Multiple announcements from Alaska’s congressional delegation and the Dept. of the Interior were made in Fairbanks on Saturday, many of which were about energy development in Alaska.
FAIRBANKS, Alaska - A new federal task force focusing on Alaska ’s energy development was announced by Alaska ’s congressional delegation and the Department of the Interior secretary in Fairbanks on Saturday.
Dozens of residents and stakeholders gathered at the Fairbanks Pipeline Training Center to hear about developments related to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, the liquefied natural gas pipeline, and related matters.
“We are launching out of the White House the Rural Alaska Energy Security Task Force,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced at the gathering. This task force will be “identifying practical solutions to improve energy security in remote and rural communities,” Burgum explained. He said that the task force is being created in response to supply disruptions and cost increases.
“We have a five-point task force, and this initiative reinforces the president’s commitment to Alaska, rural communities, and American energy future that’s built on abundance. ” Multiple speakers also touched on the importance of the LNG pipeline as an economic tool, alongside the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, in relation to energy instability caused by the conflict in Iran.
“Everybody in the Pacific found out that they had no energy security, they were getting all their stuff from the Middle East and they go, wow, is there someplace that’s eight days away by ship as opposed to 40 days away by ship and someplace that doesn’t have to get past like two different terrorist groups to actually get a shipload here,” Burgum said. “You’ll see right now the price of Alaska oil is higher than West Texas Intermediate right now because of that demand coming from Asia.
”“Projects like AKLNG are important because they represent more than infrastructure; they represent careers, training opportunities and long-term investment in Alaska,” Amy Schumacher, the director of the FPTC, said. Rep. Nick Begich, R-AK, followed Schumacher and said that the gas line “needs to be built, needs to be turned on, and needs to create jobs for Alaskans. ”“The estimates there are about 20,000 jobs to build that.
Think about that. We’re going to need a trained workforce. The best place to do it, in my view, is with the local unions, the apprenticeship programs, and places like ,” Sullivan said. He said this shows that “this is the golden age for Alaska to be able to sell energy, whether it’s oil, whether it’s Alaska LNG,” and that projects that will support these demands need to be prioritized.
But, Burgum assured those in attendance that progress is being made.
“We’ve never been closer to getting that done. Momentum is building, interest has never been higher, the economics have never looked better,” Burgum said. The focus wasn’t solely on building the LNG pipeline, however, as federal leaders mentioned increased investment in oil development in the state as well.
“ has been the lifeblood of Alaska since it went into production and we’re not done with either,” Begich said. Making this all happen, though, was framed in part as a matter of permitting. According to Sullivan, Burgum had mentioned a new executive order “focused on streamlining the permitting in the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska. ” He compared the difficulty of permitting on federal land in Alaska to state land and the rest of the country.
“When you look at federal permitting for oil and gas, it’s very slow, federal permitting, versus like relative to state permitting or private land permitting. But even the federal permitting in the lower 48 is much faster than it is in Alaska,” Sullivan said.
Burgum followed Sullivan’s comments, saying everyone in Alaska knows “an environmental assessment, NEPA, an EIS, environmental impact statement, these are all things that were designed to protect the environment, that have been weaponized to stop all of you from investing and actually building things to help move America forward. ”“We are taking a full-on attack to try to turn these things, get them back into what they originally intended for, and that was for things like to protect the environment.
It was not meant to stop development in our country. ” In relation to permitting and development, Burgum said he “transferred 1.4 million acres of federal land to the state of Alaska,” to restore Alaskan control. Amid the announcements at the event, a group of roughly 40 protestors, opposed to the LNG pipeline, were outside the FPTC. The protestors were chanting “No way!
No, AKLNG, no way! ” Chris Kasanke, the fossil fuel resistance organizer for the Fairbanks Climate Action Commission, said the pipeline was a scam and that he was there to support a sustainable future for Alaska.
“We’re here because this is a really powerful moment to show resistance to some of the things that are happening in Washington that basically are not being consented to by the people,” Kasanke said. “All of the subsidies that are going towards extractive industries need to stop. We don’t need to see an ambler road. We don’t need to keep exploiting Alaska and treating it like a colony.
We need to start treating it with respect. And that means respecting the people that have been here forever, indigenous people’s rights, and the ecosystems and the environment in general. ”Man accused of plowing into popular downtown Anchorage restaurant arrested, faces arraignmentWasilla men sentenced in illegal guide operation out of Kodiak, face prison, fines and worldwide hunting bans‘Music really connects everyone’: Air Force band performs for Month of the Military Child
Dept. Of The Interior Amy Schumacher Senator Dan Sullivan Secretary Doug Burgum Fairbanks Alaska LNG MMIP Fairbanks Pipeline Training Center TAPS Trans-Alaska Pipeline Liquid Natural Gas Jacob Howdeshell Representative Nick Begich Congress Delegation
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