Gov. Mike Dunleavy took a page from Trump’s playbook in staging his recent “Sustainable Energy Conference”: repeat an untruth often enough and many people will believe it. And it’s not just one untruth holding up a flimsy house of cards. Here are just three:
- Alaska does environmental regulation better than everywhere else.
- Alaska doesn’t flare its gas.
- LNG is clean.
Dunleavy’s conference was an attempt to showcase the state’s “all in” commitment on “all of the above” energy sources including, as the keystone, more fossil fuel development for decades into the future. As justification, Dunleavy and fossil fuel apologists claim that Alaska does responsible development better than anywhere else.
Lie #1
During the conference it was stated multiple times by Dunleavy and other speakers that Alaska has the highest environmental ethic and the toughest permitting, compliance and enforcement standards anywhere in the world. This dubious assertion ignores the facts that Gov. Dunleavy significantly cutback the state’s oil spill response, monitoring and enforcement capabilities, and defunded the Ocean Ranger program that monitored cruise ship discharges.
The agency that regulates drilling, the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC), is notably weak on enforcement and slow to react.
ConocoPhillips – the owner of the Willow project – had a recent natural gas leak that went unnoticed for a week, causing a field shut down and employee evacuation. It took more than a year before AOGCC held a public hearing on this significant leakage event. A Hilcorp gas pipeline burst in Cook Inlet a few years ago spewed gas into the atmosphere for months.
Alaska is the only coastal state that doesn’t have a Coastal Management Program, an omission that limits local input into development decisions. The effect of eliminating the Alaska Coastal Management Program was that the state took a significant step away from using science and local knowledge to prudently manage common property resources, and was akin to eliminating self-determination for Alaskans.
One of the most damaging moments in the oil and gas industry’s history, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, occurred more than 30 years ago in Alaska and effects are still being felt. Wildlife including seabirds, herring, and killer whales still have not recovered. The citizen’s-based watchdog organization that was federally established in response to the massive spill recently conducted an independent review of operations at the Valdez Marine Terminal, concluding there is “no reasonable assurance that the Valdez Marine Terminal is operating safely and in compliance with its regulatory requirements.”
It’s demonstrably untrue that Alaska does environmental protection better than everywhere else.
Lie #2
As Dunleavy said in his State of the State Address in January and again at the conference, Alaska doesn’t flare its gas. Yet, satellite data and analysis compiled by the Colorado School of Mines’ teams show that the Alaska North Slope has huge, high intensity methane emissions associated with flaring.
Lie #3
LNG is clean. No, LNG is not clean energy.
LNG is methane compressed and chilled to make it easier to transport. Methane emissions are 80 times more damaging to the climate than carbon dioxide in the short term. Methane is notorious for fugitive emissions that are difficult to track and occur frequently from production to end use. This makes LNG is a false solution that will intensify the climate crisis and increase the world’s dependence on fossil fuels.
Path to Prosperity
As a former Alaska state legislator and Director of Oil and Gas, I want the best for our great State of Alaska – to be prosperous, to create and sustain jobs and a strong economy, and to ensure a sustainable future for all Alaskans. Although more oil and gas development is no longer compatible with this vision, we’re fortunate that Alaska’s economy has been diversifying and that the state has vast renewable energy resources upon which to build a thriving economy.
Dunleavy and supporters are pursuing a high risk, unreliable strategy by overly relying on the dying, dirty fossil fuel industry, which faces strong headwinds as the climate crisis deepens and countries decarbonize their economies.
All things considered, more fossil fuel development is not a reliable, responsible path. Alaska can have a thriving, prosperous economy by transitioning off oil and gas and developing its vast world class renewable energy potential.
Kay Brown is Arctic Policy Director for Pacific Environment based in Anchorage; she is a former Director of Oil and Gas for the State of Alaska and a former Alaska State Representative.
This post is a submission to The Alaska Current. Please send submissions to news@thealaskacurrent.com.
