By ROBERT SEITZ
April 10, 2026 – I have seen a number of articles in various news sources recently all of which refer to the decreasing Cook Inlet gas supply as a reason for not doing some development project. The US military is considering data centers at bases in Alaska but the electric utilities are blaming insufficient gas supply as a reason for the projects not to be built. T
he solution is simple.
First, determine how many gas wells are needed, and how much gas needs to be stored for people to feel comfortable with the Cook Inlet gas reserves. Then go to HEX/Furie and ask what backing is needed to proceed to drill enough wells and to flow enough gas to underground storage to reach the goals that would make everyone feel secure. The responses are not typical Alaskan responses.
Instead of “what do we need to do to make it happen?” we hear “We can’t do it because….”
I’m sure it will take another jack-up rig to allow more holes to be drilled each summer. The utilities are not the one with the ability to increase available gas. It is the producers you need to talk to in order to find out what it takes to get far enough ahead on available gas to be able to make plans of expansion. If we get enough large customers the electric rates should be able to be reduced. The natural gas rate in Alaska is already near the lowest of all the states in the nation.
Some of those loads could be mineral mines. My comment a few years ago considering the Pebble Mine was, “Let’s find out from the fisherman what changes need to be made to make them satisfied.” When the design changes were made that appeared to satisfy all the concerns, there were still challenges to the mine. This tells me the issue was not concern for the fish of Bristol Bay, but that there were a bunch of people who just did not want their playground messed up with industrial development. consider each potential mine site being considered at this time as an economic engine for each community that is near a mine, which would go far to building truly viable communities with resilience, sustainability and purpose.
While data centers or AI factories can be good large electrical loads to help establish lower electric rates, they should not be our only or main development focus. Too much AI will harm the population by removing much of the stress and demands that have always forced individuals to exercise their minds to analyze what they read and hear to enhance their critical thinking skills. Just because we can build AI factories does not mean we need to. People are lazy creatures my nature and could be willing to trade a useful future for lots of leisure time. AI needs to be carefully considered, by human thought, before some AI applications are incorporated into our activities and culture.
Then I have seen recent comments about oil and gas companies being subsidized and not paying their fair share in taxes. I have mentioned in my earlier commentary that the oil and gas producers must be allowed to make sufficient profit to allow them to design and build whatever next projects will help Alaska maintain or increase the crude flow through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline to best ensure we have sufficient revenue to flow to our State treasury. Past tax structures have hindered the ability and willingness to pursue projects which could maintain a high flowrate of crude oil for export.
The objective at this time should be not overburden North Slope developers such that they are discouraged from pursuing projects that would increase the flow of North Slope crude through TAPS. More oil would place more funds into our state treasury.
Let them build and operate their facilities so we can have infrastructure and schools adequately funded, and let the PFD be fully distributed once again. North to the Future.
Robert Seitz is a professional electrical engineer and lifelong Alaskan.
5 thoughts on “Robert Seitz: What does it take to move ahead in Alaska?”
Same old weak arguments. We absolutely need to get more for our oil.
“…….We absolutely need to get more for our oil………”
Dude, this isn’t about “getting more”. This is about natural gas for heating our homes and generating electricity. If we don’t get it from the North Slope gas line or from increased production from Cook Inlet, you’d better get good at chopping and splitting wood and burning it in a dark house. Imagine rolling blackouts in winter here due to this stupidity.
Alaskans need to recognize about themselves (not only Democrat voters but also Republican voters) they are government dependents. No one can move forward while maintaining (or in Alaskans argument them protecting) one’s dependency on another.
Alaskans must let go their government dependency to allow development and business growth. Business leaders of America they aren’t looking to relocate businesses from blue states to Alaska but go to places as Tennessee because of friendly business environment, starting businesses there is less expensive than trying to start up a business in Anchorage or any community in Alaska.
Those who are government employees and employees whose jobs existence on government funding; they need to recognize their jobs can always be eliminated and money redirected and appropriated toward another direction. Also too government employees need to see government can’t exist without a thriving (not surviving) private sector which that’s what Alaska’s private sector is living as a community of businesses just trying to survive another year or another five years which looks increasingly more unlikely.
there is no connection between the government and the private economy.
unless its the companies that directly depend on government
their plan spend all available money!
same with government employees get all they can with no thought about the future as long as they get theirs.