Optimism for 2018 and Beyond in Alaska's Resource Development Community: Elections matter.

• Author: Logan, Rebecca
• Position: Oil & Gas

On January 20, 2017, the day that President Donald Trump was inaugurated, AK Headlamp, a blog published by the Alliance, posted:

"Republicans push to allow oil exploration in ANWR buoyed by Donald Trump's election to the Presidency. Prospects for the industry look better than they have in recent years with Republican control of the White House and of the Congress."

One year later, and that optimism is still prevalent in the oil and gas industry and has overflowed to include many other projects and issues beyond ANWR.

With the help of the Congressional Review Act resolution and original sponsors and co-sponsors US Senator Lisa Murkowski and US Representative Don Young, Trump didn't waste any time rolling back Obamaera regulations that hindered progress for the industry. This focus, at the federal level, on breaking down barriers to responsible resource development led many Alaskans to believe that we can finally begin to develop our world-class resources.

The Pebble Project has gotten new life, drilling in ANWR was approved in a very short amount of time, lease sales in the NPR-A have been held, and Italian giant Eni received approval to drill offshore. With all of these wins in such a short amount of time, its hard not to see Alaska's glass as half--heck--three-quarters full.

For the members of the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, who have laid off more than 3,000 workers since early 2015, the promise is real.

Meeting Words with Actions

We haven't yet crossed the finish line. At the state level, there are still many elected officials who believe that it is the beginning of the end for Alaska's oil industry, that an LNG project without the private sector will be commercially viable, and that Alaska's mining industry should be taxed more.

Recently, while testifying before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Governor Walker said, "Alaska's economic future should not be a partisan issue. Nine in ten of Alaska's legislators--on both sides of the aisle--support oil and gas exploration and development of the 1002."

In the same hearing, Lieutenant Governor Mallott, a Tlingit clan leader, added his support for responsible resource development. "We live in a petroleum era, that is reality," he said, and, "The oil must come from somewhere; why not here, in the United States, where we control the environmental rules?"

The US Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, has said many times, "Alaska is key to the nation's energy dominance."

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