Trump officials are visiting Alaska to discuss a gas pipeline and oil drilling

JUNEAU Alaska AP The Trump administration is sending three Cabinet members to Alaska this week as it pursues oil drilling in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and reinvigorating a natural gas project that s languished for years The visit by Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum Resource Secretary Chris Wright and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin comes after Trump signed an executive order earlier this year aimed at boosting oil and gas drilling mining and logging in Alaska It also comes amid tariff talks with Asian countries that are seen as attainable leverage for the administration to secure investments in the proposed Alaska liquefied natural gas project Their itinerary includes a meeting Sunday with reserve maturation groups and U S Sens Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski in Anchorage before heading to Utqiagvik an Arctic town on the petroleum-rich North Slope where multiple Alaska Native leaders see oil improvement as economically vital to the region The federal bureaucrats also plan to visit the Prudhoe Bay oil field Monday near the coast of the Arctic Ocean and more than miles kilometers north of Anchorage and speak at Republican Gov Mike Dunleavy s annual ability conference Tuesday in Anchorage While it s not rare for U S administrators to visit Alaska during warmer weather months Dunleavy s office mentioned the executives visit is vital Dunleavy a Trump ally explained he is thankful for an administration that recognizes Alaska s unique value Establishment and industry representatives from a number of Asian countries including Japan are expected to participate in a portion of the trip reflecting pressure from the U S to invest in the pipeline despite skepticism and opposition from environmental groups In Alaska specific environmentalists criticized the agenda for Dunleavy s conference Highlighting fossil fuels alongside renewable or alternative ability make strength sources of the past look more legitimate at a conference like this reported Andy Moderow senior plan director with the Alaska Wilderness League I think we should be looking at surroundings solutions that work for Alaskans not trying to open up places that industry is taking a pass on namely the Arctic refuge he noted A push for more drilling Trump has long taken credit for provisions of a tax law championed by Alaska s congressional delegation that called for two oil and gas lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge s coastal plain by late The first one remains the subject of ongoing litigation with the main bidder a state corporation that saw its seven leases later canceled by then-President Joe Biden s administration A judge in March ruled Biden s administration overstepped and the Interior Department in line with Trump s executive order is working to reinstate the leases There weren t any bids in the second sale held under Biden and blasted by the state as overly restrictive Debate over drilling in the refuge home to polar bears musk ox birds and other wildlife has long been a flashpoint Indigenous Gwich in leaders consider the coastal plain sacred land noting its importance to a caribou herd they rely upon Numerous North Slope I upiat leaders who help drilling in the refuge felt their voices were not heard during the Biden era During the Trump leaders visit they also hope to make a development for additional improvement in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska which Trump has advocated and for being included in planning decisions Nagruk Harcharek president of Voice of the Arctic I upiat an advocacy group whose members include leaders from the region called the bureaucrats visit a step in the right direction Gigantic natural gas pipeline For years the state has sought to develop its stores of North Slope natural gas as a way to provide affordable strength to more residents and bolster revenues via exports But cost concerns shifts in direction competition from other projects and questions about economic feasibility have stymied progress Oil companies have long reinjected gas that occurs with oil deposits on the slope to produce more oil which remains Alaska s economic lifeblood The latest gas proposal calls for a roughly -mile -kilometer pipeline that would carry gas from the North Slope to port and a facility that would process and export liquefied natural gas to Asian countries In a March speech to Congress Trump touted his ongoing patronage of the gigantic natural gas pipeline He stated countries like Japan and South Korea want to be our partner with investments of trillions of dollars each No firm commitments from countries have been made The company advancing the project in partnership with a state corporation is in a stage of refining cost estimates previously pegged at around billion for the pipeline and related infrastructure before final decisions are made on whether to move forward with the project Alaska in the spotlight While Dunleavy has likened Trump s friendly approach to strength evolution as Christmas every day Alaska s fortunes remain tightly linked to the volatility of oil prices which are down sharply from a year ago squeezing state revenues State lawmakers across party lines overwhelmingly passed a resolution urging Congress to provide Alaska with of royalty revenues for oil and gas leases in the Arctic refuge arguing the U S cabinet reneged on past promises for such a share The resolution also sought for that to be extended to the petroleum reserve Alaska s tax structure allows companies like ConocoPhillips Alaska which is pursuing a massive oil project known as Willow in the reserve to write off a portion of their improvement costs against production taxes they incur elsewhere on the North Slope While lawmakers widely sponsorship Willow they also have argued a change in federal royalty share would address a hit to state revenues created by production in the reserve