We are less than a month away from being halfway through 2025! Governor Mike Dunleavy (R – Alaska) held his annual Sustainable Energy Conference this week in Anchorage, which attracted some key Trump administration officials. A judge found the State of Alaska “acted in bad faith” in a case against the Department of Fish and Game over the killing of bears. More legislative candidates filed letters of intent to run for office next year. And some more politicos are on the move. 

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Energy Conference in Anchorage

Governor Dunleavy held his Sustainable Energy Conference in Anchorage this week. I am out of town so was not able to attend. The big draws were Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. You can watch them speak with Governor Dunleavy here. 

There was a lot of talk about unleashing Alaska’s energy potential, especially after the anti-Alaska energy policies of the Biden administration. But we have heard this all before. The core of the problem is that we continue to not invest in ourselves in a perpetual race to the bottom. We don’t want to pay for anything because we expect either the federal government or outside corporations to pay. I wish I could say I was optimistic about unleashing our energy potential, but everything I see happening means optimism about Alaska is just not realistic.  

One of the big speakers was Brenden Duval, CEO and founder of Glenfarne – the company the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation chose to head up the gasline project. He basically introduced himself and his company to Alaska. You can watch his talk here. 

This press release came out during the press conference. Glenfarne claims to have $115 billion in contract value for gas from interested parties, though nothing has been signed. 

It will be interesting to see how everything plays out with Glenfarne during the next year. In 2014, then-Governor Sean Parnell signed an act that all but guaranteed a gasline. But when Bill Walker beat him later that year, he had different ideas. Then-Governor Bill Walker pursued a deal with the Chinese, that President Donald Trump supported during his first term. Then when Dunleavy beat Walker in 2018, he also had different ideas.

Dunleavy is at the end of his second term. There will be a new governor in December 2026. Who knows what they will want to do. 

“Acted in bad faith”

In a rare rebuke to the State of Alaska, Judge Christina Rankin concluded the Alaska Department of Fish and Game “acted in bad faith” in reference to a case about killing bears. You can read the full decision here. 

But the interesting part starts on page 12. It’s pretty wild. 

Other Happenings 

More legislative candidates filed letters of intent this week:

• Representative Zack Fields (D – Anchorage). He did not indicate an office but it’s not likely he would challenge Senator Löki Tobin (D – Anchorage), who also filed a letter of intent this week for re-election. 
• Representative Andrew Gray (D – Anchorage). He did not indicate an office but it’s not likely he would challenge Senator Bill Wielechowski (D – Anchorage).
• Representative Elexie Moore (R – Wasilla).
• Republican Doug Massie. He did not indicate an office but will likely challenge Senator Mike Shower (R – Wasilla) again. Shower beat him in 2022 by four points. But there’s also been chatter that Shower may instead plan on running for lieutenant governor as someone’s running mate. 
• Representative George Rasucher (R – Sutton). He did not indicate an office but would likely run for Shower’s seat if Shower decides to run for higher office. Massie lives in Representative Kevin McCabe’s (R – Big Lake) House district, so he could not run for Rauscher’s seat if Rauscher runs for the Senate. 

Former Acting Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Christina Carpenter left DEC to go to the Environmental Protection Agency. She followed former DEC Commissioner Emma Pokon, who is now the EPA Region 10 Administrator. Carpenter is now her chief of staff.

We all know how this is going to end. 

It just keeps getting worse in Anchorage. 

This Week’s Loose Unit

A judge saying that the State of Alaska acted in bad faith is really loose. But something else happened this week that made this week’s designee clear. This week’s Loose Unit is the University of Alaska Anchorage College of Arts and Sciences. 

You may recall that in February I did a story that revealed UAA invited former Congresswoman Liz Cheney to speak in May and agreed to pay her a $151,000 for a speaking fee! While that fee alone is rather loose, it’s not that out of the ordinary to invite political people to speak.

Where it gets loose is what happened after. I reached out to UAA to see if the ticket sales brought it enough money to cover her fee. It’s standard when you invite someone to speak that you at least break even, if not make some money. But this is the government we are talking about.

It turns up that they came up $50,000 short in ticket sales! Maximum loose. According to UAA, they made up the difference from sponsorships and private donations to UAA. 

I’m all for having a diverse mix of speakers invited to Alaska. But I could think of a dozen people to invite to speak – on all sides of the political spectrum – that would result in at least a break even or ending up in the black. Classic Loose Unit behavior by UAA. 

If you have a nomination for this week’s Loose Unit, or if you have any political news, stories or gossip (or any old pics of politicians or public officials) please email me at jeff@alaskalandmine.com.