A Message from the Executive Director
Dear Members, What a difference a year makes.
must understand that the challenges will not come in straightforward fashion but may often be veiled within other legislation and other executive orders and other things that we cannot let slip past. To restate, the Biden Administration has publicly committed to developing more critical minerals in our country. They have yet to commit, perhaps even understand that Alaska is richer and exactly those minerals than any other country, but that is a window of opportunity that we need to pursue. Our challenge is to prove to regulators what we do every day — develop and produce safely and responsibly. More than ever, it is critical that we educate
Like many of you, my “memory” on social media or in my camera roll is starting to show me that at this time last year, we were entering a pandemic that will leave a permanent imprint on our lives. By comparison, look at what we were facing in years past this time of year. In 2020 we were still hoping for our biennial spring convention in Fairbanks — before COVID-19 forced us to cancel.
In 2019, The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had just released its Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Pebble Project — and all signs were positive. In 2018, we were entrenched in responding to the Trump Administration’s asks for feedback on regulatory reform in order to support a direction of building America’s infrastructure. Today, I don’t have to say where we are. I mean, what would I even say? Who even knows? One absolute is this has demonstrated again how durable, how resourceful and how essential our industry is for Alaska — and for our country. Throughout the years of challenges, we have continued to evolve and succeed where others fail. One needs to look no further than our recently released economic report, featured on page 16 of this issue, where the data shows that mining helped to bolster Alaska’s economy at a time when other industries and economic streams were handicapped by the pandemic. I am very proud of how creative and determined our fellow miners have been in finding smart solutions to continue to work while keeping our employees and our customers safe from COVID-19. That did not just happen. You made it happen. But of course, when did we have just one challenge at a time!? We now face the puzzling challenge a new leadership in Washington that on the one hand says our American miners are more critical than ever, while on the other hand is creating the most intricate and daunting set of roadblocks for us. We have been here before. Going back to the Carter Administration which envisioned Alaska is one giant park locked up for resource development, we have endured. This is the time for us to be vigilant, to be proactive and we respectfully determined that what we do really matters. We also
and respectfully challenge those who do not understand what we do or why we do it. I need to tell our story and not just in the usual occasional ways but with creativity and good humor and pride. And this is where you are I and all of us can contribute. Whether it is providing tours to our projects or sharing candidly the facts of what we do or being ready to testify early and often againstregulations that will harm our ability to produce. We need to rely on fact-based exclamations and education. Count on AMA to keep you posted as each challenge arises. And let us provide the facts you need to support our arguments. We also need to make sure the leaders making the rules understand the impact of their decisions on the real and long-term investment climate in Alaska. This administration, this Congress and this legislature will be long gone before projects we were talking about today begin to produce in a decade or three from now. We need to continue to educate them on the vast amount of capital and investment confidence that are required to develop mines here or anywhere in the world. As I said at the beginning, we have been here before. And perhaps our greatest strength is we know how to rely on in each other and work together toward a common goal. I look forward to this and every day in the future to do exactly that on your behalf. Be well,
Deantha Skibinski, Executive Director
Executive Board Bill Jeffress, President SRK Consulting, Anchorage Bartly Kleven, First Vice President Kinross-Fort Knox, Fairbanks Lorali Simon, Second Vice President Kim Aasand, Treasurer Aasand & Glore LLC, Anchorage
Branch Chairmen Ted Hawley, Anchorage Lorali Simon, Denali Mark Huffington, Fairbanks
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www.alaskaminers.org I The Alaska Miner I Spring 2021
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