Democrats have treated Alaska as a giant national park for many years. Lisa Murkowski, R-AK, found an acorn when she said that the Department of the Interior acted in recent years like “Alaska’s landlord” during the Senate hearings of Chris Wright’s nomination as Energy Secretary.
On Monday night, amid a flurry of executive orders, President Donald Trump changed that. He issued an EO titled, “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resources Potential.”
Section 1. Background. Alaska is a state with a vast and mostly untapped natural resource base, including energy, minerals, timber, and seafood. This natural bounty will increase the prosperity of Alaskans while enhancing our nation’s economy and national security for future generations. We can reduce prices for Americans, improve trade imbalances, increase the nation’s global energy dominance, and protect against foreign powers using energy as a weapon in geopolitical conflicts by developing these resources fully.
That bit of background may be the best part. Someone did their homework in drafting this order; Alaska has far more resources than gas and oil. Our mineral wealth alone is considerable – tin, copper, gold, silver, lead, and strategic rare-earth metals; the Great Land has them all.
The environmental lobby will, of course, immediately begin the outrage. Alaska is huge. Alaska is so vast that the amount of land needed to exploit its mineral and energy riches will barely be noticeable. There will still be wide-open, unspoiled views for visitors to enjoy – and for environmentalists, to view on postcards. We who work in the environmental field are more interested than anyone else in Alaska’s cleanliness and beauty, but also in Alaskan jobs and economic development.
Both are possible.
To seize this opportunity, it is necessary to immediately end the assault on Alaska’s sovereignty and her ability to develop responsibly these resources to the benefit of the nation. It is therefore imperative to reverse the punitive measures implemented by the former administration, which specifically target the development of resources on State and Federal land in Alaska.
The EO states that Alaska is the proper authority to make this decision.
Joe Biden, or, it is becoming more obvious, the person who was behind Joe Biden, clamped down in Alaska. He locked away Alaskan resources, like a jealous old woman hiding her jewelry in the attic. Donald Trump and Interior nominees know that Alaskan resources don’t do anyone any good if they are left in the ground. They also understand that we shouldn’t be buying rare-earth materials from China when we already have them. Most of these commodities are fungible and global, so increasing our supply will ensure that we have access to them, as well as bring down prices globally.
Energy is a topic that is of double importance right now. Energy has a major impact on price, even though inflation is primarily an issue of monetary policy. The cost of energy affects the price of all other goods and services, and like all things, it is subject to supply and demand laws.
President Trump plans to increase the supply.
It’s good for Alaska and the United States. As we explore Alaska’s wealth of minerals, jobs will be created that won’t require the hazardous Gold Rush-era journey over Chilkoot Pass.
The EO is a clear, simple statement of policy.
The United States has a policy that:
(a) Fully utilize Alaska’s vast land and resources to the Nation’s benefit and that of American citizens who live in Alaska;
(b) maximize the production and development of natural resources on Federal and state lands in Alaska.
(c) accelerate the approval and leasing of energy projects and natural resources in Alaska
(d) prioritize the development of Alaska’s liquified natural gas (LNG) potential, including the sale and transportation of Alaskan LNG to other regions of the United States and allied nations within the Pacific region.
Most Alaskans say: “That sounds good.”
The full Alaska executive order of President Trump can be read here.
