company of Must Read Alaska.

18 COMMENTS

  1. Thank you Trump for no Dunleavy or Dahlstrom members in your cabinet or government!!! I’m still celebrating!! Thank you Alaskan Voters!!!

  2. Trump will get rid of the Green New Deal and all of the propaganda it has inspired among the looney, lefty Marxists. While Trump is at it he should also get rid of Sfraga, the Lisa Murkowski appointment as Ambassador to the Arctic. Sfraga is another globalist who sinks his teeth into man-made global climate change. He has no science degree. He’s a geographer from UAF and is backed by all the wackos from the wacky UAF.
    Trump needs to get rid of this guy. That will agitate and enrage Murkowski, which is exactly what Trump likes to do.

  3. The Green New Deal is a vehicle to enrich Gore, Kerry, and others of their ilk across the world that wish to impoverish the successful societies in order to enslave us to the government. There is ZERO proof that man is in any way responsible for the climate changes on planet earth. If the earth gets tired of us, it will solve the problem by erasing us. The trillions of dollars being cycled into certain pockets is criminal and should be treated as such.

    • Cman
      I hope you have a front row seat so you can be the first to see it coming.
      Again you need to sue whoever taught you in school as you need a better understanding how the world turns.

      • So do you believe that the earth itself is a sanctioned being that thinks on its own, or is it just part of a master plan? Since the garden of Eden after man was given fruit from the tree of knowledge, he has the ability to change his surroundings. And yes, that does mean altering the temperature of the earth.

  5. Look back in time. Evil dictators always take advantage of social change and weaponize it. Stalin did the same thing in the 1930s when changing Russia from a primarily agrarian country to industrialized. He was able to weed out his detractors and dealt with them swiftly. Although I don’t think he and his goons got as rich as our climate change czars.

  6. Alaska is in a political rut. Look at Anchorage as an example, the turn out to vote is a disgrace. To many non-voters out there or people who don’t care. The liberal leftist sewer is dependent on you staying at home folks. Look what’s happening in Anchorage, taxes are going through the igloo and more regulations.

  7. Why is AIDEA bidding on ANWR leases if Cook Inlet gas is so lucrative? I would be happy with a “free market approach” to develop our resources, lets start by removing the subsidies in SB-21 and adjusting our State royalty rate upwards to match Texas and North Dakota

  8. It is critical to remember who voted for the Green New Deal bills in Alaska. Amazingly, the list of representatives who voted no is far shorter than those who voted in favor of them -here are the no votes:

    SB48: Eastman, Vance
    HB50: Carrick, Eastman, Gray, Hannan, Josephson, McCormick, Mears, Mina, Myers, Shower
    HB307: Carpenter, Eastman, Ruffridge, Vance, Bjorkman, Stevens
    HB273: Eastman, Myers, Steadman

  9. Well said, Todd.
    .
    Let’s cut to the chase, go 3D.
    .
    Defy, Disrupt, Defeat… any suggestions how productive citizens might do this in a way that prevents this social disease from coming back?

  11. Kassie, of that NO group only 1/5 would qualify as real ALASKANS with the spirit that us with over 60 Plus years in this great state have in our hearts – the one line that Todd stated, and the only line I believe will move Alaska ahead ” Alaska’s frontier spirit and sense that “nothing is impossible”. Even today, three generations since statehood, my Great Grandson & Granddaughter, if they listen to us old Timer Mothers & Fathers that hold that spirit in their soul, they will take those opportunities, do it right & realize the neverending love of accomplishment those before them had, and the tenacity to stay the course to success in this great State once called the Last Frontier ALASKA, that I Love. Liberty Ed Martin Jr

  12. Todd, you have connected the dots on several policies. A great read that you made fairly simple from complex subjects.

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