Robert Seitz: Pass it for Alaska

By ROBERT SEITZ

Aug. 6, 2026 – I am told that those who are not willing to pass a “clean” property tax bill for the AkLNG project are doing so because their dislike of our Governor is greater than their love of Alaska.

They don’t want Governor Dunleavy to get any credit for the gas pipeline project going forward.  I don’t understand why they don’t realize that they would also be lauded for their efforts to move the project forward if they would pass the “clean” bill as the Governor submitted it.  If the bill is passed now, there is still time in this construction season to get things moving.

This would give us a winter of activity that could have a good impact on the economy by the time the next regular session of the legislature begins.   Many of the goldminers who came to Alaska to get rich depended on someone for a grubstake.  These legislators could consider themselves as having made the grubstake available for Glenfarne.

Alaska is still very much an oil state but Alaskans became lazy and quit paying attention to the development projects which could have kept our oil exports at a reasonable level to allow us to have a good steady flow of cash into our treasury. Many things influenced the decline of interest; fear of climate change being a product of oil and gas combustion; pressure from environmental groups and actions of past administration which were anti-oil.

There is a great reluctance to develop hydro power where white water rafting and salmon escapement up river might be hindered.  As beneficial as solar and wind power might be for smaller communities it is difficult to build a complete power system around them for Alaska that can get us through the long cold winters, as we have insufficient long duration energy storage, and batteries are not long duration storage devices, but hydroelectric projects could be.  So for now natural gas is the energy source for most of Alaska’s energy needs.

Hilcorp and Hex continue to drill new wells every year, so we will have more Cook Inlet gas available for this winter than we had last winter.  What Alaska needs right now is an economic boost that pipe line construction would initiate.  Once the gas pipeline is built the added benefit of natural gas in the interior will be able to displace wood and end the winter smoke and particle pollution in the interior.  If they build a natural gas power plant in the interior,  it will also decrease the demand on Cook Inlet gas.  But the greatest benefit of the AkLNG project will be the flow of cash into our treasury through the sale of LNG.

Now is the time for heroes to step forward and provide the means by which Alaska’s financial future is secured in an active AkLNG project moving forward.  Once this project is activated we need to turn our interest to encouraging additional exploration and development on the North Slope to increase oil production with the goal of getting much closer to a million barrels of crude oil per day through the trans-Alaska pipeline than what we have now.

We cannot sell enough scenery to tourists to equal the value of produced oil and gas to the treasury of Alaska.  We cannot grow the Permanent Fund enough to make up for loss of oil and gas revenue.

The oil and gas wealth is needed to develop our next primary power sources, will could be geothermal and/or nuclear.  We, however, need to get this AkLNG project kicked off to begin our trek to the next energy development.

We will lose more people, lose more businesses  and lose opportunity to grow if we don’t give this boost to our economy and build an income producing resource.  Quick, while there is still some construction season left, let’s get it done.

Robert Seitz is an electrical engineer and longtime Alaskan.

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