Category: Alaska News

A legislative resolution urging a continued and better-enforced ban on Russian seafood in the United States is headed to Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

Part of a series of actions by Alaska lawmakers to try to shore up the state’s ailing seafood industry, House Joint Resolution 29 won final passage last week and was transferred to the governor on Monday.

The resolution calls for continuation of the ban on Russian seafood imports imposed in 2022, after that country’s invasion of Ukraine. The ban was expanded in 2023 to cover imports of Russian seafood to the U.S. through a third-party country, usually China, where fish are processed.

The import ban is set to expire later this year. That makes the resolution timely, supporters aid.

Among the supporters is Jeremy Woodrow, executive director of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.

Woodrow, in testimony to the Senate Resources Committee on Feb. 27, said a stockpile of Russian fish that was in the U.S. before the ban went into full effect is just now being depleted.

“We need more time to really capture the U.S. marketplace. Our industry has not recovered yet,” Woodrow said. Even though last year’s fishing season was better, it was still one of the worst years in the last 20 years, he said.

“This is one measure that will help our fishermen. We’re starting to see the fruits of this ban coming into play, but we need more time to provide stability to our industry. We need more time to see it come to fruition,” he told the committee.

In addition to seeking an extension of the import ban, the resolution calls for stronger monitoring and enforcement to “ensure fair trade, protect the state’s seafood industry, and promote sustainable and ethical seafood production.”

Legislative resolutions do not have the power of law, but they can influence actions by Congress, the federal executive branch or other institutions.

The Russian seafood import ban resolution was not among the measures introduced by the Joint Legislative Task Force Evaluating Alaska’s Seafood Industry, formed in 2024. However, it addresses an aspect of international trade, one of the issues raised by the task force. The task force’s report recommended an update to a Russia-focused resolution passed by the legislature in 2022, Senate Joint Resolution 16.

The eight-member task force, comprising Senate and House members from fishery-dependent districts, issued its recommendation report in January 2025, at the start of last year’s session. Recommendations for action resulted in the introduction of a series of bills intended to help the industry, which has struggled with low fish prices, glutted international markets, high costs and other challenges.

Other bills focus on tax credits and revenues

One of the task force’s bills, aimed at encouraging seafood product development and diversification, is headed for a vote in the Senate this week.

That measure, Senate Bill 130, concerns the state’s fisheries product development tax credit system. Currently, seafood companies are allowed to deduct the cost of new equipment used to develop value-added products from salmon, herring, pollock, sablefish and Pacific cod. The bill would expand that to all fish species, including shellfish. That is in line with the recommendation in the task force report, which identifies arrowtooth flounder, fish meal and crab shells as examples of some underused or discarded products that could be processed into something marketable.

The bill, in the amended form before the Senate, also seeks to expand the range of technology for which investment would qualify for credits, and it would extend the sunset date for the credit to 2037. Currently, the tax credit is due to expire next year.

The revenue impact of the bill, if it wins final passage, is difficult to determine because there are several unknown variables, said the fiscal note prepared by the state Alaska Department of Revenue. Estimated annual revenues losses to the state would range from $1 million to nearly $4 million, according to the fiscal note.

Another task force bill, aimed at helping fishery-dependent local governments, had not moved out of the Senate Finance Committee as of Tuesday. That measure, Senate Bill 135, would allow municipalities to increase their share of fisheries business tax and fishery resource landing tax revenues. Currently, the state and local governments split those tax revenues equally. The bill would allow local governments to get up to 75% of the tax revenues.

The legislature passed two seafood task force bills last year, each of which had wide support. However, Dunleavy vetoed one of the bills.

The bill that escaped the governor’s veto, House Bill 116, allows for the formation and operation of member-owned commercial fishing insurance cooperatives. Such cooperativesexist in other states and were used by some Alaska fishers. The bill passed unanimously.

The vetoed bill, Senate Bill 156, would have transferred $3.69 million from a defunct state loan fund to the Alaska Commercial Fishing and Agriculture Bank. The state-owned bank needed the boost to keep serving the seafood industry, bill supporters argued. But Dunleavy argued that the cost of the action was too great for the state budget to bear.

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Five Alaska mayors voiced concerns about how a proposed tax break for the Alaska LNG gas line project would impact their communities.

Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has proposed eliminating property taxes and other local taxes for the $46 billion megaproject. Instead, his bill would impose a volume-based tax when substantial quantities of gas are delivered from the North Slope. 

The Alaska Department of Revenue estimated Dunleavy’s bill would equate to a roughly 90% reduction in property tax revenue, once the pipeline is at full capacity. The state agency has said the pipeline will not move forward without cutting property taxes for Glenfarne, the New York-based developer of the proposed pipeline and export facilities. 

Five Alaska mayors on Friday testified to the Senate Resources Committee in support of the 800-mile pipeline, which is set to run from the North Slope to Cook Inlet. But the municipal leaders also expressed concerns about the potential loss of revenue from the governor’s tax break and the impacts on municipal services. 

‘Bottom offer’

Peter Micciche is mayor of the Kenai Peninsula Borough, one of Alaska’s largest with roughly 62,000 residents. He said a liquefaction facility, equating to 43.5% of the total project, is set to be located in the coastal region.

Micciche said the project would have tens of millions of dollars of impact annually for the Kenai Peninsula, with costs set to be borne by local communities under Dunleavy’s bill. He said the proposed elimination of all local taxes for Alaska LNG is “cutting deep into the fabric of how our communities work. And that worries me.”

He cited concerns about Dunleavy’s proposed tax rate rising by 1% annually. He said the borough’s budget increases on average by 2.5% each year, meaning that would leave the Kenai Peninsula “underwater.”

“Costs have shifted from the state to the municipalities. But we simply cannot afford additional costs,” he said to lawmakers Friday.

Micciche, a former long-time oil and gas executive, emphasized that he is excited by the project, but he considers the governor’s tax break to be “a bottom offer.”

Adam Prestidge, president of Glenfarne Alaska LNG, on Monday told the Senate Resources Committee that the company recognizes there will be impacts to municipalities from the project. He said discussions are ongoing with municipal leaders about how the company will cover some costs to ensure communities feel comfortable they “will be taken care of.”

Micciche, a former Republican Alaska Senate president, framed the scale of the challenge of negotiating acceptable legislation for communities and Glenfarne with less than half of the legislative session left until adjournment. “This bill needs a lot of work,” he said. 

“We’re ready to sit down and pen a deal that works for everyone — the developers, our community, Alaskans — and I hope to God that comes along with affordable gas,” Micciche said.

‘Once-in-a-lifetime project’

Supporters remain bullish on the gas line’s potential to be an economic boon for Alaska. Former Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Begich has been hired by the Dunleavy administration to boost the pipeline. He told the Senate Resource Committee on Monday that it was “a once-in-a-lifetime project.”

Glenfarne owns 75% of the project while the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., a state agency, owns the remaining 25%.

Begich and Prestidge declined to answer some questions in detail about the proposed tax break and whether it was at an appropriate rate, citing the need for confidentiality in commercial agreements. Begich implored lawmakers to hold a session behind closed doors to discuss revenue questions with Glenfarne.

Under Dunleavy’s bill, the long-sought gas pipeline is expected to raise over $22.5 billion in new revenue for the state of Alaska. But over the next 36 years, it would also cost roughly $13 billion for local communities compared to current law, according to state projections.

Instead of property taxes, the governor’s bill would impose a volume-based tax of 6 cents on every thousand cubic feet of gas, which would increase by 1% annually. The tax would only be imposed once the pipeline delivers an average of 1 billion cubic feet of gas per day or 10 years after gas starts being produced. 

Edna DeVries is mayor of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, home to around 117,000 people. She said the Mat-Su Assembly believes those thresholds are “far too high” and that they should be lowered so the borough could collect revenue sooner.  

DeVries cited a concern common to all five mayors along the proposed corridor for Alaska LNG: the impacts of constructing the pipeline on municipal budgets. 

Mayor Chris Noel of Denali Borough, home to 1,600 residents, said that construction would see added costs for waste management, fire and rescue and housing, which would likely be borne by the local community. Denali Borough does not currently collect property tax. But it would get “limited benefits” from the pipeline with no local offtake planned for the borough, Noel said. 

“The bottom-line is we cannot subsidize increased costs. We need certainty via an impact payment program during construction that actual costs will be covered by the project,” he said.

Another potential concern: education funding. Alaska’s complicated education funding formula means that as a local community’s total assessed property tax value increases, state contribution for schools is reduced. 

Concerned at the ‘precedent’

Mayor Josiah Patkotak of the North Slope Borough said he was concerned at the “precedent” set by eliminating property taxes for oil and gas projects before a final investment decision is reached. Patkotak, also a former member of the Alaska House of Representatives, cited a recent record North Slope lease sale and said oil developers could seek similar tax relief.

The North Slope Borough, based out of Utqiaġvik with 10,500 residents, has a long history of fiercely defending its authority to levy property taxes on oil and gas companies, he added.

Patkotak estimated Dunleavy’s proposed tax break means the borough would collect $12 billion less in revenue compared to current law. He said property tax revenue has been critical for the borough, which funds schools, fire and rescue services, airports and waste management. 

Prestidge declined to tell the Senate Resources Committee whether the proposed tax break would be make-or-break for the project. But he said if the bill failed to pass, “It makes it more difficult because it makes the gas more expensive.”

“It creates an incredible amount of uncertainty around the project,” he added.

Patkotak noted that the North Slope would not get any of the gas delivered through the pipeline with no offtake planned for the remote region.

That has long been a concern for Fairbanks, which has a population of 97,000 people. The borough has advocated for a $180 million spur to deliver gas to the Interior city.  

“We need to make sure we’re getting Alaskans’ gas to Alaskans,” said Mayor Grier Hopkins of the Fairbanks North Star Borough.

Hopkins said there are currently “no concrete” plans to build a gas offtake for Fairbanks, but discussions are ongoing with Glenfarne.

Matthew “Bronco” Williams, an Anchorage-based private school teacher, has announced that he is running as an independent for Alaska’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

Williams, 28, has not held public office. He ran as a Democrat for the Mississippi state House in 2019 at the age of 21, and the U.S. House representing Mississippi in 2024. He recently moved to Anchorage, according to social media.

Williams is a mathematics and science teacher at Anchor Lutheran School, an Anchorage Christian school. His campaign website states that he studied theatre in Mississippi and education at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. 

Williams says he has published writing under the name “Bronco Williams.” His stated political priorities include “healing the economy,” providing a quality education and protecting the environment. 

Two Alaska Democrats have filed to run for the U.S. House in 2026 — Matt Schultz, an Anchorage pastor, and John Williams, a Fairbanks history teacher. Bill Hill, a commercial fisherman and former superintendent of the Bristol Bay School District, announced in January that he would run for U.S. House as an independent. 

Incumbent Rep. Nicholas Begich III, a Republican, unseated Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola in 2024. He is running for a second term. Peltola has announced that she is running for U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.

Begich and Sullivan have a significant fundraising advantage against their challengers, according to recent filings. 

The deadline to file for Alaska’s sole U.S. House seat is June 1. Alaska’s open primary election system means the top four vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, advance to the Nov. 3 election. 

Alaska has a loophole big enough to bury a body in.

Right now, if someone in Alaska witnesses a murder or another violent crime against an adult and does not report it, the law treats that failure as a violation. Not a misdemeanor. Not a felony. A violation with a $500 fine. 

That should alarm people. The fine is less than the penalty for littering. 

Alaska has seen this pattern before. Lawmakers moved to close the “Schneider loophole” in 2019, and this year another bill was introduced to tighten a gap in the state’s sexual-assault law involving health care workers. 

Kathleen’s Law was introduced last year, and one of those public safety loopholes that was aimed at fixing part of that problem. It would have raised the penalty for failure to report a violent crime against an adult from a violation to a criminal misdemeanor. It was not an extreme proposal. It was an attempt to say that when someone witnesses murder, kidnapping, or sexual assault, and says nothing, that silence should carry more weight than a ticket-level, $500 offense.

But the bill died.

Not because the law is good enough. It died because groups that work with victims raised concerns about the wording and potential unintended consequences, and the work needed to fix it was met with apathy.

Alaska law still fails to clearly distinguish between failure to report a violent crime and intentional concealment of a murder. Those are not the same thing, and pretending they are has consequences.

There is a world of difference between a person who fails to report a violent crime and a person who knows, or reasonably should know, that someone died by murder, has a safe chance to report it, and instead stays silent to keep that death from being discovered or investigated. 

I have shared a draft bill with several legislators addressing concealment of murder. It creates a new criminal offense for someone who knowingly fails to report a death under circumstances showing an intent to prevent discovery or investigation.

That is not mere silence. That is concealment.

And it should be treated more seriously than Alaska law treats it now.

Under the current failure-to-report law, murder is lumped in with other violent crimes, even though the harm caused by intentionally keeping a homicide hidden is different in kind. A murder investigation can be delayed for months or years. Families can be left in the dark. Evidence can be lost. 

Concealment of murder would remove murder from the existing framework of failure to report a violent crime and create a separate offense for concealment of murder, making it a class C felony. This creates a middle category that Alaska law does not currently have. 

Right now, Alaska law can punish someone for actively helping an offender, hiding evidence, or tampering with a scene. But if someone intentionally keeps knowledge of a murder to themselves and does not cross one of those narrow lines, the law may have very little to say.

This gap is not theoretical. This loophole has had real consequences in Alaska. We have seen cases where silence delayed the truth and deepened harm. We have seen how slow disclosure shapes investigations and leaves victims’ families carrying the cost.

Recognizing that concealment of murder deserves its own category is a chance to modernize Alaska law.

Silence after a killing is not neutral, not when it protects the truth from coming out and not when it makes justice harder to reach. Alaska’s current law leaves room for people to sit on information after a homicide and face little or no meaningful consequences.

And currently, that is a policy choice.

A legislative aide to Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, and a former candidate for the Alaska House of Representatives, was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol on Thursday in Juneau.

Forrest Wolfe, 40, was pulled over by Juneau Police at about 10:30 p.m. on Mar. 26, according to court documents, after driving erratically through a busy area of downtown Juneau. Wolfe was the sole occupant of the vehicle, a red Chevrolet Tahoe, when he was pulled over on Franklin Street. 

Wolfe exhibited a strong odor of alcohol and gave conflicting stories of his previous activities, then stopped answering questions, according to the police report. Wolfe failed a field sobriety test and then later a chemical test for alcohol, showing his breath alcohol level at 0.10, which is above the legal limit of 0.08. He was arrested and charged with a criminal misdemeanor. 

Wolfe serves as deputy legislative director for Dunleavy, a role he began in January, according to his public LinkedIn profile.

A spokesperson for Dunleavy’s office declined to comment on the arrest or any penalties by his employer on Monday, citing privacy as a personnel matter. 

Wolfe ran for the Alaska House in 2022 as a Republican representing District 21 in East Anchorage, and narrowly lost to Rep. Donna Mears, D-Anchorage, by just 150 votes. 

Prior to serving in the governor’s office, Wolfe served as a legislative liaison for the Alaska Department of Administration for about a year, in 2025. He worked as legislative staff for more than a decade, since 2012, for various Republican representatives. 

Wolfe posted a $500 bail and was released from Lemon Creek Correctional Center on Friday morning, according to Alaska Public Media.

Wolfe has had previous run-ins with Juneau Police for minor infractions, and was arrested and convicted for drunk driving in 2011.

Five dogs and more than 100 protestors gathered at the Tlingit Park Longhouse on Saturday to participate in the nationwide No Kings Protest. This was the third demonstration, organized by Haines AKtive. 

Like other local protests, this one included a silent march – this one from the park to Main and Third. 

“We just feel like maybe it makes more of a statement,” said one organizer, Nelle Jurgeleit-Greene. 

Burl Sheldon welcomed the crowd and then he and Tom Heywood played a few songs, including Bruce Springsteen’s Streets of Minneapolis. 

Other speakers read from the First Amendment and an excerpt of Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl. Debbie Gravel told people about the paperclip resistance movement that launched in Norway during World War II when students at Oslo University began wearing paper clips to demonstrate their resistance to German occupiers. 

As the crowd of protesters started their trek to Main Street, Gravel handed out red paper clipsfor protesters to clip onto their jackets or scarves. “Sometimes when you’re resisting times of oppression, solidarity is everything,” Gravel said. Gravel said she keeps coming to rallies because “I realize we can’t affect change from Haines but it’s such a mood booster to feel unity and solidarity with other people of like minds.”

John Norton carried a sign saying “Justice for all.” He said he hoped that “this participation here adds to the many voices across America that are speaking out against the injustices that we see happening, not only in our own country but in other nations around the globe.”

Jurgeleit-Greene said she has attended “five or six” No Kings protests, including some in the Lower 48. 

“To come out in this freezing weather shows our resolve to stick to upholding democracy,” Jurgeleit-Greene said. “We want justice for all, no matter who is here we believe in our constitution and we want it upheld.”

The post No Kings protestors in Haines join thousands across Alaska appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

At the Alaska Beacon, we’re constantly trying to figure out where we should put our attention. There’s always more news than there are people to report it.

Every Thursday, the Alaska Legislature publishes its committee schedule for the coming week. Public notices alert us to meetings and events. The governor’s office occasionally lets us know ahead of time that something’s coming down the pike, too.

Here’s what we know about for the coming week. If you know of something that’s coming up that you should think we should pay attention to, email us at info@alaskabeacon.com.

We can’t cover everything on this list, but we’re interested in them and we think you should know about them in case you’re interested in them, too.

This list is ripped from our notebooks, and it is likely to change over the course of the week. We’ll update it when we can.

Are you trying to keep track of when to testify on a bill? The Legislature has a website for that.

Monday, March 30

House/Senate floor sessions in the morning

8 a.m. – The House and Senate Education Committees hold a joint session on the state of pre-K – 12 education in Alaska with invited testimony from the Alaska Council of School Administrators

9 a.m. – Senate Finance Committee hears a bill related to the practice of naturopathy

1 p.m. – House Judiciary hears a resolution on voter privacy, and expressing concern at the state sharing confidential voter data with the federal government

1 p.m. – House Resources hears a bill related to fish and game wildlife refuges

1:30 p.m. House Finance continues work on next year’s operating budget, and begins hearing proposed amendments

3:30 p.m. – Senate Resources hears the governor’s bill related to tax breaks for the AK LNG gas line

5:30 p.m. – Fairbanks Fish & Game Advisory Committee – Game and Trapping Subcommittee Meeting, see event info here.

Tuesday, March 31

Filing deadline to apply for the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend is 11:59 p.m. on Mar. 31

• See info and online application portal here.
• Paper applications can be mailed and must be postmarked by Mar. 31.
• Paper applications can be delivered to PFD office locations in Anchorage, Fairbanks or Juneau by Mar. 31 during office hours of 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.

8 a.m. – House Community and Regional Affairs Committee hears a bill related to costs for public records

9 a.m. – Senate Finance considers the governor’s appointee John Crowther as commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources

10:15 a.m. – House Military and Veterans Affairs Committee hears a bill to update the focus and structure of the Joint Armed Services Committee

11 a.m. – Joint session of the House and Senate gathers to hear the annual address by U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski

1 p.m. – House Energy Committee hears a presentation on the Chugach Hydroelectric Program

1 p.m. – House Transportation hears a presentation on trails and local access from the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities

1:30 p.m. – Senate Natural Resources hears a presentation on the Division of Forestry and Fire Protection

1:30 p.m. – House Finance continues working on the operating budget

1:30 p.m.  – Senate transportation hears a presentation on the Port of Seward

3:15 p.m. – House Health and Social Services hears a bill to prioritize keeping siblings together in foster care; and a bill to establish an opioid litigation settlement fund

3:30 p.m. – Senate Health and Social Services Committee related to medical compacts for grants allocated by the federal Rural Health Transformation Program

6:30 p.m. – Middle Nenana River Fish & Game Advisory Committee Meeting in Healy, see event info here.

6:30 p.m. – Alaska Common Ground, a non-profit, non-partisan public policy organization, hosts ‘Just what is the Permanent Fund, and who’s in charge? see event info here.

7 p.m. Upper Tanana Fortymile Fish & Game Advisory Committee Meeting in Tok, see event info here.

Wednesday, April 1

House/Senate Floor sessions in the morning

8 a.m. – House Education continues hearing bills related to increasing education funding, residential school funding, and civics education

9 a.m. – House Finance continues work on next year’s operating budget and hears proposed amendments

9 a.m. – Senate Finance hears a bill on mental health education in public schools

12 p.m. – Lunch & Learn presentation on outmigration of limited entry fishing permits

1 p.m. – House Judiciary Committee considers a bill related to social media use of minors, and bill to establish safe devices for surrendering infants

1 p.m. – House Resources Committee continues hearing the governor’s tax break proposal for the Alaska LNG gas line project

3:30 p.m. – Senate Education Committee hears a presentation from the University of Alaska Fairbanks chancellor on the Alaska Native Language Center

3:30 p.m. – Senate Resources Committee will hear a resolution urging support for the proposed Alaska LNG gas line project, with public testimony invited

5 p.m. – House Finance continues to hear proposed amendments on next year’s operating budget

Thursday, April 2

8 a.m. – House Community and Regional Affairs hears a bill related to ensuring the right to repair digital; a bill related to emergency first responders; a bill related to birth certificates and identification for unhoused young adults; and a bill related to autonomous vehicles

8 a.m. – House Tribal Affairs Committee hears a presentation on the Council of Alaska Native Language

9 a.m. – House Finance Committee hears a bill related to marijuana taxes and retail stores

10:15 a.m. – House Military and Veterans Affairs Committee hears a bill to update the focus and structure of the Joint Armed Services Committee

1:30 p.m. – House Finance Committee hears an update on the University of Alaska and deferred maintenance needs

3:30 p.m. – House Health and Social Services hears a bill to to prioritize keeping siblings together in foster care; a bill to expand early intervention services; and a bill related to regulating the sale of weight-loss and muscle-building supplements

3:30 p.m. – House State Affairs hears a bill related to establishing a welcome office in Alaska; and a bill related to regulating PFAS chemicals, remediation and water testing

Friday, April 3

All committee meetings cancelled ahead of the Easter holiday

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HOUSTON — Global energy leaders have convened here this week, spiffed up in dark suits and polished shoes, to discuss the industry’s most pressing issues: war in the Middle East, Venezuela, artificial intelligence.

But behind the scenes at this annual conference of industry executives — known formally as CERAWeek by S&P Global but nicknamed the “Super Bowl of energy” — a big story about Alaska oil is unfolding.

It involves a massive lease sale in the Arctic, a remarkable show of interest from global oil giants that had faded from Alaska’s frontlines and an emerging race to find deposits potentially worth billions of dollars. Industry proponents say a flood of crude from the largely undeveloped western Arctic, if companies can locate and produce it, could open a new era for the state’s industry.

In what was by far the highest-value federal lease sale in the vast National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska in more than two decades, oil companies last week snatched up more than 1 million acres across the western Arctic.

The scale of interest, with 11 companies participating and a record $163 million spent on bids, was itself notable. But so were the identities of some of the bidders. Two, in particular, surprised even industry insiders: ExxonMobil and Shell.

Both supermajors have a history in Alaska.

ExxonMobil still owns shares of existing Arctic oil fields and the trans-Alaska pipeline. But Shell no longer operates in the state and hasn’t drilled a well in Alaska since its failed offshore exploration campaign more than a decade ago. And ExxonMobil hadn’t bid on leases in years.

Their renewed interest — along with continued investment from established players like ConocoPhillips and Colorado-based wildcatter Bill Armstrong — accelerates an industry revival that was already playing out on the North Slope.

Just a few years ago, new production and investment in the region lagged as some companies struggled to raise money and even pulled out of Alaska amid successful advocacy campaigns against Arctic drilling.

But major geologic discoveries by Armstrong — and a pair of big new oil fields now under construction — have made the North Slope a more attractive investment. And the industry also has political tailwinds coming from a Trump administration keen to boost resource extraction in Alaska.

“This sale absolutely shows the world the potential for Alaska,” Armstrong, one of the primary bidders, said in an interview at CERAWeek. “This could be a game-changer for the state.”

The region still faces obstacles to development, like high costs and competition from other basins where drilling is cheaper.

And the lease sale is just a preliminary step, far from an assurance of future production: No new wells have been drilled yet, and companies often spend years doing exploratory work before deciding whether to start pumping oil.

Conservation groups, meanwhile, continue to fight the industry’s expansion in the reserve — where, they note, federal law instructs policymakers to not only to oversee oil development but also to protect the environment and cultural values. Multiplelawsuits are challenging the Trump administration’s oil-friendly policies in the Arctic, and advocates have asked a judge to invalidate leases set to be awarded after last week’s sale.

“What we saw last week were companies pushing into some of the most sensitive areas of the reserve,” said Suzanne Bostrom, an attorney with a conservation-focused Anchorage law firm, Trustees for Alaska, that represents some of the organizations suing the administration. “We and the groups that we work with are going to continue to fight for this area, and fight for the protections that it deserves,” Bostrom added.

But even amid the pending legal questions, the sale’s results are still a step toward new development; further investment and competition in the petroleum reserve are likely to follow, conference participants told Northern Journal in Houston this week.

A surprising sale

Leading up to the sale, there were signs that oil companies could show up in force.

It was the first auction in NPR-A in seven years, and more acreage was up for grabs than in many previous sales. The offerings included large swaths of tundra and wetlands that Democratic administrations had designated off-limits to drilling.

And after years of comparatively tepid industry interest, recent oil discoveries have expanded the known resources on the North Slope, said Bob Fryklund, a top oil and gas analyst at S&P Global Energy, a research firm.

“It’s kind of been a sleeper basin,” he said.

A decade ago, the petroleum reserve was beyond the western edge of the North Slope’s oil infrastructure, making it more expensive to bring in equipment and drill.

But the industry has been moving in its direction: Construction is now underway at two big new oil fields in the area — ConocoPhillips’ Willow project and Santos’ Pikka project. Both will tap into a long-overlooked oil-rich geologic formation, known as the Nanushuk, that Armstrong initially discovered near the reserve’s eastern boundary.

It was no surprise, then, that ConocoPhillips, Santos and Armstrong all showed up at the recent auction, analysts said.

Few people, however, predicted that so many other companies would put in bids, or that major corporations like ExxonMobil and Shell would participate.

ExxonMobil, committing more than $7 million on some 138,000 acres, came as a particularly big surprise.

That company, headquartered in Houston, owns shares in the existing Point Thomson and Prudhoe Bay oil fields on the North Slope. But it doesn’t manage either field, and the company has not been active in exploration and new development in the state: Until last week, ExxonMobil had not bid on a federal or state oil and gas lease in Alaska in more than a decade, according to data provided by Welligence, an industry research firm.

Meanwhile, Shell, in a partnership with a Spanish company, Repsol, submitted some of the highest bids. The two companies offered more than $2 million on many individual tracts, and committed more than $90 million in total.

Experts said the return of those players was likely influenced by the ongoing development in the area.

Although neither the Willow nor Pikka project is producing yet, the multibillion-dollar investments by ConocoPhillips and Santos may have given other companies more faith in the surrounding geology and the ability to pump oil in the area, analysts said.

“What you saw Shell do, and even Exxon, was validation of the work done by other players on the North Slope in recent years,” an oil company executive said in Houston, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

Industry headwinds subside

Shell’s interest represents a reversal from its announcement a decade ago that it was pulling out of Alaska. The company had spent some $7 billion on its failed effort to drill for oil offshore in the Chukchi Sea, citing Obama administration policies and high costs when it departed the state.

In 2020, another major, BP, also pulled out of Alaska, selling its assets to Hilcorp, a privately owned Texas business.

Those decisions both seemed like signals of the industry’s decline in the state, as the daily flow through the trans-Alaska pipeline shrank to 500,000 barrels from a high of 2 million decades earlier. An era of oil giants spending freely on big new projects was giving way to one of smaller companies wringing the last drops of crude out of aging fields.

At the time, companies were contending not only with the usual impediments to drilling in Alaska, like high costs and opposition from environmental groups, but also with growing political pressure from climate-minded shareholders and activists opposed to expanding fossil fuel production. Even oil executives acknowledged that advocacy against the oil industry, which is a major driver of climate change, was deterring investment in Alaska.

But even as the burning of fossil fuels continues to warm the planet, global demand for oil remains high — and industry confidence in the North Slope’s potential appears only to be growing.

The newly discovered oil deposits there “have proven that Alaska is not over,” Fryklund said.

ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Santos declined to make officials available for on-record interviews. Shell did not respond to a request for comment.

“This marks an important step in our continued commitment to responsible energy development in Alaska and the U.S.,” an Exxon spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

Once the company’s leases are finalized, ExxonMobil will work with the state and local communities as it evaluates “potential next steps for the area,” the statement said.

“I wish I were 30 years younger” 

For those who work in the oil industry, the central plank of Alaska’s economy, the sale stirred excitement, and some relief: New activity in the federal reserve could bring more gigs for contractors that have long wondered if there would be enough development on the North Slope to sustain their businesses.

“We’ve all had this little worry of, ‘Well, what’s next?’” said Greg Miller, vice president of operations at Cruz Construction, a Palmer-based company with oil-related contracts on the Slope. “Now, there’s a little bit of reason to be a little bit more hopeful and positive about the next 10, 20 years.”

The sale won’t lead to immediate growth for Miller’s business, he said. But new exploration activity, if and when it happens, will create jobs: A single project can provide a year’s worth of wages for as many as 100 employees at Cruz, Miller added.

For the president of another Alaska oil services company, Kevin Durling, the hype around the petroleum reserve is reminiscent of the boom days when oil started flowing through the trans-Alaska pipeline, in the 1970s and 1980s.

“I wish I was 30 years younger,” he said.

The state’s conservation community, meanwhile, has reacted with disappointment, and concern for the western Arctic ecosystem.

The vast, largely undeveloped region contains important habitat for migratory birds, and it sustains tens of thousands of caribou, some of which calve around Teshekpuk Lake, a major water body in the northern part of the petroleum reserve.

“I’ve had better weeks at work. No question about that,” said Andy Moderow, senior policy director at Alaska Wilderness League, one of the environmental groups suing the Trump administration. But, he added: “The war is still well in front of us.”

One potential hurdle for development is a legally disputed conservation area around Teshekpuk Lake. The protections, across about 1 million acres, were set aside by the Biden administration for the nearby Iñupiaq village of Nuiqsut, where many people still depend on caribou and other wildlife for food.

The Trump administration canceled the protections late last year, touting the area’s oil and gas potential and aiming to authorize leasing there. Nuiqsut’s leaders then sued, saying the move violated a prior agreement and threatened the village’s subsistence traditions.

Two days before the lease sale results were announced, a federal judge restored the Teshekpuk protections while the lawsuit played out.

But the area still attracted bids from a few companies — including ExxonMobil.

The administration has not said whether it plans to award leases in the disputed area to high bidders — or how, exactly, it intends to navigate the apparent conflict between the sale results and the court ruling.

Nathaniel Herz contributed reporting from Anchorage.

Northern Journal contributor Max Graham can be reached at max@northernjournal.com. He’s interested in any and all mining related stories, as well as introductory meetings with people in and around the industry.

This article was originally published in Northern Journal, a newsletter from Nathaniel Herz. Subscribe at this link.