The Alaskan governor thanked the Trump administration for recognizing ‘Alaska’s unique value.’
Three White House Cabinet officials plan to visit Alaska this week to open oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and push forward a natural gas project that has stalled for several years.
Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin will make the voyage, several months after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to surge oil and gas drilling, mining, and logging in America’s northernmost state.
There are also ongoing negotiations on tariffs with key Asian countries that could see the administration leveraging investments in the anticipated Alaska liquefied natural gas project.
Burgum, Wright, and Zeldin will meet with resource groups and Sens. Dan Sullivan (R-Ala.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Ala.) in Anchorage on Sunday before venturing to Alaska’s northern-most city of Utqiagvik. The arctic settlement is located on the petroleum-rich North Slope, seen as an economically critical oil drilling site by many Alaska Native leaders.
On Monday, the administration officials will travel to the Prudhoe Bay oil field, off the coast of the Arctic Ocean and more than 850 miles north of Anchorage. They will also speak at Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s annual energy conference on Tuesday in Anchorage.
Dunleavy’s office said the visit is significant.
“I’m thankful we have an administration in the White House that recognizes Alaska’s unique value,” the governor wrote on social platform X.
I’m excited to announce @SecretaryBurgum @SecretaryWright and @epaleezeldin will be joining me at the @AKEnergyConf . I’m thankful we have an administration in the @WhiteHouse that recognizes Alaska’s unique value. I look forward to showing everyone at the conference Alaska’s… pic.twitter.com/Zh9NERzOno
— Governor Mike Dunleavy (@GovDunleavy) May 12, 2025
There are also government and industry representatives from several Asian nations, including Japan, who are expected to join a portion of the trip, as there is growing support overseas for investments in the pipeline.
Andy Moderow, senior policy director with the Alaska Wilderness League, criticized Dunleavy’s conference, saying that spotlighting fossil fuels alongside renewable energy options makes “energy sources of the past look more legitimate at a conference like this.”
“I think we should be looking at climate solutions that work for Alaskans, not trying to open up places that industry is taking a pass on, namely the Arctic refuge,” Moderow said.
A 2017 tax law promoted by Alaska’s congressional delegation called for two oil and gas lease permits by late 2024 in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain.
By Jacob Burg
