By SUZANNE DOWNING
Sept. 30, 2026 — President Donald Trump brought Alaska’s governor, two members of its congressional delegation, three Cabinet secretaries, and the project developer into the Oval Office on Wednesday to announce a planned $54 billion South Korean investment in Alaska LNG.
Then the questions began. Most — all but about two questions — had little to do with the enormous energy project that had brought everyone into the room.
The announcement puts a huge financial foundation beneath Alaska’s decades-long pursuit of a natural gas pipeline. It also connects the project to Trump’s trade negotiations: The Alaska investment is part of a broader South Korean commitment to invest in the United States under an agreement reached last year.
For Alaska, the investment plan addresses one of the gasline’s most persistent obstacles — securing the capital needed to build it. For Washington, it advances a trade strategy intended to bring foreign investment into American infrastructure and expand sales of American energy overseas. For Trump, it fulfills promises he made on Day One of his second term.
An operating Alaska LNG project would give Asian customers a new source of American natural gas. Those exports could help narrow the trade imbalance while generating economic activity here at home. Thousands of Alaska jobs and economic activity are expected.
The financing still must be finalized, and an announcement of a final investment decision still awaits. But $54 billion represents a substantial proposed answer to the question that has followed this project for years: How will Alaska get it built?
Standing with Trump were Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Sen. Dan Sullivan, Congressman Nick Begich, and Brandon Duval, CEO of project developer Glenfarne.
The lineup brought together the officials responsible for trade, energy, federal lands, Alaska’s interests in Washington, state leadership, and commercial development.
Yet when reporters had their opportunity to question them, the questions quickly wandered elsewhere.
One reporter asked about the wisdom of holding the Republican midterm convention in Texas. Another asked about the reported stabbing of a pilot by another pilot aboard a commercial flight in the Middle East.
There was ample material for substantive follow-up questions that were never asked: What is the timetable for completing the financing? When would construction begin? What conditions accompany the South Korean investment? How would other investors participate? When could Alaska communities receive gas, and when could exports begin?
Those are questions Alaskan reporters might ask and that the assembled officials and developer were unusually well positioned to address.
Instead, an announcement involving tens of billions of dollars, international trade, domestic energy supplies, and a major American infrastructure project received remarkably little sustained questioning about how it would work.
Either the reporters had failed to prepare or simply were looking for sexier subjects. The disrespect by reporters was evidenced by how quickly the press event moved away from the very reason everyone had gathered.
The Alaska Story has already outlined the investment proposal in Tuesday’s reporting. A Wednesday morning column examined the cooperation among Trump, Dunleavy, Sullivan, and Begich that helped bring the project to this point.
Breaking: Trump poised to announce $54 billion Alaska LNG investment plan
Suzanne Downing: Alaska, before you break up Alaska’s productive team, look at the gasline
Wednesday’s event gave that work a presidential announcement. It also raised an immediate Alaska question: Who will keep the momentum going when Dunleavy leaves office?
Dunleavy has spent years doing the heavy lifting on Alaska LNG. The next governor will inherit the responsibility of helping move the project through its remaining financial, commercial, and state policy decisions.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bernadette Wilson responded promptly with a video about the announcement.
We have waited for decades. Today, President Donald Trump, Senator Sullivan, Congressman Begich, and Governor Dunleavy delivered for Alaska in a very big way.
November 3rd will be critical for Alaska to elect a Governor that will continue to collaborate with the President’s… pic.twitter.com/xj0isQ8Qfp
— Bernadette Wilson (@Bernadette4Gov) September 30, 2026
Republican candidate Treg Taylor also posted a response.
Dave Bronson offered a brief written celebration:
“LFG! [Let’s f*cking go!] Glad to see Washington doing great things for Alaska! AKLNG!”
Bronson added a “Huge thank you” to Sullivan for his work over the past 12 years on the gasline. His post did not bother to acknowledge Dunleavy or Begich.
The initial response from Democratic political accounts was considerably quieter.
In a check of Facebook pages approximately two hours after the announcement, The Alaska Story found no acknowledgment from Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, the Alaska Democratic Party, or the Democrat-led governing coalitions in the Alaska House and Senate.
On Mary Peltola’s page, the item observed was not a mention of the gasline milestone reached. She shared an old Ms. Magazine article criticizing Sullivan’s appearance at a church event where a Confederate flag was among the historical flags displayed.
Mountain City Church’s Cody Anderson had offered a different explanation of that display, saying in an email to the magazine that the “flags were displayed solely as historical artifacts within that educational context.” The flag was among many present showing the course of American history on this 250th anniversary year.
But Mary Peltola thought today would be a good time to raise the confederate flag.
The contrast was striking: Sullivan was at the White House for an announcement concerning Alaska’s energy future, while his Democratic challenger’s page was opportunistically circulating criticism of a past church appearance.
As for Sen. Lisa Murkowski, our scanning of her social media showed that she posted about Orange Shirt Day, acknowledging the faults of Indian boarding schools of days gone by:
28 thoughts on “Trump announces $54 billion Alaska LNG investment plan. White House press corps shows disdain”
Exceptional news for Alaska and Alaskans! This will infuse optimism and hope for families and businesses.
People need to understand that Lisa will never change, the TDS has totally affected her judgemnt and leadership potential. And(!), when she finds out you’re a Trump supporter, her judgement – demeanor of you will be no different than that of Trump. I can only imagine the height of despise she holds for NB3 and Sully. She enjoys the benefits of being designated as a Republican but, she’s far from upholding the platform and tenant’s of conservatism.
Let Trump and Bronson handle this, everybody else stay the hell out of the way, including delisted Glenfarne.
Powerful move by Trump, and brilliantly timed. Sullivan and Begich will get a big bump with this. The mean Native woman from Bethel and hillbilly Bill will get dumped. But what about Bronson and Bernadette? Which one gets more traction? The bald-headed boy in a skirt doesn’t know what to say. Sour Democrats are fuming.
But Marla; first, this is a common pre election gimmick. We should not fall for it. Second, no evidence has been provided. Third, this announcement is coming from Donald Trump, who, to be nice, cannot be trusted. This is political theater.
Evidently the Reuters News Agency seems to agree with Mr Singh. Funny that nobody from South Korea was not part of the event. Not a coincidence. Seoul’s reaction below courtesy of the Singapore Straits Times.
South Korea will begin reviewing the Alaska LNG project to assess its commercial viability and compliance with legal procedures, Seoul’s industry ministry said in a statement.
“No decision has been made on whether to invest or on the size of the investment,” it said.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung also said in a post on X that the commercial viability of both the LNG project and the nuclear reactors must be confirmed before they proceed.
Any differences between Seoul and Washington over details of the deal could lead to disputes between the allies over its implementation, analysts in Seoul said.
Trump is a builder, a producer, a deal maker, a legend. The Koreans will fall in line quickly, and with unregretable great gratitude.
Jose, I don’t know that the Koreans will fall in line right away. But you are quite correct that bullying sovereign nations is a key tenet of this president’s playbook. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal’s Seoul bureau chief has joined South Korean media in reporting that the South Korean government disputes that the deal announced by the governor, Senator Sullivan, and Trump even exists. Its position is that Korea has agreed only to evaluate the project, not to invest in it. There is no celebration in Seoul Thursday morning. Instead, the Korean government has lodged a formal protest with Washington over the U.S. misrepresentation of its position. And at least one Korean editorial page is urging its government to stand strong in the wake of bullying. I’m disappointed in Senator Sullivan for participating in what now appears to be a desperate stunt to sway Alaska public opinion. He should know better. As a former assistant secretary of state in the GWB administration, he is fully capable of distilling reality from hype. But in every serious Alaska politician’s career, there are times when they cede their brains and judgment to Outside professional hucksters—political consultants who argue that intelligent voters will fall for anything as long as it is repeatedly drummed into their heads through paid media. I fear that, as the second day of reporting appears, Sen. Sullivan will find himself rationalizing and backpedaling—and quite possibly losing ground, because Alaskans are not gullible. We recognize deception when we see it and resent the heck out of being conned.
Trump just built a bigger lie than his predecessor. South Korea just stated there is no deal and never was. So, to Dunleavy………..it’ll be good to see you gone and to our elected congressional, you lost my vote!!!
Of course Singh would have this reaction. He or She is a hard-core psychotic leftist that agrees with the idiotic and unachievable goal of eliminating all forms of fossil fuels. They abhor the idea of a new large bore Alaska gas pipeline delivering massive amounts of reliable clean energy. Remember during the Biden and Obama Administrations the EPA proposed eliminating natural gas and propane cooking stoves. Singh and his or her type swallowed hook line and sinker the madness that the war criminal John Kerry was selling.
Human induced global warming is complete BS. Just another leftist tool to try and control the masses. Environmental damaging wind and solar farms are not ever going to put much of a dent in fossil fuel consumption. Nuclear is really the only large-scale form of energy that can significantly reduce fossil fuels -try building another large-scale nuclear reactor in the US in the next 50 years – not going to happen – mainly because of opposition from the leftist morons like Singh.
So JB. Did you vote for Trump?
Every swing state in trouble, which is all of them, is going to get grandiose project proposals in the remaining weeks till election. Like Foxconn in Wisconsin nothing will materialize. The only thing that will remain constant is Natalie Harp will continue to haul around that huge diaper bag. This November is going to be a protest election, that being a protest against the prices in our grocery stores which now resemble the prices of a Four Seasons hotel mini-bar!
I very much believe this could be the real deal even as I remain very doubtful that prior efforts, including the TransCanada deal Walker touted in Red China and the Henry Hub plan of the Frank Murkowski term, were even potentially solid. And I believe that among the 4 gubernatorial candidates only Wilson can assemble the effort now required. JKT would be ordered by his progressive funders to immediately kill it, and he would easily do that with the help of the coalition majorities. The Anchorage mayoral administration Bronson had was a dreadful circus, a dog’s breakfast, from beginning to end: no reason whatsoever to think he could grasp the moving parts as required now. Taylor is too fast and loose to be governor, but if Bernadette believed him to be right for AG then I would defer to her on that. We still need to rank them however.
Where on earth do you expect us to believe you found Dave Bronson saying “LFG!” ?
It’s not on his Facebook page, where he posted a written press release on the 29th calling on Trump to federalize the LNG project.
Interesting interrogatory. I, too, would like to see the receipts. Perhaps it was a verbal only. I’m well-known to express myself verbally in terms I would rarely publish in writing.
I’ve known Dave for years. “LFG” is not in his vocabulary.
[…] Alaska Story previously covered the emerging investment proposal, Wednesday’s White House announcement, and, in a Wednesday morning column, the leadership and cooperation behind the […]
Trans Alaska Pipeline all over again, and all the hillbillies and low-lifes that came with it, pickin’ and a grinnin’ their way to ruining Fairbanks and Anchorage and everything in between.
5 years of a 5% state income tax with a sunset clause? We have the right legislature in place for it now. What a great way to get these assholes voted out of office!
Suzanne called it “a brief written celebration.”
Where was it written?
Ha Ha Ha Ha. Ruining Anchorage and Fairbanks. Anchorage is already a total cesspool and Fairbanks is following the same leftist formula. John Handcock provided the laugh of the day.
Centering the photo on Lutnick (liar and good friend of Epstein) is like centering it on a turd.
SUCH a liar. And his pearl clutching horror at meeting Epstein just doesn’t hold water against his documented dalliances. Classic Republican. Lies and hypocrisy. Hypocrisy and lies. I heard that the RNC is considering adding “advocacy for irony” and “differentially attributable apparent factual statements” to the 2028 Republican platform. Fits.
I have previously written along the following lines: Senators Stedman, Giessel and Wielechowski, along with most of the Democrats in the Legislature and their star Manchurian candidate Jonathon Kreiss-Tomkins DO NOT WANT TO BUILD THE GAS LINE. Building the gas line would result in massive private sector economic activity that would disrupt the stagnant Alaska that they want to control and turn into a socialist backwater paradise. The Legislature and their potential boy-Governor can install a tax and regulatory package that will drive the Korean billions away.
The Trumpster can perhaps pull some kind of “federalization” maneuver to move the gas along into interstate commerce, but the Legislature and the Anthropic-controlled JKT can make the INTRASTATE movement and commercialization of the gas uneconomic and impossible. This creates the risk that the natural gas will not be available for use by Alaskans. Just a thought: Maybe the big labor unions should reconsider their blanket support for the Democrats and fake Republicans (Giessel, Kopp, Merrick).
Good post JMARK. You nailed it again.
There are two other options for getting LNG out. The first would be a shorter pipeline out of Kotz. The second would be liquefaction at Prudhoe and shipping out of there directly to the Pacific Rim via tanker over the top. Who’s to say the occasional tanker can’t deliver LNG to Nikiski which should be ready to receive shipments next year. There is already a storage facility in place. Cheers –
Show me the money.
The show was nothing but a political stunt for Danny Boy.
An awful lot of woke whine here in the comments.
Not that I’m surprised, they ‘know’ President Trump’s, bad, bird killing windmills are good and it doesn’t matter anyway ’cause global warming will kill us all by 2029. Dang I’m glad I ain’t them!