Alliance Link Magazine Winter 2025

of acres to State selection that had previously been withdrawn for con- structing the Trans Alaska Pipeline System; ended the lastminute Clin - ton and then Obama Administration prohibition on essential infrastruc- ture in the Tongass National Forest; and halted the purposeful isolation of a small native

development of the critical mineral and energy resources upon which our energy and national security would depend on for generations. Further still, the Administration’s actions began fulfilling the prom - ises the federal government made to Alaska upon statehood 60 years earlier; that it would

Alaska governor looks forward to renewed support In December, Gov. Mike Dun - leavy sent a list of Alaska priorities to President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team. The 28- page “Alaska Priorities for Feder- al Transition” report sent to the incoming presidential team de- tails current and future actions to reverse what Dunleavy described as “a four-year assault on Alaska’s statehood and economy — seizing opportunity and autonomy from Alaskans in the name of bolstering federal authority.” Here is the introduction and Alas- ka-specific executive order offered by Dunleavy. The full report can be found on the governor’s website. “The first Trump Administration made significant improvements to land and resource management policy essential to the prosper- ity of Alaska and the Nation. In many cases, the actions achieved had been stalled for decades under both Democratic and Republican Administrations. Misguided envi- ronmental activism that spawned in the Alaska lands debate of the late 1970’s had been effective at frus - trating meaningful and responsible development of Alaska’s abundant natural resources for decades. The Trump Administration recognized that Alaska could host domestic

village in the Aleutian Islands by an Obama Administration Secre- tary of the Interior. “The Biden Ad- ministration has car- ried out a four-year assault on Alaska’s statehood and econo- my — seizing oppor - tunity and autonomy from Alaskans in the name of bolstering federal authority. It reversed the dil - igent efforts of the first Trump Admin -

have control of its fish and wildlife, lands, and navigable waterways. “In one significant achievement, Pres- ident Trump signed the law lifting the 1980 suspension of oil and gas development in the Nation’s most prospective oil field — a small portion of the Coastal Plain in the Arctic Nation- al Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) — and his

MIKE DUNLEAVY

istration, disregarding the needs of Alaskans, as well as statutory mandates, to appease activists with little sense of Alaska’s reality. The Biden Administration has hidden behind superfluous environmen - tal review and consultation while enacting policies in conflict with the voice of the very groups claimed to have been consulted. This cat- egorical revocation of the Trump Administration’s important work was result driven and not balanced, reflecting only political favors to CONTINUED on PAGE 42

Administration completed the first of two statutorily directed lease sales. The Trump Administration also: freed the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A) from the anti-development policies im- posed under Presidents Clinton and Obama; ended a 40 year-old ban on mineral development and state- hood land selections on 28 million acres of Bureau of Land Manage - ment (BLM) lands; authorized road access to the critical minerals of the world class Ambler Mining District; completed a decade long environ- mental review that opened millions

“The Biden Administration has carried out a four-year assault on Alaska’s statehood and economy — seizing opportunity and autonomy from Alaskans in the name of bolstering federal authority. It reversed the diligent efforts of the first Trump Administration, disregarding the needs of Alaskans, as well as statutory mandates, to appease activists with little sense of Alaska’s reality.

review and consultation while enacting policies in conflict with the voice of the very groups claimed to have been consulted. “This categorical revocation of the Trump Administration’s important work was result driven and not balanced, reflecting only political favors to special interest environmental groups to the detriment of our Nation’s economy and security.

“The Biden Administration has hidden behind superfluous environmental

— Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy

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