Three high-level Trump administration officials are touring Alaska this week, to make good on a day one promise from the president: unleashing Alaska’s resource potential.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and EPA administrator Lee Zeldin are part of a group that will travel to the North Slope on Monday and later participate in Governor Mike Dunleavy’s sustainable energy conference in Anchorage.
After a roundtable with energy stakeholders Sunday morning, Zeldin said the administration wants to balance protecting the environment with growing the nation’s economy.
“We don't have to pick one or the other. We choose both,” Zeldin said. “It is my three favorite words -- they were spoken about in different ways over the course of this morning's roundtable -- approved, primacy and durability.”
Zeldin’s tenure as EPA administrator began with what he described as “the largest deregulatory announcement in history,” rolling back a couple dozen environmental regulations.
Interior Secretary Burgum’s department oversees more than half the land in Alaska, and he says that land is roughly half the land his department is in charge of.
“When you take a look at the water, the mineral resources, all those things here, this is a huge thing,” Burgum said. “You know, the Secretary of Interior should be here all the time, every day, because it's such a big part of the portfolio.”
All three described the state as key to the nation’s ability to produce energy and provide it to international partners. They say the roundtable was a way to learn what stands in the way of producing energy in the state from stakeholders.
Monday’s visit to Prudhoe Bay will include a tour of a pump station along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and meetings with Alyeska Pipeline officials.
The governor’s energy conference runs from Tuesday through Thursday in Anchorage.
