“Everything has changed” for Alaska’s energy and natural resources production under the Trump administration, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy says.
On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order unlocking the “bounty of natural wealth” in Alaska, from oil and gas to minerals and even timber.
“Whatever Alaska has is now open for business,” Dunleavy told The Daily Signal at the Conservative Political Action Conference in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., on Friday.
Trump’s actions have “rescued Alaska—rescued, I think, the country, and quite frankly, the world—from this social-engineering approach that was taking place,” the Alaska governor.
The Biden administration was “brutal” to Alaska, Dunleavy said, adding that “opportunity was stolen left and right through upwards of 66, 68 executive orders and actions by the federal government.” Under President Joe Biden’s leadership, “offshore oil leases were suspended,” the governor explained, and leases for oil production were slowed.
“In many respects, our future in oil production in Alaska was basically doomed” under Biden, Dunleavy said. “When President Trump came in, all that has changed.”
With Trump in office, Alaska is moving ahead with the construction of an 800-mile natural gas pipeline that will enable the U.S. to ship gas to Asian allies. The pipeline starts in Prudhoe Bay in far north Alaska, where the state’s major oil and gas fields are located, and would end south of Anchorage in Nikiski, Alaska, where the gas can be liquefied before being exported to Asia.
The pipeline project will create “thousands and thousands of jobs,” Dunleavy said, adding, “it’s going to be a golden age for this country.”
It is much safer for America’s Asian allies to get their natural gas from the U.S., according to the governor, who says his hope is that shipments can be consistent “for at least 50 to 60 years.”
Dunleavy predicts that the increased oil and gas production will positively affect markets and lead to lower prices for American consumers at the gas pump.
The governor is expecting environmental groups to file lawsuits in an attempt to stop the construction of the pipeline and the other energy and mining projects in Alaska, but Dunleavy said he is confident the projects will ultimately move forward.
To the degree it’s possible, Dunleavy said, he wants “Congress to put into law what the president is doing so we don’t have this whipsawing effect every four years, so investors can know that, by investing in Alaska, it’s a safe investment.”
Members of Congress do see the need for such legislation, according to Dunleavy, who says he is hopeful that “we get legislation moving that ensures long-term stability for our resource industries.”