On Tuesday, residents of the North Slope Borough (NSB) will decide whether to oust their mayor, Josiah Patkotak. Accused of unethical conduct involving the public funding of his “jet setter” lifestyle, the incumbent weathered two recall efforts in early 2025. Patkotak has also faced scrutiny over the borough’s opaque public-private partnership in North Slope Power, an ambitious but fairly under-the-radar mega utility that The Alaska Current exposed in May.
Previously unreported campaign disclosures and planning documents obtained by the Current now shed new light on apparent conflicts of interest between the Patkotak administration and Twenty First Century Utilities (TFC), the borough’s corporate partner in North Slope Power, which is developing a 3 gigawatt natural gas plant with plans to scale to a world record-breaking 10 gigawatts. TFC specializes in building energy infrastructure for data centers.
The project will tap into nearly 30 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves in Prudhoe Bay to deliver electricity to colocated AI data centers, which are notoriously energy and water intensive. According to one of the documents, other elements of the project include the construction of integrated regional microgrids and a second natural gas pipeline to Utqiaġvik, formerly known as Barrow, the northernmost town in Alaska. If plans are fully realized, the plant will be larger than any natural gas plant currently operating in the world — in one of the most sensitive ecosystems in the world.
Three TFC executives and one of their spouses contributed more than a quarter of Mayor Patkotak’s total campaign cash this cycle, donating the month after he greenlit the project’s 90-day initial phase. In Nov. 2025, Patkotak authorized a $1.2 million no-bid contract for the firm to conduct a feasibility study.
According to the Alaska Public Offices Commission campaign disclosure portal, TFC Managing Partner Peter Corsell, his wife Betsy Cragon, and his business partner Larry Kellerman each donated $5,000 to Mayor Patkotak on Dec. 31, 2025. Another TFC partner, Ross Berger, contributed $500 on Dec. 21, 2025, bringing Patkotak’s haul from TFC to $15,500, which is about 27% of his total reported raise of $57,610.
Corsell, Kellerman, and Patkotak did not respond to requests for comment.
Source: Alaska Public Offices Commission Campaign Disclosure Portal. Accessed 10/1/26.
The financial structure of the deal between North Slope Borough and Twenty First Century Utilities is not public, but there are clues emerging.
In March, the North Slope Borough committed another $5 million in public funds to Twenty First Century Utilities to move forward in developing North Slope Power. The resolution authorizing the contract described the utility as “an investor-owned utility (IOU) with Borough majority ownership.” Further down, the NSB ceded ground: North Slope Power would be “structured so that the Borough would initially maintain a majority ownership interest,” indicating a future transition to majority ownership by outside investors.
Two separate portions of NSB Resolution No. 13-2026, signed Mar. 16, 2026.
Multiple sources in Alaska have expressed suspicion about the project. According to one source in the borough, Twenty First Century Utilities wants to control all of the natural gas reserves, and is “ripping off Alaska Natives on the Slope.”
In a presentation nearly a year ago to the North Slope Borough Assembly, the local legislative body, Twenty First Century Utilities proposed taking a fiduciary role for North Slope Borough, while collecting both a fixed annual fee and equity stakes in every project resulting from the partnership. Under that scenario, the firm could be paid as an adviser, control the financing terms, and simultaneously receive ownership, creating a compensation structure ripe for conflict of interest over recommendations, pricing, leverage, partner selection, and especially environmental impacts.
Two sources in the borough have told the Current that NSB Director of Environmental Management Jason Brune has had little to no involvement in the North Slope Power discussions.
On slides 22 and 23 of TFC’s proposal, the firm claimed to “Understand the Challenges of the North Slope Community.” The firm listed 10 challenges with a description of each in the adjacent column. Climate change, which has outsized impacts on Alaska, included this description:
| Climate change adaptation strategies (e.g. relocating critical infrastructure, enhancing flood defenses, adjusting building codes for permafrost) to ensure communities remain viable in the long term. |
Later in the deck, TFC again listed those 10 challenges, but this time outlined how it is tackling each of them.
Next to climate change, Twenty First Century Utilities wrote “N/A.”
From Twenty First Century Utilities’ presentation to the North Slope Borough Assembly in Oct. 2025.
From Twenty First Century Utilities’ presentation to the North Slope Borough Assembly in Oct. 2025.
Lauren Windsor
Lauren Windsor is the executive producer of The Undercurrent, an independent investigative news webshow, sponsored by American Family Voices, a progressive nonprofit she leads. Her reporting to expose Jan. 6 deniers formed the basis for "Gonzo for Democracy,” a documentary she wrote, directed, and produced. Specializing in communications strategy, Lauren is a partner in Democracy Partners and Mike Lux Media. She has appeared on ABC, CNN, MSNBC, and Newsnation. Her work has additionally been featured on CBS, NBC, The New York Times, Politico, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, among others.
