This story was originally published in the Alaska Beacon.
Alaska’s state-owned development corporation is advancing plans to explore for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and to build a 300-mile road to a mining district in Northwest Alaska.
The board of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority voted unanimously Thursday to spend up to $750,000 on outside legal help related to both projects.
The Biden administration rejected the proposed Ambler Road earlier this year, a decision that AIDEA is challenging in court. AIDEA is also challenging the administration’s decision to cancel the results of a 2020 oil lease sale in ANWR and is preparing for a new sale to be held later this year.
AIDEA Executive Director Randy Ruaro noted that the results of the November election, sending former President Donald Trump back to the White House, may change the federal government’s policies on both projects, but until that change occurs, the corporation needs to prepare.
“Based on what occurs here coming up in the next few months, there may be little to no need to use those funds,” Ruaro said.
Board members agreed.
“I just applaud you, because I think when history looks back, this will be a definitive moment that we have fought back against federal overreach. So thank you,” said board member Albert Fogle, praising Ruaro and AIDEA staff.
Public testimony before Thursday’s vote was unanimously against both the new legal spending and the projects themselves.
Several commenters said they were angry about the inability to testify verbally in October before an AIDEA board vote that authorized $20 million to prepare bids for an upcoming ANWR oil lease sale.
During that meeting, the public testimony system appeared to malfunction and did not show anyone signed up to testify by phone, though many people later said they were present.
“It’s troubling that AIDEA continues to ignore overwhelming public opposition to their projects like Ambler Road and the refuge oil and gas leasing,” said Sean McDermott, Arctic program coordinator for the Northern Alaska Environmental Center, which is opposing both projects.
Andrea Feniger, Alaska program director for the Sierra Club, joined McDermott in testifying against the legal measure.
“It seems like we’ve wasted enough time and money on a fruitless venture that other people aren’t interested in for a reason. It’s a bad investment, and I just think it’s time for us to turn the page on that fruitless venture,” Feniger said.
Julie Sande, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Commerce and Community Development, sits on the AIDEA board and noted that public commenters oppose both projects. She asked Ruaro to explain why AIDEA is pursuing them anyway.
“Whether to develop Alaska’s natural resources, including developing access to those resources, is an issue that was decided back at statehood. It’s embedded in our constitution. It’s not up for popular vote or revisiting now,” Ruaro said.
He referred to Article VIII of the state constitution, which says that it is state policy “to encourage the settlement of its land and the development of its resources by making them available for maximum use consistent with the public interest.”
“Individuals may think it’s the weight of public comment on one side or the other that should prevail, but the issue of whether to develop resources was made back at statehood,” Ruaro said.
“So we have that mandate. Individuals are certainly able to comment one way or the other. But the mandate is there until it’s not there. We should pursue it aggressively.”
AIDEA’s board is scheduled to meet Dec. 11 to make the final decision on whether or not to bid on new oil leases in ANWR during a planned December sale hosted by the federal government.
James Brooks is a longtime Alaska reporter, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. A graduate of Virginia Tech, he is married to Caitlyn Ellis, owns a house in Juneau and has a small sled dog named Barley.
