Latest news with #Unleashing
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Legislators tour Idaho National Laboratory nuclear research facilities as lab plans new reactors
Idaho state Rep. Steven Miller, R-Fairfield, looks through protective glass into a hot room while touring facilities at Idaho National Laboratory in southern Idaho. (Photo courtesy of the Idaho National Laboratory) IDAHO FALLS – Members of the Idaho Legislature's budget committee toured Idaho National Laboratory research facilities Wednesday as the lab is in the process of building its first new nuclear reactors in 50 years. Some of INL's top officials told the Idaho Legislature's Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee they expected the next four years to usher in a new nuclear renaissance that INL will be at the center of. 'It's really intended to get INL back into the role of building and operating new reactors on site and supply chains that need to be exercised, getting us back into design and then ultimately building them and operating them,' INL Deputy Director Todd Combs said. The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, or JFAC for short, is a powerful legislative committee that sets all of the budgets for every state agency and department. JFAC's tour included stops at Idaho National Laboratory's Research and Education Campus located in Idaho Falls as well as the Hot Fuel Examination Facility and the Sample Preparation Laboratory located at the Materials and Fuels Complex. The Materials and Fuels Complex is part of a vast 890 square-mile research complex located in the desert west of Idaho Falls that is often referred to simply as 'the site.' INL currently operates four nuclear reactors and is considered the country's leading nuclear energy research and development national laboratory. But Combs told JFAC members INL does a lot more than nuclear energy and fuels research. INL researchers and staff also focus on cyber security, electric vehicle infrastructure, artificial intelligence, or AI, homeland security and defense. INL has built armor for the Abrams tanks and conducted research into vulnerabilities in the electric grid and how to combat those vulnerabilities. INL teams have conducted research on electric vehicle infrastructure like charging stations and built the system that powered the Mars Perseverance rover. 'One might ask, how does this align currently with what the Trump administration is trying to accomplish?' Combs said. 'And if you look at executive orders like Unleashing American Energy, and if you look at Secretary of Energy (Chris Wright), his initial memo, and everything he's been talking about since he took over as secretary of energy, we fall right in line with what they're trying to accomplish.' INL celebrated its 75th anniversary last year, and Combs told legislators the lab is growing and ramping up research and operations. Since 2017, INL has grown from about 3,750 employees to 6,500 employees today. Since what is now known as INL was founded in 1949, 52 reactors have been built and demonstrated on the site, Combs said. INL currently operates four nuclear reactors, but the lab is in the process of building its first new reactors in 50 years. 'We've got a number of projects right now over the next decade that are coming online as well that are going to be reactors, 53 and 54 and beyond,' Combs said. INL made headlines last month when state officials and Department of Energy officials announced a waiver to a 1995 nuclear waste settlement agreement that allows for the shipment of spent nuclear fuel into Idaho for research at INL. A waiver was necessary because the 1995 settlement agreement called for limiting new shipments of spent nuclear fuel into Idaho and removing certain types of spent nuclear fuel in order to prevent the state from becoming a dumping ground for the nation's spent nuclear fuel. Although the Idaho Legislature adjourned the 2025 legislative session on April 4 and is not in session now, JFAC regularly conducts interim meetings to keep an eye on the state budget and learn about how different agencies and organizations spend the money that JFAC approves in the budget every year. 'I've never been out there (to INL's site),' Sen. Scott Grow, R-Eagle, said. 'Born and raised in Idaho. You would think I would have (visited before), but no. I loved it, and it was fascinating. The thing that really grabbed me was they did so much more than just the nuclear energy. I had no idea about the tanks and all that kind of stuff they're doing, and the AI. It's just cutting-edge scientific stuff going on out there.' CONTACT US 'It's good, I think, for the whole JFAC bench to get a chance to see that and to see we've been involved in buying buildings (that INL uses),' Grow added. 'The state is involved in this, even though we tend to think that it's a federal (facility).' A clear highlight for several JFAC members was entering a hot room at the Sample Preparation Laboratory that is under construction at the site. There isn't yet any nuclear material in the hot room because it is under construction. But once nuclear materials enter the facility, the public won't be able to enter the hot room that JFAC members entered Wednesday. Legislators did not vote on any bills or budgets during the three-day interim meeting tour. The tour kicked off Monday at College of Eastern Idaho, where two health care officials told legislators that Idaho's near total abortion ban has caused OB-GYNs and other medical professionals to leave the state. JFAC members may conduct a fall interim tour this year as well, although a legislative staffer told the Idaho Capital Sun on Wednesday that plans are not finalized. The next regular session of the Idaho Legislature is scheduled to begin in January. Rep. Wendy Horman, an Idaho Falls Republican who serves as a JFAC co-chair with Grow, said the entire three-day spring tour was valuable. Horman said the tour gave legislators who normally work out of the Idaho State Capitol in Boise a rare opportunity to get a closer look at important facilities and programs located in eastern Idaho that they might not have otherwise seen. 'I was so proud to see the way our community here welcomes legislators from across the state, and wanted to share with us the great things they're doing to help the citizens of Idaho,' Horman said. An Idaho Capita Sun reporter participated in the entirety of Wednesday's tour of INL facilities, and the reporter agreed not to take any photos, in accordance with INL's photo policy. Instead, an INL photographer documented the JFAC tour. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Epoch Times
25-04-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
What to Know About Trump's Orders to Boost US Fishing Industry
The Trump administration has turned its attention to the commercial fishing industry and issued several executive orders pertaining to easing regulations and supporting the competitiveness of American seafood companies. Together, the orders aim to support the administration's goals of putting the American economy and small businesses in a more advantageous position to increase production, while some consider the move detrimental to the environment. The First Order's Impact On April 17, President Donald Trump signed the 'Unleashing American Commercial Fishing in the Pacific' The order states that the secretary of commerce will identify the overregulated areas and expand fishing areas to support the work of commercial fishermen. Under previous orders, American fishing fleets have worked further offshore and been prevented from accessing almost half of the United States' Exclusive Economic Zone in the Pacific Islands fishing grounds, including 400,000 square miles of marine protected area about 750 miles southwest of Hawaii, surrounding Baker, Howland, and Jarvis islands; Johnston, Wake, and Palmyra atolls; and Kingman Reef. The administration says that supporting American fishermen will also reduce their need to compete against foreign fleets, which often operate under fewer regulations. According to the Trump administration, previous policies on commercial fishing in U.S. territories like American Samoa were detrimental to the private sector economy in those areas. The president expressed confidence that other federal environmental protections, including laws and agency management designations, will continue to 'protect the area's natural resources, vulnerable marine species, and unique habitats, such as coral and seamount ecosystems.' Related Stories 4/16/2025 7/1/2023 American Samoa's delegate to the House of Representatives, Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, 'President Trump's key action strengthens our American fishing fleet and helps combat malign activities by the CCP with increased U.S. fishing presence along with Coast Guard operations,' she wrote. 'Our U.S. fleet of law-abiding, thoroughly regulated fishermen is preferable to dependence on other nations' supply, and highly preferable to the illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing practices that are a problem in our shared ocean.' Changes for the Seafood Industry The 'Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness' The new order seeks to establish an America First Seafood Strategy to boost sales, exports, and long-term growth for the domestic industry. The presidential order notes that the United States imports almost 90 percent of its seafood, despite controlling more than 4 million square miles of prime fishing grounds. According to the order, this imbalance has created a $20 billion trade imbalance, which is due, at least in part, to the seafood industry bearing some of the heaviest regulations of any sector in the United States. Applause From Some Fishermen According to the Southern Shrimp Alliance, the president's order is good for the American economy in more ways than one. In a The group said that Indian shrimp includes products containing antibiotics and veterinary drugs rejected by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States. American shrimpers follow the world's strictest regulations, according to the group. 'American shrimpers harvest a premium, sustainable product from our local waters that provides Americans with a healthy protein source while supporting multigenerational shrimping families and their communities,' said John Williams, executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. 'What most Americans don't realize when they purchase shrimp is that more than 90% of what's consumed in the United States is a foreign product—mostly farm-raised in countries tainted by serious human rights abuses, environmental destruction, and banned antibiotics.' Concerns and Criticisms Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) 'At a time when the climate crisis is threatening our fragile ocean ecosystem and costing us lives and livelihoods every year, President Trump's response is to gut protections for some of our nation's most important natural resources, including the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument,' Schatz said. 'We should be protecting the Pacific's unmatched ecology and biodiversity for future generations—this order does the opposite.' The nonprofit legal group Earthjustice responded with frustration to the president's new orders. Earthjustice marine biologist Bob Richmond Previous Orders During his first term in office, Trump In addition to increasing access to fishing grounds, the Trump administration has also implemented foreign trade practices, including tariffs, to protect American fishermen.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Shallow Geothermal Energy: A Strategic Solution for the U.S. Energy Crisis and Demands
The U.S. is facing an energy emergency, as escalating electricity demand, unstable fossil fuel markets, and the rapid growth of energy-intensive infrastructure strain the nation's energy systems. Shallow geothermal energy offers a groundbreaking solution to this crisis by stabilizing the grid, reducing emissions, and delivering cost-effective heating and cooling. This article explores the technological, economic, and policy dimensions of ground-source heat pump (GSHP) deployment, highlighting its role in addressing the energy crisis while creating jobs, reducing emissions, and modernizing infrastructure. These advancements place shallow geothermal energy at the forefront of sustainable solutions to the nation's energy emergency. The U.S. stands at the nexus of multiple energy challenges. Rising electricity consumption, driven by population growth and pervasive digitization, has strained generation capacity in many regions. At the same time, data centers—pivotal to cloud computing, e-commerce, and artificial intelligence (AI)—have grown exponentially. Projections suggest that these facilities may consume 9% to 12% of national electricity by 2030, intensifying peak demand and raising concerns about grid stability and resilience. Conventional reliance on fossil fuels and aging infrastructure exacerbates these vulnerabilities. Extreme weather events can trigger rapid spikes in air-conditioning loads, driving grids to—or beyond—their limits. As a result, policymakers and industry stakeholders have sought scalable, sustainable solutions that combine reliability, cost-effectiveness, and minimal environmental impact. Shallow geothermal energy—realized mainly via GSHP systems—offers a robust response to these pressures. A single GSHP installation can achieve a coefficient of performance (COP) exceeding 4:1, meaning each unit of electricity yields four or more units of thermal energy. This inherent efficiency enables substantial reductions in grid loads and greenhouse gas emissions, helping mitigate the energy crisis without compromising economic growth. According to analysis conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the agency's Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Geothermal Heating and Cooling report, broad GSHP deployment could cut building sector electricity demand by as much as 60%, while lowering peak loads by 35%. Despite these clear advantages, two core barriers—substantial drilling costs and perceived land-use constraints—have historically hindered the adoption of GSHPs, especially in dense urban or industrial areas. Advances in drilling technology and high-performance completion techniques, coupled with the synergy of thermal networks that recover server heat from data centers, providing free cooling for equipment and free heat for residential housing, are gradually dismantling these hurdles. The following sections explore these technical, financial, and policy developments, situating them within the context of President Trump's Unleashing American Energy initiative. Advanced Drilling Methods and Deeper Boreholes. Earlier GSHP designs often relied on shallow vertical wells spaced widely to minimize thermal interference, or horizontal ground loops requiring large tracts of land. Both approaches limited system deployment in high-density regions or on properties with minimal available space. However, advanced drilling practices—drawn partly from the oil and gas sector—have dramatically expanded the feasible scope of geothermal installations. Modern rigs can perform directional drilling, enabling multiple boreholes to initiate from a single, compact surface location, and then fan outward underground. Deeper boreholes (exceeding 200 meters to 300 meters) exploit more stable subsurface temperatures and typically exhibit improved heat-transfer rates, as noted by the authors (Sanner of Advanced Borehole Heat Exchangers: Performance Optimization with Improved Grouting and Deep Drilling, published by the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association (IGSHPA). Each additional increment in depth can yield proportionally higher and more consistent thermal output, sustaining elevated COPs over long operational lifespans. High-Performance Completions and Grouting. As boreholes reach greater depths, completion practices become integral to ensuring well integrity and optimizing heat exchange. New developments in completion techniques have been directed at increasing the surface area of contact between the borehole heat exchanger and the ground, such as double and even triple U-bends. Equally significant progress has been made in high-performance grouting, which fills the annular space around the loop piping. While traditional cement or bentonite slurries primarily offer environmental protection and sealing, specialized grouts containing graphite are substantially enhancing thermal conductivity—sometimes by 50% to 100% relative to standard mixes, according to the IGSHPA publication. This improvement lowers thermal resistance between the circulating fluid and the surrounding formation, boosting system efficiency for both heating and cooling modes. Utilizing Excess Data Center Server Heat. Data centers have become essential to the digital economy, supporting global e-commerce and AI-driven services. Their explosive growth, however, poses significant challenges for local and regional grids. Conventional air-cooled data centers produce vast amounts of waste heat, often vented into the atmosphere. This process intensifies power demands because large chillers are required to manage server temperatures, particularly during peak demand seasons. In data centers, cooling systems are a significant component of energy consumption. Estimates indicate that cooling accounts for approximately 40% of a data center's total energy usage. This substantial energy demand for cooling directly impacts the power usage effectiveness (PUE) metric, which is used to assess data center energy efficiency. A PUE of 1.0 signifies perfect efficiency, where all consumed power is used solely for computing, while higher values denote greater overhead energy consumption, primarily due to cooling and other ancillary systems. Over the past decade, the average PUE of data centers has seen notable improvements. In 2007, the average PUE was approximately 2.5, indicating that for every watt used for information technology (IT) equipment, an additional 1.5 watts were consumed by overhead systems like cooling and lighting. By 2013, this average had improved to about 1.65. However, progress has plateaued in recent years, with average PUE levels remaining mostly flat for the fifth consecutive year (Figure 1), though the average obscures advances in newer, larger facilities. [caption id="attachment_231578" align="aligncenter" width="450"] 1. Power usage effectiveness (PUE) measures data center energy efficiency. A value of 1.0 signifies perfect efficiency, while higher values indicate greater consumption, often due to cooling equipment. Courtesy: Uptime Institute[/caption] Leveraging Thermal Networks. Thermal networks aim to harness waste heat from data centers by integrating them into communal GSHP loops. Instead of discarding high-grade heat via cooling towers, data centers feed this thermal energy into subsurface loops. Residential or commercial buildings—connected to the same network—can then draw upon that heat for space heating and hot water, drastically reducing their reliance on fossil fuels. Three major outcomes arise from this synergy, which are: Reduced Peak Load and Freed Grid Capacity. By transferring cooling loads to geothermal loops, data centers become less dependent on electric chillers. This lowers their peak draw on the local grid, freeing capacity for additional data center expansions or other consumers in the region. Lower Community Energy Consumption. Waste heat from servers significantly offsets the energy needs of nearby buildings, diminishing local emissions and operational costs while alleviating strain on the broader energy system. Lower Data Center Energy Consumption. As noted above, cooling systems are responsible for up to 40% of total data center electricity use. Improving PUE is critical for sustainability. Advanced geothermal combined with liquid cooling systems can significantly reduce cooling energy, enabling PUEs as low as 1.1 to 1.2. Table 1 is a comparative analysis with a calculation example. [caption id="attachment_231580" align="aligncenter" width="650"] Table 1. A 1-MW air-cooled data center and a 1-MW ground-source heat pump (GSHP)-cooled data center are compared. Assumptions include: Energy cost = 10¢/kWh, Carbon intensity = 0.4 kilograms CO2/kWh, and Annual operating hours = 8,760. Source: Dmitry Kuravskiy/Celsius Energy[/caption] Microsoft's Redmond campus offers a real-world example. It uses a GSHP system with 900 geothermal boreholes (550 ft. deep) to cool its data centers. By rejecting heat into the ground instead of using chillers, the system achieves a PUE of about 1.2, compared to the industry average of 1.5 to 1.6. This reduces cooling energy by 50% to 60%, saving millions of dollars annually and cutting carbon emissions. Accelerating Data Center Geothermal Adoption with Financial Innovation. Despite the long-term operational savings of GSHPs, high upfront capital costs remain a primary barrier to adoption. The costs of specialized rigs, drilling labor, and loop field installations are significant, especially in densely populated regions. To overcome these financial challenges, data centers and multi-building complexes can leverage financing models proven in the solar industry, including zero-capital leases and long-term thermal service agreements. Under a thermal purchase agreement (TPA) or geo-as-a-service (GaaS) model: A third-party developer finances and installs the GSHP system. The property owner (data center, campus, municipality, etc.) pays for heating and cooling services instead of bearing the upfront capital cost. Contracts range from 20 years to 30 years, stabilizing long-term energy costs. This subscription-based financing allows data centers to transition immediately to geothermal with no upfront capital expenditure, unlocking cost savings from day one. Scaling Thermal Networks with Data Centers as Anchor Loads. Data centers are ideal anchor customers for thermal networks, where interconnected buildings share underground energy infrastructure. By integrating data centers into geothermal grids, excess heat from servers can be captured and redistributed to nearby commercial and residential buildings, reducing reliance on fossil fuels for heating. States with high electricity costs—like Massachusetts ($0.32/kWh), Connecticut ($0.28/kWh), and New York ($0.29/kWh)—offer the strongest financial incentives for geothermal adoption. Notable programs include: Massachusetts (Mass Save). $4,500 per ton of installed geothermal capacity. New York (Con Edison). $4,000 per ton rebate. Connecticut (Connecticut Green Bank Smart-E Loans). Low-interest financing for commercial geothermal projects. Trump's Initiative. On his first day in office, President Trump declared an energy emergency, emphasizing the need for domestic energy expansion, infrastructure modernization, and grid stability. Geothermal-based thermal networks and data center integration align directly with these objectives, offering an American-made solution to escalating electricity demand and data center energy consumption. By combining third-party financing; high-incentive states, such as New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut; and President Trump's energy strategy, geothermal energy can become a mainstream solution, resolving the U.S. energy emergency and keeping America at the forefront of energy innovation. Fort Polk Military Base. One of the largest GSHP implementations in the country took place at Fort Polk, Louisiana, where the U.S. Department of Defense retrofitted thousands of military residences with geothermal loops. The project converted 4,003 military family housing units to geothermal heat pumps (GHPs) through an energy savings performance contract (ESPC). The project was financed entirely by an energy services company (ESCO), which invested approximately $18.9 million upfront, covering all installation and development costs without federal funding. The ESCO recouped its investment through the energy savings generated over the contract's duration. The retrofit led to a 33% reduction in electrical consumption and a 43% decrease in peak electrical demand, underscoring the potential of GHPs to enhance grid stability by lowering both overall energy use and peak load pressures. Advancements in GHP technology have made such systems increasingly viable across various regions, including northern states. GHPs efficiently provide both heating and cooling by leveraging the Earth's stable underground temperatures, making them suitable for diverse climates. The Fort Polk project exemplifies how GHPs can be deployed without federal investment, offering a replicable model for enhancing energy efficiency and grid stability nationwide. Framingham Geothermal Pilot Program. The Framingham geothermal pilot program, initiated by Eversource Energy, represents a pioneering effort to implement a networked geothermal heating and cooling system in a residential neighborhood in Framingham, Massachusetts (Figure 2). This project involved the installation of a two-mile ambient-temperature loop, connecting 36 buildings, including 24 residential homes, a school, a firehouse, and low-income housing units managed by the Framingham Housing Authority. [caption id="attachment_231579" align="aligncenter" width="450"] 2. Borehole test well drilling for the geothermal pilot project in Framingham, Massachusetts, was conducted in September 2022. The test results confirmed project viability. Courtesy: Eversource[/caption] The system operates by utilizing boreholes drilled beneath the area to access the Earth's stable underground temperatures. A mixture of water and propylene glycol circulates through these pipes, absorbing geothermal energy to provide heating during winter and dissipating heat back into the ground during summer for cooling purposes. One of the significant advantages of this approach is its minimal surface footprint, as the boreholes are located beneath existing infrastructure, such as parking lots, thereby preserving valuable land resources. Additionally, the networked system allows for efficient energy distribution among multiple buildings, optimizing performance and cost-effectiveness. The Framingham pilot aims to assess the feasibility of scaling such systems to complement or replace traditional heating fuels, contributing to a low-carbon future. By leveraging advanced drilling techniques and networked energy distribution, this project demonstrates the potential for geothermal solutions in densely populated urban settings, offering a model for sustainable and efficient building climate control. Potential for Data Center Corridors. The synergy between data centers and GSHP-based thermal networks remains a game-changer. Areas like northern Virginia—housing a significant portion of the world's internet traffic—could see data centers serve as 'thermal anchors,' providing a steady source of heat that GSHP loops absorb and redistribute. In winter months, the heat offsets local building heating loads; during summer, geothermal loops handle a portion of the data centers' cooling demands, cutting chiller use. This interplay addresses grid strain, local emission reductions, and industry cost stability all at once, underscoring the versatile benefits of expanded shallow geothermal infrastructure. Shallow geothermal energy, leveraging advanced GSHP technology, is a critical and immediate solution to the U.S. energy crisis. By integrating deep drilling techniques, high-performance completions, and networked energy infrastructure, GSHP systems can be deployed at scale, reducing peak electricity demand by 35% and cutting building energy consumption by 60%. At the same time, the explosive expansion of AI-driven data centers—a $500 billion national investment—has created an energy emergency, with data centers projected to consume 10% to 12% of U.S. electricity by 2030. Geothermal-based cooling and thermal networks provide the only scalable, grid-stabilizing alternative to conventional high-energy chiller-based cooling. By capturing and redistributing waste heat, GSHPs enable data centers to lower cooling power demand by up to 80%, reducing grid strain and energy costs. Economic constraints have long delayed mass adoption of geothermal solutions—but new financing models are now removing these barriers. Inspired by the solar industry, GaaS and TPAs eliminate capital expenditures by allowing third-party investors to finance and operate GSHP systems. This model is already proving successful in high-electricity-cost states like Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York, where incentives of up to $4,500 per ton further improve return on investment. With a combination of cutting-edge drilling advancements, AI-integrated thermal networks, and scalable financing solutions, geothermal energy is no longer a niche technology—it is a mainstream answer to America's energy crisis. The future of U.S. energy security, AI innovation, and economic leadership depends on immediate, large-scale adoption of GSHP networks, ensuring that American businesses, homes, and data centers operate on the most efficient, cost-effective, and resilient energy infrastructure available today. —Dmitry Kuravskiy (DKuravskiy@ is drilling operations director with Celsius Energy.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Interior secretary announces Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil leasing plans
Yereth Rosen Alaska Beacon Two months after a lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge failed to draw any bids, the Trump administration Department of the Interior said on Thursday it is taking steps to sell leases across much more territory in the refuge. All of the 1.56-million-acre refuge coastal plan will be opened to oil leasing, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement. The Bureau of Land Management, an Interior agency, will make that happen, reversing Biden administration environmental protections in the area, he said. 'It's time for the U.S. to embrace Alaska's abundant and largely untapped resources as a pathway to prosperity for the Nation, including Alaskans,' Burgum said in the statement. 'For far too long, the federal government has created too many barriers to capitalizing on the state's energy potential. Interior is committed to recognizing the central role the State of Alaska plays in meeting our nation's energy needs, while providing tremendous economic opportunity for Alaskans.' The department did not release any more information about the specific steps to be taken, and no new rule proposals were issued as of Thursday afternoon. Intentions for more ANWR oil development were already declared in an Inauguration Day executive action issued by President Donald Trump called 'Unleashing Alaska's Extraordinary Resource Potential.' They were also declared in a follow-up secretarial order that Burgum issued on Feb. 3. In addition to planning for expanded ANWR leasing, Interior's BLM is taking steps to expand oil development in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, on the west side of the North Slope, Burgum said in his statement. Most of the refuge will be open to development, reversing protections that had kept about half of it off-limits, Burgum said. And the BLM will be revoking Biden administration actions that maintained protections for lands along the trans-Alaska pipeline corridor and Dalton Highway north of the Yukon River, Burgum said in his statement. Those plans were included as well in the presidential and secretarial orders issued in January and February. They would affect several Biden-era environmental policies in Alaska that Gov. Mike Dunleavy and other Trump supporters have asked the new administration to revoke. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has been the subject of decades of debate and controversy. Alaska politicians, Inupiat organizations and other development supporters say the refuge's coastal plain could produce a new oil bonanza; environmentalists and some Indigenous tribal members say it should be protected because of its importance to the Porcupine Caribou herd — one of the few tundra caribou herds not in decline — and other Arctic natural resources. In a statement, Dunleavy called Burgum's announcement 'more great news for Alaska.' 'I want to thank President Trump and Interior Secretary Burgum for their commitment to work on behalf of Alaska to ensure that our great state and its resources can continue to be a solution for many of America's challenges. The news today will provide more investment opportunities, more jobs, and a better future for Alaskans. We look forward to our continued work with President Trump and his administration to move Alaska and our country forward,' Dunleavy said in his statement U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, in his annual speech to the Legislature on Thursday, celebrated Burgum's announcement and praised Trump for his executive orders. 'Alaska has never seen such a positive signal directly from a U.S. president that we should pursue our vision of a state that seeks private sector wealth and job creation with a federal government that is a partner in opportunity, not a hostile opponent,' Sullivan said in the speech. That includes reinstatement of the ANWR leasing program, 'which was in the law,' Sullivan said, referring to the 2017 tax act that mandated at least two lease sales in the refuge coastal plan. Burgum's announcement also got a favorable response from Inupiat leaders on the North Slope who have supported oil development there as a vital source of revenue and jobs.. One was Charles Lampe, president of Kaktovik Iñupiat Corp., the for-profit corporation owned by the Native residents of a village at the northern edge of the refuge. Among many in Kaktovik, a village of about 270 people, oil development in the refuge coastal plain has long been viewed as a promising local opportunity. 'We applaud today's decision by DOI and Secretary Burgum, which upholds both the 2017 Tax Cuts and Job Act and overwhelming support from our community for development opportunities on the Coastal Plain,' Lampe said in a statement. 'As the only community within ANWR's 19-million-acre boundaries, we have fought for years for our right to self-determination and local economic development in our Indigenous homelands. Secretary Burgum's decision today suggests our community's voice is finally being heard in Washington.' Lampe's statement was issued by an organization called Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat, a coalition of North Slope municipal governments, tribes, corporations and other entities. Environmentalists criticized the Trump administration plans and said they will work to oppose them. 'If we let the Trump administration destroy Alaska's irreplaceable wild places for corporate profits and polluting fossil fuels that no one needs, the damage will be severe and long-lasting,' Cooper Freeman, Alaska director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. 'Trump wants to dig, burn and dump his way across Alaska's finest wildlife refuges and national parks, giving away our public lands to put more money into the pockets of billionaires,' Freeman said. 'Alaska's most precious resources are its vast expanses of wild lands and habitat for wildlife like caribou and polar bears, and we'll keep fighting hard to protect those beautiful places.' The national Sierra Club also weighed in. 'The Sierra Club and its millions of members and supporters across the country stand with the Gwich'in and Alaska Natives in opposing these actions. We will do everything in our power to stop the giveaway and preserve our wild and special places for the next generation,' Ben Jealous, executive director of the Sierra Club, said in a statement. The Gwich'in, Indigenous tribal members from northeastern Alaska and northwestern Canada, have been among the most ardent opponents of oil development in the refuge. Meanwhile, a new report from a nonpartisan organization describes development supporters' estimates of fiscal benefits from Arctic refuge leasing as vastly exaggerated. Rather than generating more than $1 billion for the federal treasury, as predicted by development supporters, sales of oil leases in the refuge would generate only $3 million to $30 million, said the report issued Thursday by the nonprofit group Taxpayers for Common Sense. That means revenues from oil leasing in the wildlife refuge would amount to less than 0.001% of an offset to the $4.5 trillion in tax cuts that the Trump administration and Congress have proposed, the report said. 'Continuing to promote Arctic drilling under the illusion of future revenue is a waste of taxpayer time and resources,' concludes the Taxpayers for Common Sense report. The estimate is based on past data from 20 years of oil leasing on Alaska's North Slope. In 2017, the year the tax bill was passed and signed into law, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the two lease sales it mandated would generate a total of $2.2 billion in revenues over 10 years, to be split evenly between the federal and state governments. Rather than attract a bidding rush, the two past ANWR lease sales drew no bids from any major oil companies. Bidding in the first sale, in 2021, was paltry and came mostly from the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, a state-owned development agency. The lease sale four years later drew no bids. That experience was part of the information considered in the new analysis released by Taxpayers for Common Sense. 'Including new ANWR lease sales as a revenue raiser in budget reconciliation underscores a fundamental disconnect between lofty promises and fiscal reality. The ANWR leasing program was sold as a financial boon for taxpayers, but the numbers tell a different story. Based on past lease sales, industry trends, and financial constraints, the claim that drilling in ANWR will deliver substantial revenue is misleading at best,' the report said.
