The Alaska Legislature's resources committees are fixating on AK LNG in the second half of the session. This week, like last, there are hearings scheduled every day on a trio of gasline-related bills: House Bill 381 and Senate Bill 280, a pair introduced by the Governor to give AK LNG's developer the 90% tax break it says the project requires,...
I've been writing heavily about the Alaska LNG project, a proposed 800-mile natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to a planned liquefaction plant and export terminal in Nikiski. All the words I've committed to AK LNG might seem wasted – it remains very unlikely to happen. The "Phase 1" project, which excludes the underwater pipeline across...
The simple revenue solution of taxing private oil and gas companies has taken a twisting, torturous path through our legislature. Since Alaska repealed personal income tax in 1980, we've had a loophole that allows privately owned corporations – such as Hilcorp – to avoid paying corporate income tax entirely. And since at least 2021, legislators...
Coming up this week is an opportunity for public comment on transparency into the AK LNG gasline project. The Senate Resources Committee will take public comments on Wednesday at 3:30pm on Senate Bill 275, the Alaska Gasline Transparency & Accountability Act. This bill would begin to shed light on the opaque deals underpinning the Alaska LNG...
To deal with the affordability crisis of Cook Inlet gas, our utilities and elected leaders need the clearest possible picture of our energy options. Alaskans need to see this picture, too, to understand and inform the energy decisions made on our behalf. This means piercing the secrecy and dishonest hype around AKLNG, the proposed 800 mile North...
On Wednesday, February 18th, the Legislature's House Resources Committee will hear from Mayor Peter Micciche of the Kenai Peninsula Borough, as well as mayors of the North Slope and Fairbanks North Star boroughs, about how the Alaska LNG megaproject will impact the communities it operates in. You can listen to the live discussion on February 18th...
In 2026, Cook Inletkeeper is advocating for state legislation to expand solar energy access, protect Bristol Bay salmon runs from mining threats, and repair the financial foundations of education and other state services. We also oppose tax breaks for developers of the disastrous Alaska LNG project at the expense of our towns and boroughs. Read...
At the start of the 2017 legislative session, a budget deficit of hundreds of millions loomed over the coming months in Juneau. Around that time, an Alaska politician assured me that in spite of the ongoing failure to deal with our systemic revenue shortfall, he wouldn’t let Alaska’s fiscal trajectory “look like the last scene of Thelma and...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy published Administrative Order 360 in early August to reduce “administrative and economic burdens associated with regulatory compliance.” But the order is more likely to slow down rather than speed up decisions we need for sustainable energy, as well as weakening protections for the ecosystems Alaskans depend on. It requires...
In October, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources decided it's in the state's best interest to give a company the right to explore for methane (a.k.a natural gas) in two areas of the largely undisturbed Susitna Valley. The Susitna River and its many entangled tributaries are arteries of the Cook Inlet watershed and support salmon runs of all...
