Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. We have a great
Speaker 1: opportunity to bring back the Governor of Alaska, Mike Dunlevy
Speaker 1: with us on Bloomberg TV and Radio. Governor, welcome back
Speaker 1: to Balance of Power. It's great to see you. And
Speaker 1: as I think I've made clear here, you had very
Speaker 1: little notice to put all of this together, So I
Speaker 1: understand it's been a busy couple of days. Is Alaska ready?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Alaska's ready. We have the venue already selected.
Speaker 2: The White House has already done that at our joint
Speaker 2: base Elmendorff Richardson here in Anchors, So it's going to
Speaker 2: be pretty secure. The President's going to land there and
Speaker 2: they've got a lot of space for meetings, and so
Speaker 2: I think it's a location that works well.
Speaker 1: Will you be greeting the President on the tarmac.
Speaker 2: I'll be meeting with the President Friday morning briefly and
Speaker 2: so yes, and we'll have probably a very brief conversation
Speaker 2: about things such as our Alaska National Gas Line and
Speaker 2: other things happening here in Alaska.
Speaker 1: Understood. Really incredible reporting here about the logistics going into
Speaker 1: all of this. Anchorage has a limited number of hotel
Speaker 1: rooms to work with. You're a small rental car market,
Speaker 1: so we're trucking in all kinds of resources here, whether
Speaker 1: it's vehicles being flown in from the Lower forty eight
Speaker 1: or from other parts of your state. How much of
Speaker 1: this has been a logistical experiment for your office, Well.
Speaker 2: Again, most of this is being handled by the White
Speaker 2: House itself, and they're doing a great job. They've interfaced
Speaker 2: with us, They've interfaced with our troopers, and i've city
Speaker 2: police here and Anchorage, and so the vast majority of
Speaker 2: this is being handled by the White House. It is
Speaker 2: tourist season. We're in the height of tourist season, so
Speaker 2: hotels are tight, cars are tight, as you mentioned. But again,
Speaker 2: having this on the base alleviates a lot of issues,
Speaker 2: and so it's going to be on the base. Tourism
Speaker 2: will continue here. There's going to be a lot of
Speaker 2: reporters here, a lot of others with their eyes on
Speaker 2: this great state. So we're prepared. Well.
Speaker 1: I should think that that's a pretty good thing for Alaska.
Speaker 1: Going to be seeing all weekend lots of beauty shots
Speaker 1: of your state, I'm sure, and a lot of tourists
Speaker 1: will have stories to tell when they come home. We
Speaker 1: know the secret services on the ground there, Governor, and
Speaker 1: I don't know to what extent you can answer these questions.
Speaker 1: Are there Russian agents in Alaska right now?
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't have the answer to that
Speaker 2: that that again would be something the White House we know,
Speaker 2: but if there are, it hasn't been made known to us.
Speaker 1: Interesting, as you mentioned, this is taking place here at
Speaker 1: the joint Base, which gives you, you know, the logistical
Speaker 1: cover here to keep that sort of self contained. But
Speaker 1: when you consider the number of folks coming into the state,
Speaker 1: it's pretty interesting to imagine what it's going to look
Speaker 1: like in Anchorage. Is this the biggest thing to happen
Speaker 1: to Anchorage? Ever?
Speaker 2: This is one of the Yeah, sure, this is one
Speaker 2: of the biggest things to happen. And we've we've had
Speaker 2: we've had the Pope and you know, President Reagan here
Speaker 2: at one time years ago, obviously, But this is this
Speaker 2: is a huge, a huge issue, a huge deal for Alaska.
Speaker 2: It makes sense when you look at the globe. We're
Speaker 2: only two and a half miles from Russia. The President
Speaker 2: of Russia just has to fly a few miles across
Speaker 2: the Barring Sea to get here. President Trump as to
Speaker 2: come up from the lower forty eight go through Canada,
Speaker 2: and so we're closer. I think we're closer to Moscow
Speaker 2: by about two and a half hours than Washington, DC
Speaker 2: is going the other way, and so makes sense to
Speaker 2: be here. We're glad to host it. Whatever we're gonna
Speaker 2: do to help, especially with this issue of peace, hopefully
Speaker 2: in Ukraine sooner than later.
Speaker 1: Alaska's standing back, Well, that's great, and it's a pleasure
Speaker 1: to spend some time with you here. As we wait
Speaker 1: to hear from President Trump, I will let you know
Speaker 1: that they're mobilizing reporters, so at some point here this
Speaker 1: hour will end up in the Oval Office, and I
Speaker 1: suspect he'll have some things to say about this visit Governor.
Speaker 1: He's also likely to talk about his Big, Beautiful Bill,
Speaker 1: which is something that he's and other members of the
Speaker 1: administration are trying to remind people of now that it's
Speaker 1: actually being enacted, trying to highlight what they see as
Speaker 1: the benefits of the bill. Alaska played a pretty big
Speaker 1: role through your Senator Lisa Murkowski and the final shaping
Speaker 1: of that bill. She talked about feeling cheated even though
Speaker 1: she voted to pass the legislation and had carved out
Speaker 1: some pretty interesting things for Alaska when it comes to
Speaker 1: rural hospitals, when it comes to even I believe tax
Speaker 1: credits for whaling captains, and I suspect that you would
Speaker 1: probably tell me about the energy enhancements in the Arctic
Speaker 1: that are going to be coming to your state. What's
Speaker 1: the most important part of the big beautiful bill when
Speaker 1: it comes to Alaska.
Speaker 2: Well, it's a huge bill. It's got a lot of implications.
Speaker 2: I mean, there's there's some tax relief in there for
Speaker 2: almost everyone. As you mentioned rural hospitals, they got a
Speaker 2: big win, not just here in Alaska but across the country.
Speaker 2: But really, for us, it's the approach to energy, it's
Speaker 2: the approach to critical minerals, our resources. We are a
Speaker 2: resource state. Under the previous administration, and we talked about
Speaker 2: that in the past on Bloomberg. We were not treat
Speaker 2: it well, to be perfectly honest with you, by the
Speaker 2: Biden administration. As a matter of fact, we had more
Speaker 2: we called them sanctions, about seventy sanctions by the federal
Speaker 2: government on Alaska during that time. Well, at the same time,
Speaker 2: the Biden administration was having conversations with Venezuela, I ran
Speaker 2: on others for resources, oil especially. So President Trump has
Speaker 2: been great for the state of Alaska my opinion, the
Speaker 2: best president ever for the state of Alaska. He's allowing
Speaker 2: us to do what we do best. And so that
Speaker 2: bill is very large, very complex, impacts everyone in this country,
Speaker 2: all the institutions you can think of. But again, when
Speaker 2: it comes to resources and energy, it's not just that bill,
Speaker 2: but the work that the President's done on our Alaska
Speaker 2: natural gas line, the executive order for Alaska. I mean
Speaker 2: his first term he opened up a war which frankly
Speaker 2: was very difficult, difficult to get opened in the past.
Speaker 2: But he's done a great job for Alaska. And so
Speaker 2: again I think there's a lot of things in that
Speaker 2: bill for everybody.
Speaker 1: You ever talked to Senator Murkowski about the role that
Speaker 1: she played in framing that legislation in favor of Alaska.
Speaker 2: Well, we were following it. I mean the Sena, Makowski Center, Sullivan, Congress,
Speaker 2: and Reggage, they all had a hand in it. And
Speaker 2: of course, as you're trying to craft a large bill
Speaker 2: like that, there's going to be some things in there
Speaker 2: that people aren't going to agree with, but you've got
Speaker 2: to look at overall in the balance. Does it help Alaska?
Speaker 2: Does it help the country? And our three federal officials
Speaker 2: came to the conclusion that does, and so that's why
Speaker 2: they voted yes on it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Governor, while you're still with us. So I just
Speaker 1: want to ask you if you start seeing secondary sanctions
Speaker 1: against countries that buy oil from Russia, even existing sanctions
Speaker 1: on Russia. Right now, the President has threatened more if
Speaker 1: this meeting does not go well tomorrow or if there
Speaker 1: are no outcomes that benefit Ukraine. What does that mean
Speaker 1: for production for energy output in Alaska.
Speaker 2: Well, obviously if there's sanctions on oil, and personally, I
Speaker 2: think that is a tool that could be applied when
Speaker 2: you look at what's really happening in the world. It's
Speaker 2: interesting because many European countries are advocating for tough stance
Speaker 2: against Russia, yet at the same time they're buying oil
Speaker 2: and gas from Russia, which doesn't make any sense at all.
Speaker 2: In essence, they're helping to fuel the war effort on
Speaker 2: the part of the Russians. What it does for Alaska,
Speaker 2: for any oil producing sovereign anywhere in the world, it's
Speaker 2: going to probably help in the short run because if
Speaker 2: Russian oil is taken off the market, if Russian gas
Speaker 2: is taken off the market, it's certainly going to help
Speaker 2: the United States, but it's going to help other producers
Speaker 2: as well. But again, sanctions, I think are a tool
Speaker 2: that the President is thinking about implementing and maybe maybe
Speaker 2: stronger sanctions, longer lasting sanctions to help bring this war
Speaker 2: to an end. And from a security issue, a strategy issue,
Speaker 2: it's a tool that makes sense.
Speaker 1: Governor, what's the most important thing you're going to tell
Speaker 1: the President tomorrow.
Speaker 2: I'm going to thank him for what he's doing for
Speaker 2: the state of Alaska. Talked to about about the progress
Speaker 2: down our natural gas line, the forty four billion dollar
Speaker 2: project which is moving ahead. And I'm going to wish
Speaker 2: him luck in his discussions with the President of Russia.
Speaker 2: And uh, we're all gonna hope that there's a piece,
Speaker 2: a just piece, the war ends and we can get
Speaker 2: on with investments, we can get on with uh, you know,
Speaker 2: being being good neighbors to each other. And so I
Speaker 2: think it's I think the President is gonna, uh, there's
Speaker 2: something gonna come out of this, maybe not any final
Speaker 2: decisions obviously in the four or five hours he's gonna
Speaker 2: be talking with the President of Russia. But I think
Speaker 2: it's gonna set the stage for I hope, a long
Speaker 2: lasting peace and uh that benefits everybody in the world.
Speaker 1: We'll be watching for you, assuming we can see his
Speaker 1: arrival at the air base tomorrow. Governor, it's good to
Speaker 1: have you back, and I hope the summer tourist season
Speaker 1: has been treating you well. That's Mike don Levy, the
Speaker 1: governor of a last big race here