NOTN- Residents filled Centennial Hall on Monday to oppose a plan to redevelop Juneau’s Telephone Hill into higher-density housing.
About 30 people testified against the proposal, which calls for replacing 14 existing units with more than 100 new units. Mayor Beth Weldon said the project is part of the city’s effort to expand downtown housing.
The Assembly has appropriated $5.5 million toward the redevelopment, though Weldon said no decisions are final.
“Most of it just comes down to trying to get housing downtown.” said Weldon, “So instead of 14 units, we’re looking for over 100 units, its a leap of faith.”
Opponents who testified criticized the plan’s cost and the displacement of current residents. The city maintains the redevelopment is necessary to address Juneau’s housing shortage.
“We do have a timeline. This is a topic for people, because we are doing evictions, but in the spirit of trying to get more housing downtown.” Weldon said.
According to Mayor Weldon, the Assembly changed the format through resident testimony so that there was more conversation between the city and the individuals who showed up to testify.
Alaska’s sole U.S. House Rep. Nick Begich III, R-Alaska, voted in favor of a seven-week budget extension, but that measure died in the U.S. Senate when lawmakers were unable to garner the 60 votes needed to pass the U.S. House measure or an alternative proposed by Democratic members of the Senate.
U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, was absent from both votes. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, voted against both proposals.
“I voted against both measures as I felt that they were not serious (enough) to meet the situation that we are currently in today,” she said in a recording provided by her office.
The Republican-controlled House passed its stopgap funding bill 217-212, with one Democrat voting for it and two Republicans voting against it.
“The House did its job,” Begich said in a written statement afterward. “We passed a responsible, short-term continuing resolution to keep the government open and give Congress time to complete the appropriations process. Unfortunately, Senate Democrats chose obstruction over solutions, blocking this clean measure.”
Murkowski and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, voted against the House-passed plan, while Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, voted for it. Eight senators did not vote, and the measure died 44-48.
Murkowski said that counterproposal included “a Christmas list” of Democratic ideas, including items that would have reversed big parts of the Republican “Big Beautiful Bill Act” from earlier this year, which contained core tax cuts and spending policies of Trump’s second presidential term. Murkowski and Sullivan voted for that bill, which was later signed into law.
On the other side of the coin, Murkowski said the Republican plan failed to include an extension of subsidies for health care plans passed through the federal insurance marketplace, something that is critical for Alaskans. It also didn’t include additional funding for public broadcasting or opposition to President Donald Trump’s unilateral budget clawbacks, known as recissions.
“I’m going to be busy in the next 10 days, trying to build a level of consensus that keeps the government open, because there is no side — no Republican, no Democrat, the White House — nobody wins when there is a government shutdown,” she said.
“It’s possible that my proposal will equally annoy both sides, but maybe, just maybe, it will get the conversation going in a way that advances serious discussion and positive outcomes,” Murkowski said.
An early voting station is set up in the atrium of the State Office Building in Juneau, Alaska on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, the first day of early voting for the 2024 Alaska primary election. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
(Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
NOTN- Ballots for the 2025 City and Borough of Juneau municipal election are being mailed today to all registered voters, marking the official start of the election period that runs through Oct. 7.
Voters can return their ballots by mail, deposit them in one of five secure drop boxes located around Juneau, or vote in person at City Hall or the Mendenhall Valley Public Library.
Drop boxes open today and will remain available 24 hours a day until 8 p.m. on Election Day.
This year’s ballot includes races for three Assembly seats, an areawide member, and representatives from Districts 1 and 2 , along with three Board of Education positions.
Ballots must be postmarked by Oct. 7 to be counted.
Official results are scheduled to be certified and published Oct. 21, following the review of ballots.
The campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks is seen from the air on Sept. 20, 2022. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
Officials at the University of Alaska said this week that previously announced cuts to federally funded programs for Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian students will be worse than initially thought.
At the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the canceled funding will amount to an estimated $8.8 million, and University of Alaska Southeast programs will also be affected but to a lesser degree.
“It was quite a shock, because there was no forewarning to this,” said Bryan Uher, interim vice chancellor for rural, community and Native education at UAF in a phone interview Wednesday.
Uher said the elimination of the grant funding for the University of Alaska Fairbanks affects programs at the Bristol Bay campus in Dillingham and in Fairbanks at the Community and Technical College focused on career training and workforce development, as well as student services.
In total, for the five-year grant programs, Uher said the cancellation is estimated at $8.8 million of $12.9 million in grant funding previously awarded.
“This award funding is unique in that it funds faculty for new program development, and then it also funds staff for student support — so advisors, outreach, individual wellness coordinators, admissions, graduation – student services, essentially,” he said.
Uher said new programs in development that will be impacted — for students in person or through distance education — include American Sign Language, information technology technician training and private pilot ground school, helping students train for their pilot’s license.
Uher said those programs will continue through this academic year, and then the university will evaluate whether or how to continue them. University officials say they were given one year to close out grant-funded programs.
UAF includes campuses in Fairbanks, Dillingham, Bethel, Nome and Kotzebue. Uher said while these programs must have at least 20% Native students to be eligible for the funding, they serve a wider student population, especially student services at rural campuses that serve wider regions of rural Alaska.
“They provide follow-ups, financial aid support like, how do you apply for financial aid? Are there scholarships out there?” Uher said. “They provide financial literacy to students. So it really is a comprehensive service that we provide to these students who are not living in or located in urban centers like Fairbanks or Anchorage.”
An estimated 17% of the University of Alaska student population identified as Alaska Native in 2024, or 3,254 students statewide, and roughly 1.3% or 266 students identified as Native Hawaiian.
UAA and UAS expect less impact
University of Alaska Anchorage has grant-funded programs for Native students, but officials say they are not expecting them to be affected.
University of Alaska Southeast Chancellor Aparna Palmer said in a university-wide email Monday that a grant-funded program on its Sitka campus to support student services is already set to end this month, and the university is authorized to continue to spend remaining funds for another year.
“I want to assure you that we will continue to support the many ways in which we are rooted in Alaska Native culture, history, language, and arts,” Palmer said, adding emphasis by underlining her statement.
Palmer said programs and courses in Indigenous studies, as well as support for Indigenous students, will continue. “Our programs and courses in Indigenous Studies at UAS are strong and will continue to thrive and grow. The UA President, Pat Pitney, and I are fully aligned on this,” she said. “Our Native and Rural Student Center will continue to be a space that provides support for Alaska Native students while welcoming all students.”
Faculty union president Jill Dumesnill, professor of mathematics at UAS, said by email on Monday that the announcement also disrupts future programs, faculty positions and student services.
“Writing these grant applications takes an enormous amount of faculty time and effort, and the Sitka proposal would have provided two additional faculty on the Sitka campus. That loss is significant because there are currently no Alaskan Native faculty members on the Sitka campus,” she said. “You don’t make campuses welcoming simply by calling them welcoming.”
Alaska’s U.S. Senators say they’re working to fund higher education
U.S. Sen Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said in a statement Wednesday that the funds are already legally authorized by Congress, and support students as well as address workforce shortages in the state.
Alaska Republican U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan (Alaska Beacon file photos)
“I am working with my colleagues to reinforce to the administration that these are statutory grant programs authorized and appropriated by Congress that align with the President’s goal of providing career technical education to the next generation for high-impact workforce needs such as fisheries, healthcare, skilled trades, and energy,” Murksowski said.
“As Alaska partners with this administration on several large-scale and exciting projects that can help transform our state, we need a local workforce trained to meet this moment,” she said. “Cancelling these funds takes us further away from that objective.”
A spokesperson for U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, also repeated the impact on career training and workforce development education.
“Senator Sullivan and his team are in touch with the Department of Education regarding these grants. The University of Alaska serves thousands of students across the state, including Alaska Natives, and provides critical programs, such as job training and technical education, that build up Alaska’s trained workforce. President Trump’s Day 1 executive order to ‘Unleash Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential’ makes it clear we must be training the next generation to power projects like the Alaska LNG pipeline and keep these good-paying jobs in Alaska,” said spokesperson Amanda Coyne by email on Tuesday.
“Senator Sullivan will continue to work with the administration to fund secondary education and job training to continue building up Alaska’s economy and workforce,” she said.
Alaska’s U.S. House Representative Nick Begich did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
The announcement follows the Trump administration’s move to cancel $350 million in congressionally approved grant funding for minority-serving institutions last week, saying the funds will be allocated elsewhere.
There are an estimated 5 million students enrolled in 800 minority-serving institutions nationwide. The grant funding is aimed at supporting students of color and from low-income backgrounds to pursue and complete higher education.
A copy of the Alaska Constitution is seen on Thursday, July 28, 2022. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
In Anchorage Superior Court on Wednesday, attorneys for the state of Alaska defended Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s decision to name a former attorney to a public seat on Alaska’s judge-picking board, saying the choice was within the governor’s powers under the Alaska Constitution.
The governor’s choice of John W. Wood has been challenged by lawsuits filed by Juneau resident James Forrer and Alaskans for Fair Courts, a group devoted to the defense of the court system as an independent, apolitical branch of government.
They argue that if Wood’s appointment stands, it would give attorneys four of the six seats on the Alaska Judicial Council, the state board that accepts applications for judicial vacancies, selects nominees and forwards them to the governor for final selection.
Under the Alaska Constitution, the council consists of three attorneys picked by the Alaska Bar Association and three non-lawyer members of the public appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Legislature. In ties, the chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court may cast a seventh vote.
The state contends that Wood is no longer an attorney and that he was a valid pick for an open seat. Both sides have asked for summary judgment, allowing Judge Yvonne Lamoureux to decide the case short of trial.
Wood’s appointment has been challenged on three main points. First, was the governor’s choice a valid recess appointment? Second, is Wood an attorney? Third, was he employed by the state at the time of the appointment?
Dunleavy appointed Wood in a letter dated May 29, filling a position that had been vacant since March, when a prior appointment expired. That was after the Legislature had adjourned for the year.
Under the Alaska Constitution and state law, a governor may fill vacant positions on boards and commissions when the Legislature is out of session, but the appointee will be subject to confirmation during the next regular legislative session.
Attorney James Reeves, arguing on behalf of Alaskans for Fair Courts, said his group contends that because a position on the Judicial Council became vacant during the legislative session, Wood may not begin serving until a confirmation vote takes place.
That contradicts existing practice, and Alaska Department of Law attorney Claire C. Keneally said in court on Wednesday that “it’s also not supported by the history of the (Alaska) Constitution” or the clause of the constitution that deals with appointments that take place when the Legislature is out of session.
“This is not a new or novel practice,” Keneally said of Dunleavy’s decision to not fill a March vacancy until May.
In 2015, then-Gov. Bill Walker filled a public seat on the Alaska Judicial Council in October; that seat had also been vacant since March, when the Legislature was in session.
Because of that timing issue, Keneally argued both in court and in writing, the case should be dismissed. Other arguments would be ripe for discussion only if the Legislature approves Wood’s appointment.
Wood was granted a law license in 1972, but it was suspended in 2000 because of a failure to pay dues to the Alaska Bar Association. Under a sworn affidavit, Wood said he has not practiced law since 2000 and has no intention of practicing law.
But in court on Wednesday, Reeves with Alaskans for Fair Courts said, “the Constitutional Convention history, which both sides have cited, indicates that the framers who discussed this understood the word non-attorney to mean layman or lay member. Is a lawyer who chooses not to practice law a layman?”
Reeves and attorney Joseph Geldhof, who was representing James Forrer in a separate but combined lawsuit also challenging Wood’s appointment, argued that because Wood held a state consulting contract at the time of his appointment, he was ineligible to serve on the Judicial Council.
The contract calls for Wood to advise the Alaska Department of Law on labor relations matters and to provide advice to the governor’s office when needed.
The Alaska Constitution states that no member of the Judicial Council may hold “any other office or position of profit under the United States or the state.”
But Keneally noted that the Alaska Supreme Court has previously interpreted that phrase to mean “salaried, non-temporary employment” with the state, and that other members of the Alaska Judicial Council, including some current members, have also held state contracts while serving on the council.
Lamoureux, who heard Wednesday’s arguments, said she intends to issue a written order within 30 days, the timeline requested by both sides of the case in order to allow a speedy appeal.
Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor speaks at a news conference on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022, at the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau. (Photo by James Brooks / Alaska Beacon)
Treg Taylor, the former Alaska attorney general, is running for governor, he announced Wednesday morning.
“I have a four-and-a-half-year proven record as the attorney general of fighting crime, fighting Biden, and fighting for Alaska,” he said by phone.
In a campaign video and written statement, Taylor promoted himself as a “fearless conservative” who is the best successor to incumbent Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who is term-limited and unable to run for another four years in office.
Taylor is the 10th Republican and 11th candidate overall to enter the 2026 Alaska governor’s race.
The lone non-Republican in the race is former state Sen. Tom Begich, an Anchorage Democrat.
The other Republicans are Anchorage business owner Bernadette Wilson; former state Sen. Click Bishop of Fairbanks; former Alaska Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum; current state Sen. Shelley Hughes of Palmer, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom of Eagle River; Matanuska-Susitna Borough Mayor Edna DeVries; podiatrist Matt Heilala of Anchorage; former teacher James William Parkin IV of Angoon; and Bruce Walden of Palmer.
“That is a ridiculous number of people in the race,” Taylor said when asked how he distinguishes himself from the other Republicans. “My answer is that I am the only candidate that has a proven record of fighting on behalf of Alaska. When I was the attorney general for four and a half years, I fought crime, I fought Biden, I fought for Alaska’s economic future. I’ve been heavily involved with the Trump administration. I helped draft Trump’s first day Executive Order unleashing Alaska’s extraordinary resource potential. And I’ve worked hard with the Trump administration, with (Department of the Interior), (Department of Justice), to see fulfillment of that executive order, which is going to push Alaska’s economic future.”
Asked about his campaign plans, Taylor said, “over the next few months, I’ll be hard at work, visiting with groups, visiting with individuals, working up support, fundraising. Obviously, I think the biggest tell in this race is going to be when everybody divulges their fundraising and our goal is to be at the top of that list, and I think we’ve got a good plan for getting there.”
Taylor, a longtime attorney with a degree from the Brigham Young University law school, worked in private practice and for Arctic Slope Regional Corp. before joining the Alaska Department of Law in 2018. He was head of the department’s civil division in 2021 when Dunleavy picked him as attorney general following the resignations of two other men amid sexual misconduct scandals.
Taylor, who has never held publicly elected office before, ran unsuccessfully for the Anchorage School Board in 2011 and for that city’s Assembly in 2016.
Taylor’s entry into the governor’s race marks an unusually early start for an Alaska campaign. Eight years ago, when now-Gov. Dunleavy launched his campaign in July 2017, he was the first high-profile candidate to challenge then-Gov. Bill Walker. This time around, three candidates had entered the race before June.
While the race is unusually crowded, additional candidates are still possible. Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has not ruled out a campaign, and a run by former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat, is also possible.
The Alaska State Capitol in downtown Juneau.
(Photo by Greg Knight/News of the North)
By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon
The Alaska State Capitol in downtown Juneau.
(Photo by Greg Knight/News of the North)
A panel of state lawmakers voted 9-2 on Wednesday to approve spending up to $100,000 on a lawsuit against Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
The lawsuit, if filed, would challenge the governor’s decision to press ahead with plans to create a cabinet-level Alaska Department of Agriculture via executive order.
The governor issued an executive order in January, but lawmakers rejected it in a 32-28 vote in March, saying they preferred to create it through legislation instead. Creating the department through legislation, legislative leaders said, would allow lawmakers to debate and structure the department how they wish, instead of relying on the governor’s plans alone.
Dunleavy disagrees with that approach and in August filed a new executive order during a 30-day special session.
The leaders of the House and Senate refused to accept the filing, saying that it was not within the governor’s power to issue an executive order during a special session, or to reintroduce an already-rejected order.
The governor’s office has said that lawmakers’ failure to vote down the new order means that it will take effect and allow the executive branch to create the cabinet-level department at the start of 2026.
Why does the Legislature’s failure to vote on the executive order matter?
Article III, section 23 of the Alaska Constitution says that executive orders automatically take effect “unless disapproved by resolution concurred in by a majority of the members in joint session.”
The question that could be decided in court is whether lawmakers need to take that vote if an order is issued during a special session. Is issuing an order in a special session even legal? And does it matter if the order is identical to one that’s already been issued and voted upon?
Under Article III, section 23 of the Alaska Constitution, the “legislature shall have sixty days of a regular session, or a full session if of shorter duration, to disapprove” executive orders that would make a change to the functions of the executive branch.
For almost two hours on Wednesday, members of the joint House-Senate Legislative Council — a committee that makes decisions for the Legislature when it is out of session — heard about the dispute behind closed doors, then debated it briefly in open session before voting.
“It’s a disagreement between the Legislature and the governor about whether or not the governor has the authority under the Alaska Constitution to introduce an executive order during a special session,” said Emily Nauman, director of Legislative Legal Services, the legal department for Alaska’s legislative branch.
Because the House and Senate’s presiding officers returned the order to the governor without taking action, “the governor is asserting that he will give effect to the executive order because it was not specifically rejected or disapproved by the legislature, thus causing a conflict in the interpretation of the Constitution between the Legislature and executive branch.”
Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, voted in favor of authorizing the Legislature to prepare and, if necessary, file a pre-emptive lawsuit to keep the governor from enacting the executive order.
“It’s just a question, to me, of, we said, ‘No. Don’t you understand what no means?’”
Rep. Calvin Schrage, I-Anchorage, also voted in favor of moving forward with a lawsuit. He said that while there is still time for the governor to back away from his position, “I really see it as our prerogative to protect ourselves procedurally, and for us to do that, I believe we need to file litigation.”
The two votes against Wednesday’s proposal came from Reps. Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage, and Mike Prax, R-North Pole.
Prax said he feels as if it could set a precedent that could allow lawmakers to disapprove of a future governor’s actions in a “more urgent” situation by simply not taking action.
“We would establish a precedent that the Legislature can do something by doing nothing, and that just does not seem like a very good practice to have established for any organization,” Prax said.
Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, said he doesn’t think that’s a correct interpretation of the lawsuit.
“With great respect to Representative Prax, no one is asserting here that the Legislature may act by inaction. What is before us is the question of whether the second shot at an executive order came in a way that the Constitution allows. I am convinced it did not.”
Kopp said he believes the governor may be prepared to change course on his executive action, and he’s reluctant to approve a lawsuit unless the governor attempts to take action and actually create the department.
“I would like to see us not initiate this until there’s some overt action by the administration that clearly indicates their intent to move unilaterally on this issue outside of the legislative process,” he said.
As of Friday, there was no estimate as to when a lawsuit might be filed.
Under the Alaska Constitution, the executive branch may not sue the legislative branch. Lawsuits by the Legislature against the governor are rare; this would be the fourth against Dunleavy during his two terms in office beginning in 2018.
In 2019, lawmakers sued the governor over a school funding issue. The governor won that case in the Alaska Supreme Court. The following year, legislators sued Dunleavy over their failure to consider some of his appointees during the COVID-19 pandemic emergency. The Alaska Supreme Court again ruled in Dunleavy’s favor.
In 2022, lawmakers filed a ‘friendly’ lawsuit against the governor in a dispute over the proper handling of oil and gas tax settlements. That dispute, which dates to the administration of Gov. Bill Walker, has yet to be decided by the Alaska Supreme Court.
Photo of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University event Wednesday, courtesy of AP
NOTN/AP- An Alaskan resident attending Brigham Young University said she was just feet away when conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during a campus event on Wednesday.
Margie Brown of Kasilof, Alaska, described the scene as “surreal” and said she is still processing what she witnessed.
“I’m okay. I definitely know I’m probably still in a little bit of shock,” Brown said in an interview with News of the North. “As he was setting his microphone down, you heard the crack, it was behind me, and I saw him, with my own eyes, get shot in the neck, and I knew it was the neck because there was a lot of blood.”
Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong.” A single shot rings out and Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as a large volume of blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators are heard gasping and screaming before people start to run away.
Brown, a history major finishing her last semester at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, said she and a friend signed up to attend Kirk’s appearance and they found seats near the stage, about 50 feet from where Kirk was speaking.
Immediately before the shooting, Kirk was taking questions from an audience member about mass shootings and gun violence.
Brown said she hit the ground hard before urging others to run.
FILE – Interior Secretary Doug Burgum listens as President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
The rule was a key part of efforts under former President Joe Biden to refocus the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, which oversees about 10% of land in the U.S. Adopted last year, it allowed public property to be leased for restoration in the same way that oil companies lease land for drilling.
Industry and agriculture groups were bitterly opposed to the Biden rule and lobbied Republicans to reverse it. States including North Dakota, where Burgum served as governor before joining Trump’s Cabinet, pursued a lawsuit hoping to block the rule.
Wednesday’s announcement comes amid a flurry of actions since Trump took office aimed at boosting energy production from the federal government’s vast land holdings, which are concentrated in Western states including Alaska, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
Interior officials said the Biden rule had sidelined people who depend on public lands for their livelihoods and imposed unneeded restrictions.
Burgum said in a statement that it would have prevented thousands of acres from being used for energy and mineral productions, grazing and recreation. Overturning it “protects our American way of life and gives our communities a voice in the land that they depend on,” Burgum said.
“The previous administration’s Public Lands Rule had the potential to block access to hundreds of thousands of acres of multiple-use land – preventing energy and mineral production, timber management, grazing and recreation across the West,” Burgum said.
Environmentalists had largely embraced the rule that was finalized in April 2024. Supporters argued that conservation was a long-neglected facet of the land bureau’s mission under the 1976 Federal Lands Policy Management Act.
“The administration cannot simply overthrow that statutory authority because they would prefer to let drilling and mining companies call the shots,” said Alison Flint, senior legal director at The Wilderness Society.
While the bureau previously issued leases for conservation purposes in limited cases, it never had a dedicated program for it.
Critics said the change under Biden violated the “multiple use” mandate for Interior Department lands, by catapulting the “non-use” of federal lands — meaning restoration leases — to a position of prominence.
National Mining Association CEO Rich Nolan said Burgum’s proposal would ensure the nation’s natural resources are available to address rising energy demands and supply important minerals.
“This is a welcome change from the prior clear disregard for the legal obligation to balance multiple uses on federal lands,” Nolan said.
The rule also promoted the designation of more “areas of critical environmental concern” — a special status that can restrict development. It’s given to land with historic or cultural significance or that’s important for wildlife conservation.
In addition to its surface land holdings, the land bureau regulates publicly-owned underground mineral reserves — such as coal for power plants and lithium for renewable energy — across more than 1 million square miles (2.5 million square kilometers). The bureau has a history of industry-friendly policies and for more than a century has sold grazing permits and oil and gas leases.
The pending publication of Burgum’s proposal will kick off a 60-day public comment period.
House Republicans last week repealed land management plans adopted in the closing days of former President Joe Biden’s administration that restricted development in large areas of Alaska, Montana and North Dakota. Interior officials also announced a proposal aimed at increasing mining and drilling in Western states with populations of greater sage grouse. Biden administration officials proposed limits on development and prohibitions against mining to help protect the grouse.
The ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. building in Anchorage is seen on June 28, 2023. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
The top oil-producing company in Alaska is planning significant layoffs, it announced last week.
In a series of statements, the oil giant ConocoPhillips said it will be firing between 20% and 25% of its global workforce of about 13,000 people. That would mean between 2,600 and 3,250 layoffs worldwide.
“We are always looking at how we can be more efficient with the resources we have. As part of this process, we have informed employees that a 20% to 25% reduction in our global workforce, which includes employees and contractors, is anticipated. The majority of these reductions will take place in 2025,” said Rebecca Boys, director of external affairs for ConocoPhillips Alaska, on Thursday.
Boys declined to say how many people the company employs in Alaska, but prior documents published by the company say that it has “about 1,000 people in Alaska,” and of those, about 80% live in the state.
Altogether, the oil and gas industry employed 8,800 people in Alaska as of July, according to state statistics. If ConocoPhillips were to lay off a quarter of its Alaska workforce, it likely would reverse an upward trend for the oil and gas industry here.
Since bottoming out at 6,100 people in November 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic emergency, the number of people employed by the oil and gas industry rose throughout President Joe Biden’s administration.
ConocoPhillips produces the most oil of any company operating on the North Slope and holds the second-most oil and gas lease area in the state.
According to state data, ConocoPhillips leases about 490,000 acres of Alaska land and water for oil and gas drilling. That’s behind only privately owned Hilcorp, whose holdings exceed 500,000 acres.
ConocoPhillips is developing the large Willow project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, which is expected to begin producing oil in 2029.
According to the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas, ConocoPhillips is also planning to drill four exploration wells in other parts of the reserve this winter.
On its production side, ConocoPhillips was planning to drill 12 new production wells this year and next from the Kuparuk oilfield west of Prudhoe Bay.
