Alaska can be ‘cure’ for nation’s ‘ills’ with assist from Trump admin: governor
WASHINGTON – EXCLUSIVE: Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said his state can take the lead on being the best prescription for putting America back on the right track in multiple ways, including energy dominance, job growth and reducing government debt.
In an exclusive interview Thursday with Fox News Digital on the sidelines of the National Governors Association and Republican Governors Association winter meetings, Dunleavy said he is excited to work with President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on these matters in the Last Frontier.
Burgum’s experience in North Dakota and his openness to pursue Trump’s vision of an energy-independent America based on responsible stewardship is exactly what the country needs, Dunleavy said.
“What President Trump is doing is getting us back to what the purpose of all of this was,” he said of the original intent to use federal lands not primarily for parks but for responsible stewardship of natural resources.
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Anchorage, Alaska, skyline (Zihao Chen via Getty Images)
“And if we do that, we can eliminate a lot of ills: debt, job creation, reliance on foreign actors. The solutions are here. He knows what the solutions are and is implementing the solutions now,” Dunleavy said.
He also said he hopes to work with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on expanding hydroelectric infrastructure in the Tongass National Forest – an area on the Inland Passage between Juneau and Petersburg that the late Rep. Don Young championed.
Rollins’ role overseeing the U.S. Forest Service – rather than Interior doing so as they do the National Park Service – is another hint that wide expanses of national forests were not meant to be off limits to resource development.
Just as the Department of Agriculture works with farmers in the Lower 48 to produce food and goods, its original mission therefore includes utilizing forest resources, he said.
One area of “tremendous” potential is Ambler, an area at the foot of the Brooks Range west of the Dalton Highway – better recognized as the 800-plus-mile “Ice Road Truckers” carriageway.
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is an energy-rich area of Alaska. (Fox News Channel)
There is a 30-mile section of the line between Ambler and the Dalton Highway that crosses federal land, Dunleavy said – noting the original law gives Alaska the right to cross federal land.
“[The law says] we can’t be prevented from accessing our leases through federal lands.”
He said he expects Trump’s team to finally allow passage to take advantage of the area’s rich mineralization opportunities.
“There was no excuse [to stop passage through federal lands] – same as there was no excuse for stopping the legally-executed [oil and gas] lease sales that were part of [Trump’s] 2017 bill.”
“Two of our large national forests are larger than several states. If they were to be managed on a sustainable basis so that we could grow timber, we could mine properly, we could use the hydro resources.”
Of the ANWR-1002 oil lease President Biden was mandated to market but purportedly “set up to fail,” Dunleavy said investors recognized the January “sham” and are eager to see how Trump cures that particular ill.
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Interior Secretary Doug Burgum (Reuters/Mike Segar)
Expansion of Alaska’s gas pipeline infrastructure and well-intended lease opportunities in ANWR-1002 are the right path to energy dominance on a global scale, Dunleavy said.
The governor added that the native communities on the North Slope are supportive of responsibly exploring ANWR-1002 as it has and would create jobs and opportunities for the far-flung residents.
“Our gas lines would also impact… our Asian allies; our position in the Pacific – It’s not just a gas project for Alaska. It’s a gas project for the Pacific and our allies,” he said.
Another field Trump could pursue would be harnessing what are the second-strongest tides in the world, Dunleavy has said.
In another recent Fox News Digital interview, that time from Mat-Su Borough, Alaska itself, the governor said Cook Inlet’s tides can be a “green” energy that works.
Cook Inlet, which extends south from the state’s largest city, Anchorage, down the Kenai Peninsula and into the Gulf of Alaska, has an incredibly powerful push-pull dynamic.
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Dunleavy said he is encouraging investment in harnessing Cook Inlet tides to produce a reliable energy source, particularly “green hydrogen,” while rejecting the idea that the debate over “green” vs. fossil fuels is a zero-sum game.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a White House spokesman said, “President Trump is committed to unleashing American energy and will work with state officials across the country to release our natural resources. Governor Dunleavy knows President Trump is right – unleashing our energy will boost the economy and make America energy independent once again.”
