The endless caterwauling about how we need to increase mining in Alaska for national security reasons is deceptive.
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In an all-too-familiar pattern with the Dunleavy administration, the contract was extended and extended again to $450,000, nine times the amount claimed on August 19 as sufficient.
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In response to a public records request I submitted, the governor’s office says that while it once had other draft reports of the study, it does not have them any longer.
As an excuse, this is a few steps shy of “The dog ate my homework.” George Costanza could do better.
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Nick Begich the Third, eager to please Donald Trump, is excited about the concept of turning Greenland into U.S. property.
Begich is the son of Nick Begich Jr., who now self-identifies as Nick Begich Sr., and the nephew of former Sen. Mark Begich and former state Sen. Tom Begich.
Now the leader of the Begich political family in Alaska, Nick the Third is a sudden convert to the Trump plan to take control of Greenland.
Read MoreStripped of double-talk, what’s happening is far less significant than the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation claims. The real “milestone,” if there is one, is that the state has agreed to pay a major pipeline company up to $50 million to complete the next stage of pipeline planning work, the so-called front end engineering and design. That work is necessary to get updated cost estimates.
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This is no breakthrough. AGDC couldn’t reach this point without a state promise to pick up the tab for the $50 million planning phase of the gas pipeline. If the pipeline company pulls the plug, it will get all of its money back.
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Perhaps Nick Begich the Third is trying to cultivate an image as a Trump-like tough guy, when he is just a rude freshman seeking attention.
“Joe Biden is a son of a bitch,” the freshman House member announced on Elon Musk’s social media website.
I’m surprised he didn’t challenge him to a duel.
Read MoreIf there is one positive element about the failure to name a sixth trustee, it is a reminder that the current structure in state law for guidance of Alaska’s most important financial institution is out of date.
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The political chasm between Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Sen. Dan Sullivan has been best illustrated over the last four yeas by their conflicting approach to the confirmation of federal judges for lifetime appointments.
Murkowski voted to confirm 160 district and circuit judges appointed by Biden, while Sullivan voted for 2.
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While staffing shortages have received national attention and have been a problem across Alaska, we need to hear from the governor about the real decline in state services on his watch, what he’s doing to fix the growing problems, the impact on Alaskans and how much it will cost to turn things around. He hasn’t provided a recovery plan
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As the calendar closes on 2024, I can tell you the high points for me took place in late November and early December.
Read MoreThe idea is not to draw from AIDEA’s hundreds of millions in cash reserves to potentially pay for a gas pipeline study, but to get the Legislature to add $50 million to AIDEA’s cache of $600 million.
It turns out that AIDEA, AGDC and the Dunleavy administration did not tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about the $50 million.
They will be asking legislators for forgiveness, not permission. I doubt they will get it.
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“The window for making decisions is closing,” says Bob Pickett, a longtime member of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska.
“If things just sort of slide and there’s no leadership, and we’re in the same position 12 months from now, we are looking at a dire, dire, situation. And people should get angry.”
Herz mentions how the potential shortfall in fuel supplies has the natural gas utility, the electric utilities, regulators and legislators worried about the immediate future.
Indecision is the biggest problem right now.
Read MoreThe Alaska Industrial Development & Export Authority continues to claim that the $250,000 “independent economic analysis” of AIDEA can be kept secret because it is a draft and not subject to the public records law.
Randy Ruaro, the executive director of AIDEA, has denied my appeal of the agency’s refusal to release the report. The report was supposed to be released in late 2023.
Ruaro said if I want the document my only option is to appeal to Alaska Superior Court.
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Before the vote, Sullivan’s office sent form letters to Alaskans in which Sullivan highlighted his reservations about the bill championed by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who worked on the idea for more than 20 years.
Sullivan refused to answer questions from reporters about the bill, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
“Spokesperson Amanda Coyne instead shared a statement prepared last month, indicating Sullivan favored a more tailored response from the Social Security Administration ‘to find an Alaska solution for Alaskan public servants,’” the Daily News reported.
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Announcing the creation of a new department, the cost of which will exceed $20 million, will do nothing for agriculture and food security unless there is leadership from the governor, backed by a larger financial commitment from the Legislature for research, marketing, farm development programs, business initiatives and infrastructure.
Unfortunately, Dunleavy’s empty Office of Food Security is the clearest sign of what to expect.
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The U.S. Congress deleted a provision in the defense authorization act that would have required the Interior Secretary to approve a 211-mile road to the Ambler mining district from the Dalton Highway within 30 days.
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A 1-gigawatt computer data center—on the low end of the Dunleavy vision for power—would require more than twice as much electricity than what could been drawn from the 700-foot Susitna River dam that was never built. A gigawatt is 1,000 megawatts.
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Gov. Mike Dunleavy asked Donald Trump to reverse a wide range of Biden Administration policies with an executive order on his first day in office, create an Alaska task force, and hire six new high-level political employees to make things happen within agencies.
The Dunleavy Six would personify redundancy, as they would be hired to “oversee the implementation of each action directed by the Executive Order,” duties that other people are already getting paid for.
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