Category: Alaska News

I have heard talk of a North Slope gas pipeline since my childhood. Growing up in Fairbanks around adults who built the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, I saw how it gave them financial security, so I planned on joining Laborers’ Local 942 to be part of the gas line construction. I became a camp tradesman and teacher instead. And while I want a new gas line, I do not want to give pipeline developers the huge tax cuts they say are necessary to make the project financially viable, especially when they don’t have international LNG buyers lined up. That is the deal Alaska lawmakers are considering now with House Bill 381.

History matters here. The trans-Alaska pipeline was not built because Alaska handed the Alyeska consortium a 90% tax cut. It was built because the consortium companies financed the roughly $8 billion construction — that’s in 1970s dollars — themselves. 

The deal with Alaskans was simple: you build it, you pay your taxes and we share the wealth. That deal built modern Alaska. 

What is being asked of us today is the opposite deal. Glenfarne is telling Alaska’s Legislature that a $1 billion annual property tax break is required to build a project described as economically viable one year ago by Governor Mike Dunleavy, the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation’s CEO and Glenfarne’s own CEO. As Senator Giessel has correctly named it, this would be “a huge give,” particularly when Alaska needs money to keep itself functioning. 

Alaskans are being pushed to lock in a 36-year, approximately $13 billion loss to the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Kenai Peninsula Borough, the North Slope Borough, and every community in between by a Lower-48 company, a lame-duck governor and yet another Begich. Compare this to the trans-Alaska pipeline’s construction, where severance taxes and property taxes on the pipeline itself were paid in full, and there was an actual demand for the stuff.

We are being told to move “swiftly” by a governor whose political future is tied to his “friend” Donald Trump’s energy dominance rhetoric, by a New York developer with no previous experience with an LNG export project at this scale and by lobbyist Mark Begich. 

“Swiftly” is a word con artists use to manufacture a sense of urgency and pressure their victims into impulsive financial decisions. We weren’t swift in the 1970s. We were stubborn, suspicious of outside money and protective of the state’s leverage. That is an Alaskan tradition worth defending right now — especially in an era when federal guardrails against corporate self-dealing are being actively dismantled in Washington.

If Alaska LNG is the genuinely transformative project its sponsors claim, it can carry a fair tax. If it cannot, then no amount of municipal sacrifice in Nenana, North Pole or Nikiski will make it pencil out — but Alaskans will have given away our present and future leverage and received a stranded asset in return. Alaskans deserve full financial disclosure from Glenfarne before any tax structure is set. I stand by the principle the pipeline generation fought for: Alaska’s resources belong to Alaskans first.

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When the “three lucky Swedes” discovered gold at Anvil Creek in the Bering Strait region in September of 1898, they touched off a frenzy that transformed a once-peaceful corner of Alaska.

“Imagine a long stretch of sandy beach, piled high & in confusion with freight of all descriptions & tents men unloading barges & working for dear life all the time, then a main street with stores, saloons, dance halls & gambling dens, etc. on each side crowded with people & teams pushing, joshing & shoving, then you have a pretty good description of Nome,” one of those fortune-seekers, named Edwin, said in a June 11, 1900, letter sent to a sweetheart named Clara, as reproduced in the book Nome Gold by Kenneth Kutz.

More than a century later, a patchwork of lingering mining claims and private landholdings has been cleared away and land stretching 14 miles along the salmon-rich Nome River is now in the hands of a local Native corporation, which has pledged to protect it.

A deal transferred 1,700 acres along the river from The Conservation Fund, a national nonprofit devoted to preserving habitat, to the Sitnasuak Native Corporation, the Nome-based village Native corporation.

The Conservation Fund had purchased private parcels along the river over time, and its transfer to Sitnasuak includes an agreement to preserve the land as a conservation easement, as arranged with the Interior Alaska Land Trust, another nonprofit organization that preserves lands.

For Sitnasuak, the land acquisition is an investment in the future, the corporation’s chief executive officer said.

“We are very proud to take ownership of this precious piece of land. Adding this area to our SNC Land assets ensures it will be protected in perpetuity for future generations of our Alaska Native People,” Charles Fagerstrom, Sitnasuak’s CEO, said in a statement released by The Conservation Fund. “Safeguarding these waters, land and its resources holds tremendous value to our community, Shareholders and Descendants whose ancestors have thrived in this region for thousands of years.”

Putting the land into the Native corporation’s portfolio addresses problems that persisted for decades. Subsistence food gatherers faced barriers when trying to travel to and along the river because they had to cross through parcels of private land, and mining activities had caused long-term habitat degradation for the river, which holds salmon, grayling and habitat for various wildlife species.

A community celebration of the transfer is planned for later in the summer, the corporation said.

The Conservation Fund also characterized the transaction as a happy outcome.

“Sitnasuak and its shareholders are the best possible stewards of the river and surrounding lands. We are honored to partner with Sitnasuak and Interior Alaska Land Trust to preserve wild nature and access to subsistence resources,” said John Wros, Alaska state director at The Conservation Fund.

The Nome River project is among several that The Conservation Fund has completed throughout Alaska since the 1990s. Its projects have preserved over 400,000 acres of land and water. A recent project by the organization added 24 acres of privately held land known as Herring Pete’s Cove to Kachemak State Park.

The Nome River flows about 40 miles from the Kigluaik Mountains into Norton Sound. Its outflow into the sound is on the eastern edge of Nome.

The lower part of the river was most heavily mined in the years between 1900 and 1930, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Ditches dug to support mining operations are still visible, according to the department. The river’s habitat has healed over time, and it is now important to fish, birds and mammals, according to the department.

Alaska dropped seven places to rank 47th in the nation in overall child well-being, according to a nationally recognized survey by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Advocates say the decline is troubling and reflects years of declining investment in Alaska children and families.

The scoring system is part of Kids Count data book, an analysis of all 50 states to gauge how children are faring across 16 indicators in four areas — economic well-being, education, health, and family and community. The latest score reflects outcomes over a five-year period from 2019 to 2024, to compare between states and against the baseline of 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. Alaska received an overall score of 385 out of 1,000.

Alaska’s overall score dropped 41 points since 2019, among the largest decline of any state in the nation.

“Dropping seven spots in a single year is not a data point — it’s a warning,” said Trevor Storrs, president and CEO of Alaska Children’s Trust, in a statement highlighting the survey. The non-profit advocacy group focuses on supporting Alaska children and families and preventing child abuse and neglect. 

“We have been seeing year after year the overall trend of Alaska’s investment in children and families going down, and that is automatically going to result in less success or less thriving children and families,” Storrs said in an interview Monday. “So us not doing as well as other states is not a surprise, and dropping to 47th is a major step backwards.”

Alaska saw the steepest decline in education, where the state ranked 49th in the nation, just above New Mexico. In 2024, 78% of Alaska fourth graders were not proficient in reading, and 78% of eighth graders were not proficient in math, several points worse than 2019 levels. In the five year period, 64% of young children — ages 3 and 4 — were not in school. Among high schoolers, 22% did not graduate on time in 2024.

In economic well-being, Alaska ranked 48th in the nation. Thirteen percent of children were living in poverty in 2024, with no change since 2019. Roughly one third, or 34% of children’s parents lacked stable employment, up from 29% in 2019. Eleven percent of teens were not working and not in school.

In the health and family and community sectors, Alaskans fared slightly better — ranking 38th and 30th respectively. However, 31% of children and teens were overweight or obese, and 9% of children had no health insurance. Teen birth rates improved slightly to 15 per 100,000, but infant mortality rates and child death rates worsened over the five year period. 

Alaska continues to have among the highest rate of youth suicide in the nation. In 2024, teen deaths by accident, homicide or suicide were nearly double the national average at a rate of 70 per 100,000. 

Nationwide, challenges and progress were reflected across all states: 29 states saw overall declines, 15 states saw improvements and six states were stable, across the scoring system. Education outcomes remain the most concerning across the board, according to the Kids Count analysis – nearly every state, or 47 in total, saw declines in education since 2019, highlighting the pervasive impacts of the COVID-10 pandemic. 

Storrs and Alaska education advocates across the state say state funding has failed to keep up with Alaska school districts’ needs, as costs increase and budget deficits have ballooned, resulting in severe budget cuts and the closure of 12 schools statewide this year.

“Our education isn’t doing poorly because of not the right teachers or not the right system, it is literally being strangled and deprived of the options that it needs to survive, and that is the funding,” Storrs said. 

Storrs said that greater investments in Alaska’s schools alone won’t improve educational outcomes, as health and socio-economic factors greatly impact how a child shows up at school.

“Children and families live in an ecosystem, and we need to make sure all aspects are well maintained, because if one goes bad, it can and will impact. And we’re definitely seeing that the educational side is not doing so well, that’s definitely impacting so many areas of our state,” he said.

Storrs said despite the decline, recent policy investments in child care and broadened access and funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has been beneficial, Storrs said, as well as legislation that passed this year to expand paid parental leave, increase funding for early intervention programs, and establish a mental health curriculum in schools.  

An analysis by the Alaska Children’s Trust found that the state last year reduced funding levels for services and programs to specifically support Alaska children, youth and families by an estimated 21% compared to average funding levels from FY2014–2017, adjusted for inflation. 

Storrs said the group is advocating for more funding “upstream” for support services, rather than “downstream” funding for things like corrections. Storrs pointed to the all-time high budget approved for the Alaska Department of Corrections this year. 

He said the organization is also urging serious consideration and development of new state revenue measures that would provide funding for social services and support for families. 

“It’s a warning that if we continue to do this, our numbers are only going to get worse,” Storrs said. “Our children and families are going to suffer, and we’re going to continue to see trends, not just in the sense of poor outcomes, but people leaving our state.” 

As Alaska is headed into a major election year, set to vote on a new governor, U.S. Senator, U.S. House Representative and dozens of Alaska House and Senate members, Storrs said he hopes Alaskans will ask questions and push candidates to consider these complex issues, and investing in children and families. 

“Kids make up about 25% of our population, but 100% of our future,” Storrs said.

Our country has gone through several convulsions against immigrants, none having left a legacy of honor and some having made their imprint on Alaska’s own history: enforcement of the Chinese Exclusion Act and the internment of Japanese and Japanese-Americans immediately come to mind. The Trump Administration is unabashedly adding itself to this legacy. Future generations will ask how we permitted his systematic purging of millions from the United States to happen.

In Alaska, our Haitian community was one of the first targets of the Trump administration’s efforts to strip immigrants of Temporary Protected Status, known as TPS. In February Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem determined that Haiti no longer qualified and initially gave Haitians weeks to leave the country. Immigration authorities sent text messages directing them to leave immediately or face the consequences. Lower federal courts ultimately blocked her order and it now awaits a decision from the Supreme Court.  

For a majority of our country’s history there were no admission requirements other than health for individuals immigrating to our shores. Systematic registration was first introduced following World War I. In this light, the argument that “they” should do it like our ancestors did” is not quite so persuasive. Nor have the motivations to immigrate changed. A Guatemalan’s desire to escape violence or hunger or seek economic opportunity and political freedom today would resonate with an Irish immigrant of the nineteenth century.

There is no doubt that disruptions, particularly in the Americas, overwhelmed the nation’s borders in the last several years, causing a collapse of capacity to serve the incoming masses of humanity, especially among border states. There was a genuine need to re-establish order, a fact that President Biden recognized late in his administration.

Donald Trump capitalized on the widespread anger at the failure of the federal government to control the border by demonizing the “invasion” of “rapists and murderers” and later attributing his electoral loss in 2020 to false claims of millions of undocumented voters. These two themes have been the twin engines for Trump’s systematic assault on immigrants, the full extent of which is only now becoming clear.

Americans overwhelmingly support Trump’s stated goal of removing the “worst of the worst” from the country. Yet that rhetoric has not matched the administration’s actions. Immigration and Customs Enforcement evolved from detaining individuals to indiscriminate, sometimes violent, and highly publicized roundups in largely Democratic-led cities, joined by Customs and Border Protection agents whose traditional remit limited its activities to securing the border and its entry points. Most of those taken into custody had no criminal record whatsoever and the toll on the immigrant community was incalculable. Deaths of two American citizens dampened the tactic, though the new secretary of Homeland Security reassures us that it is still in the toolbox.

These mass arrests and others, frequently in courthouses where asylum applicants have appeared for scheduled hearings—only to be detained while exiting the courtroom—has led the Trump administration to build detention centers only equaled in scope by World War II’s internment camps.

Simultaneously, the Trump administration has sought to limit or eliminate temporary protected status, commonly called TPS, held by hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals coming from countries experiencing armed conflict, natural disasters or some other extraordinary circumstance. TPS authorizes the individual to work, though it is not a path to citizenship. The irony in the administration’s efforts to terminate the status for Haitians is that the State Department itself warns Americans to avoid Haiti at all costs because of the instability that is the very basis of TPS. Similar terminations face citizens of 10 other countries including Somalia and Afghanistan.

These widely publicized efforts have given way to much more low-profile, but highly effective ways to drive down and drive away immigrants. Several of the strategies involve depriving people of their ability to work. Start by delaying the processing of asylum applications and renewals of employment authorization documents—a precondition of employment for foreigners in the US. Establish new fee structures that make re-application prohibitively expensive for a typical immigrant family. Set the amount for visa applicants with expertise at an amount beyond the reach of any but the largest enterprises—no Alaskan school district can afford to pay the $100,000 visa fee for a qualified teacher, despite the universally recognized shortage of educators in rural Alaska. Bar previously qualified airport workers from their jobs by reclassifying clearance requirements for employment; revoke commercial drivers licenses for some 200,000 TPS holders, asylum seekers and green card applicants.

Further indignities include the denial of the ability to seek government-backed business loans or public housing or receive health or child care.

The Trump administration has turned its attention to green card holders who are “lawful permanent residents”, foreign nationals who have been granted official authorization to live, work, and study anywhere in the United States on a permanent basis. Green card status is a prerequisite to citizenship. Trump has directed U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services to systematically review previously vetted green card holders for fraud and possible expulsion from the country.  Nor are naturalized citizens safe from the purge. The White House has set a monthly quota for the number of persons whose citizenship should be stripped from them.

The administration has shut down immigrant visa processing for some 75 countries. In late May it announced that most individuals living in the United States with pending green card applications must return to their country of origin. Trump has eliminated the lottery for green cards, an avenue that permitted some 50,000 admissions annually. On the other hand, he has increased the quota for one group: white South Africans. Trump’s racial animus is well known.   It is now government policy.   

I believe in Martin Luther King Jr.’s observation that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” It doesn’t bend by itself.  What will we answer, when our children ask: “What did you do to stop this madness?”

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Teens help fight a Houston forest fire, progress continues on the Juneau Creek Bridge, Bethel begins building a new animal shelter, and Fairbanks artists paint storm drains downtown.

Progress continues on the Juneau Creek Bridge, Bethel begins building a new animal shelter, and Fairbanks artists paint storm drains downtown.