Speaker 1: Donald Trump has, of course, promised to cut energy prices
Speaker 1: by half as the centerpiece of his policy to combat
Speaker 1: inflation across the board. And the refrain that we heard
Speaker 1: in Milwaukee, much like it was in the Twin Cities
Speaker 1: in two thousand and eight, was drill, Baby, Drill. Now
Speaker 1: on the other end of these promises, at least in
Speaker 1: some cases, is the governor of Alaska, and I'm glad
Speaker 1: to say that he's in Washington today. He came here
Speaker 1: to warm up in our twenty five degree whether Governor
Speaker 1: Mike Dunlavy. It's great to see you in the nation's capitol.
Speaker 1: Welcome back. Great to be here at a start of
Speaker 1: Indian radio on a summer day with I think it
Speaker 1: was twenty seven. I'll be fair here. I want to
Speaker 1: know what your state is going to look like a
Speaker 1: year or four from now. Knowing that Donald Trump has
Speaker 1: talked a lot about not only unwinding regulations, but unwinding
Speaker 1: limits on drilling in your state, specifically in anwar, how
Speaker 1: quickly will you get to this and what changes in
Speaker 1: the offing.
Speaker 2: It's a great question, Joe. So it depends on the
Speaker 2: executive orders. Some have said that the President's dropping secret
Speaker 2: orders immediately, maybe even on the first day. Hopefully some
Speaker 2: of those executive orders will repeal. With some of the
Speaker 2: Biden administration folks have done to Alaska, our Senator Dan
Speaker 2: Sullivan has an interesting chart that shows about sixty six
Speaker 2: sanctions against Alaska is what we call them, since the
Speaker 2: Biden administrations came into play. So, for example, in twenty seventeen,
Speaker 2: an war was open under the Tax and Jobs Bill,
Speaker 2: and the Biden administration has really done everything they can
Speaker 2: to stop those leases from actually going into play. We're
Speaker 2: supposed to have a sale again, a second sale for
Speaker 2: leases in an war in December. We're not sure if
Speaker 2: that's even going to happen. This is required by law,
Speaker 2: but we'll see when December comes along. But we were
Speaker 2: questioning whether this administration is going to go through with that.
Speaker 2: But I would say what Alaska's going to look like
Speaker 2: is what it's supposed to look like. What this country's
Speaker 2: supposed to look like is tremendous opportunity under the Trump administration,
Speaker 2: just like his first term, great conversations with the President
Speaker 2: during his first term, he always asked this, what does
Speaker 2: Alaska need? What can we do for Alaska? And under
Speaker 2: President Trump, we got anwar, we were drilling more, we
Speaker 2: were moving Western NPR, which is the National Patrolling Reserve,
Speaker 2: about twenty seven million acres of land in Alaska that
Speaker 2: was designated solely for oil production and gas production. Very
Speaker 2: supportively is of our gas line project that is fully
Speaker 2: permitted that we're trying to finalize. Timber industry. Timber industry
Speaker 2: disappeared in the longest National forest under the Clinton administration.
Speaker 2: Hopefully that comes back. But between oil, gas mining, timber,
Speaker 2: we have tremendous opportunity in Alaska. All we want is
Speaker 2: the opportunity to be able to develop those resources on
Speaker 2: federal land, and we're very hopeful with President Trump coming back.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the leases under the Biden administration. Seven of
Speaker 1: them that had been acquired by the Alaska Industrial Development
Speaker 1: and Export Authority were canceled and two others were abandoned.
Speaker 1: As a result, You're in an interesting position here as
Speaker 1: a policymaker, with one hand on Washington the other on industry.
Speaker 1: There's been a bit of a lucy with the football.
Speaker 1: According to some producers, K want assurances before they start
Speaker 1: investing in these leases. What would you tell them, Well.
Speaker 2: That's that's another thing. That the Trump administration will bring
Speaker 2: a certainty. So part of the problem with the leases
Speaker 2: in anwar as you as you mentioned is when you're
Speaker 2: selling leases, but on the other hand, you're telling folks
Speaker 2: to not invest in the Arctic, to not put money
Speaker 2: in the Arctic, to not put money into oil. You know,
Speaker 2: it provides an uncertain future for those investors, and so
Speaker 2: I think under the Trump administration that's going to change.
Speaker 2: The other thing that's very important, you know, realize, is
Speaker 2: we're going to need two to three times as much
Speaker 2: energy as we're producing right now because of data farms, supercomputers.
Speaker 2: That's rapidly changing that. You know, a gig a gigawat
Speaker 2: of electricity powers about eight hundred thousand homes. We only
Speaker 2: have seven hundred thousand people in the state of Alaska,
Speaker 2: so some of these data farms are using more than
Speaker 2: the power we generate for all of our residents. You're
Speaker 2: going to have to have as much energy as possible
Speaker 2: coming from various sources, and we're gonna need it. Sider
Speaker 2: then later you're.
Speaker 1: Sitting on oil. But a lot of people are talking
Speaker 1: about nuclear Now do you support that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we support all forms of energy, doesn't matter if
Speaker 2: it's renewables, oil gas, nukes, any and all forms of energy.
Speaker 2: And we actually passed a new exciting bill two years
Speaker 2: ago that's going to make it easier for nuclear office
Speaker 2: to come up and take a look at a lot.
Speaker 1: Is that right? So Alaska could be the home of
Speaker 1: the new nuclear reactor in the United States?
Speaker 2: Well, I hope so. And we're also looking at a
Speaker 2: nuclear reactor on one of our military bases at Ailson.
Speaker 2: So yes, we hope. So, you need as much energy
Speaker 2: as possible, again, from any source we can get it from.
Speaker 1: Or will we see an auction in the early stages
Speaker 1: of the Trump administration when it comes to these leases,
Speaker 1: or do you not have a sensing exactly so that
Speaker 1: procedure will.
Speaker 2: Be I hope so. And I hope that also pertains
Speaker 2: the offshore oral leases, which were also negatively impacted by
Speaker 2: the Biden administration. So onshore, offshore again, we hope that
Speaker 2: there's a couple of resales, like well, pretty quick.
Speaker 1: The prize for you, unless you tell me otherwise, is
Speaker 1: a pipeline, a natural gas pipeline that the Trump administration
Speaker 1: has promise. You actually retweeted a statement by Donald Trump
Speaker 1: on this what's your expectation.
Speaker 2: What has he told you? Well, we have all the
Speaker 2: permits for this pipeline. It's a massive pipeline project where
Speaker 2: I think we're battling our last court case. So this
Speaker 2: this pipeline project is really coming together with buyers and
Speaker 2: sellers of gas. The President has been very consistent. President
Speaker 2: Trump's are very consistent, and he supports this gas line constant.
Speaker 2: What people don't realize is Alaska pioneered energy export for
Speaker 2: North America in late nineteen sixty sixty eight sixty nine,
Speaker 2: we sent gas to Japan energy out of the Kiski, Alaska,
Speaker 2: which is south of Anchorage. That occurred for fifty years
Speaker 2: until our gas got depleted in the cook Inlet. But
Speaker 2: we're talking about North Slope gas, which is one hundred
Speaker 2: trillion qb feet to two hundred trillion qubic feet of gas.
Speaker 2: Tremendous amounts of gas. But we're very close to consummating
Speaker 2: this gas pipeline and I'm pretty excited about it.
Speaker 1: Well, Chris Wright and Doug Bergham Howlpe, you make that happen.
Speaker 2: Well, I know Doug, Doug's a former governor, comes from
Speaker 2: an energy state. I think I don't rightwell, but from
Speaker 2: what I understand, he's going to do a great job
Speaker 2: as well. But Doug is going to be terrific because
Speaker 2: it's that interface between technology, supercomputing and energy, and his
Speaker 2: role as the energies Are, I think is going to
Speaker 2: pay amazing diffidence.
Speaker 1: For this country energies are, but also the Interior Secretary.
Speaker 1: He might have something to say about the lands we're
Speaker 1: talking about.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have more of more blm lands, more parklands
Speaker 2: than any other state in the country in terms of acreage.
Speaker 2: Our population has more Native Americans than any of any
Speaker 2: other state as a percentage, twenty percent of our population
Speaker 2: as Native American. And so a lot to do with
Speaker 2: the Apartment of Interior Alaska has. And so we look
Speaker 2: forward to working with Doug on solving some problems for
Speaker 2: the state and the country.
Speaker 1: The biggest tribe in Alaska supports your move.
Speaker 2: On energy, most most Native Alaskans, most Alaskans support our
Speaker 2: moves on energy.
Speaker 1: This is something that's been mischaracterized Absolutelydia.
Speaker 2: How come because it doesn't play to the narrative on
Speaker 2: the left, My wife is an you pack Eskimo, my
Speaker 2: kids are Eskimo. Their tribal members and their members of
Speaker 2: our native corporations up there. My three girls work at
Speaker 2: the largest legending mine in the world. It's the resource
Speaker 2: extraction industry. Most Native Americans, they're Americans. They want to
Speaker 2: be able to turn their lights on, they want to
Speaker 2: be able to warm their homes. They want to be
Speaker 2: able to drive their machines, their cars or snow machines,
Speaker 2: whatever it is. And so, yeah, energy is important to
Speaker 2: all of us.
Speaker 1: They also want to drink clean water and breathe clean air.
Speaker 1: Do you worry about the impact on climate change that,
Speaker 1: for instance, the LNG exports is lifting that moratorium looks
Speaker 1: like a day one endeavor for Donald Troy.
Speaker 2: I hope so, And I don't because Alaska takes care
Speaker 2: of this environment probably better than any other place in
Speaker 2: the country. And excuse me, any other place in the world,
Speaker 2: and probably any other place in the country. When you
Speaker 2: shift your resource development overseas, the places like China, places
Speaker 2: in Africa, the Middle East, they don't have the environmental
Speaker 2: regulations that we do. And so by doing it here
Speaker 2: in America, you get the benefits of taking care of
Speaker 2: the environment, jobs, wealth creation, and really opportunity. And this
Speaker 2: energy is really going to be the underpinnings for the
Speaker 2: supercomputing age, the AI age that we need to be leaders.
Speaker 1: You've got your eyes on data center. Absolutely, that's a
Speaker 1: big deal for Alaska. Or does the distance make it
Speaker 1: difficult to put the data centers themselves in Alaska? Or
Speaker 1: is it about procuring energy in Alaska that will feed
Speaker 1: the data centers here?
Speaker 2: Well, what we have going for is in Alaska's energy. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we have continuous acres of land. Any large tracks of
Speaker 2: lander have that. We have three times the fresh water
Speaker 2: of any other state.
Speaker 1: So set up the farms in Alaska and we have
Speaker 1: cool temperatures there you go. Absolutely, cooling is a big
Speaker 1: part of this. That's fascinating. I want to talk about you,
Speaker 1: governor and your personal trajectory because a lot of people
Speaker 1: are watching us right now. Joe's talking to the governor
Speaker 1: of Alaska. Is this big timberman looking guy's logging. You're
Speaker 1: from Scranton, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, and after you graduated from college,
Speaker 1: after spending a life hunting and fishing and being outdoors,
Speaker 1: you decided to just move your life to Alaska. Through
Speaker 1: a connection, you got a job as a logger as
Speaker 1: a kid from Scranton, which more people associate with Joe
Speaker 1: Biden than with Mike Dunlavy. What was the scratch or
Speaker 1: the itch you were trying to by making that move?
Speaker 2: Always loved the outdoors and the ultimate outdoor.
Speaker 1: Was it culture shock when you got there?
Speaker 2: Not really? Great people in Alaska just like great people
Speaker 2: in Sprant So not really. But it was the outdoors,
Speaker 2: the willderness that drew me there back in nineteen eighty three,
Speaker 2: so right out of college, went to Alaska.
Speaker 1: I never looked back, never looked back. How much time
Speaker 1: did you spend logging?
Speaker 2: Well, that was what learn doing this several months in
Speaker 2: southeast Alaska. Then I moved up north close to the
Speaker 2: Arctic Circle, and I was a teacher for over a
Speaker 2: twenty two years.
Speaker 1: You were a teacher for a long time before you
Speaker 1: got into politics. What did you learn as a logger
Speaker 1: from Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2: That jobs are incredibly important, especially for low income folks,
Speaker 2: opportunities very important, and resource development is what Alaska is
Speaker 2: all about. That's why the US acquired Alaska from Russia
Speaker 2: was resource development. And again we do it better than
Speaker 2: anywhere else I think in the world.
Speaker 1: You then became a teacher, Yes, do you think that
Speaker 1: Donald Trump is on the right track to eliminate the
Speaker 1: Department of Education. As an educator yourself, I.
Speaker 2: Do because education was one of those rights that the
Speaker 2: States never gave up in the Constitution where we formed
Speaker 2: the federal government, because the states believe that their control
Speaker 2: of education was critically important, not the federal government's control.
Speaker 2: And so the Department of Education as a new department
Speaker 2: came in under Jimmy Carter and a number of us
Speaker 2: that were teachers, administrators, school board members, which I was
Speaker 2: as well. We think you can do things better at
Speaker 2: the local level than you can thousands of miles away
Speaker 2: from Alaska, thousands of miles away from other states, and
Speaker 2: so certainly support the elimination, if possible, of the Department
Speaker 2: of Education.
Speaker 1: What do you do for funding for disabled students some
Speaker 1: of the other expenses that might be hard for.
Speaker 2: Us to run that money through health social services. There's
Speaker 2: many ways to get money to certain groups in the
Speaker 2: educational umbrella. It doesn't have to be through this department
Speaker 2: that currently exists.
Speaker 1: A lot of people suggested you for a number of
Speaker 1: jobs here in Washington. I heard that, Yeah, you might
Speaker 1: have as well. You're here right now. I don't know
Speaker 1: if who you're talking to, would you consider working for
Speaker 1: this administration? Maybe you should run the Department of Education.
Speaker 2: Well, I think he's already got a great pick and
Speaker 2: we McMahon for education. But the President I never talked
Speaker 2: about a job. He knows that I have two years
Speaker 2: left in my term. I barely enjoyed this job, and
Speaker 2: as mentioned earlier, we're on the verge of some big
Speaker 2: projects that we want to make sure you get across
Speaker 2: the finish line. So I've got my hands filled over
Speaker 2: the next two years with the.
Speaker 1: Last Sure did a lot of governors though, say that
Speaker 1: The stock answer is, oh my god, Washington, nothing gets
Speaker 1: done there. I'm better off here. I'm an executive running
Speaker 1: my own state right where I want to be.
Speaker 2: Truth to that too?
Speaker 1: Is there truth to that? Does anything get done in Washington?
Speaker 1: With Donald Trump? At the other end of I.
Speaker 2: Think with President Trump, he really wants to change things.
Speaker 2: He really wants to disrupt things. And I say that
Speaker 2: in the positive. He really wants to give power back
Speaker 2: to the states, give power back to the people. So
Speaker 2: I'm excited about the possibilities. I saw what he did
Speaker 2: this first term, and he said four years the plan
Speaker 2: for this term. I think it's going to be a
Speaker 2: great four years for this country.
Speaker 1: Can he really drop energy prices by fifty percent.
Speaker 2: If we produce more?
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you produce more, that's what we're talking about.
Speaker 2: Yes. And for a last what we want to have
Speaker 2: is more production. Not necessarily higher prices because higher prices
Speaker 2: hurt Americans start Alaska's but more production. That's where we'll
Speaker 2: get revenue from as well. More production.
Speaker 1: Nice to see you in town. Come see us again.
Speaker 1: The governor of Alaska, Mike Dunlavy. Now you know where
Speaker 1: he's from.