DNR commissioner says governor's office worked 'very closely' on land transfers to AIDEA

Natural Resources Commissioner John Crowther told state senators Monday that the governor's office worked "very closely" with his department on state land transfers, including a plan to give about 20,000 acres near Houston to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority at no cost, and that a final decision could come before a new governor takes office Dec. 7.

The Senate Resources Committee voted to subpoena Crowther this month after his office declined an Oct. 8 hearing, writing that "the Governor's office has not given us permission to attend." His testimony came three days after DNR turned over 1,594 pages of records Chair Cathy Giessel had requested on the origins of that transfer and others to the Alaska Housing Finance Corp. Senators said most of the text was blacked out.

Giessel asked whether the transfers were moving forward at the governor's behest. "Using our land for development has been a governor's priority," Crowther said, calling the AIDEA and housing transfers part of the governor's initiative to maximize use and development of state lands. "I think it is fair to say that the governor's office was working very closely with the department."

Giessel said the records show the transfers were discussed with the governor's office before they were publicly noticed, with emails going back to December 2025. AIDEA's December 2025 application for the Houston land was emailed to DNR with a copy to Lee Cruise, a senior policy advisor to Gov. Mike Dunleavy, according to records the committee posted. A January email from Cruise to Christy Colles, who directs DNR's Division of Mining, Land and Water, was produced with its text redacted and marked "EC."

Crowther's cover letter says DNR searched for AIDEA or AHFC within 25 words of "810," the public and charitable use statute, or "Houston," rather than the longer list of terms Giessel suggested. A log of withheld documents shows DNR held back drafts of the preliminary decision on the Houston land, written from March to August, as deliberative. It also withheld a 211-page spreadsheet of raw public comments, citing deliberative process and privacy, and a 14-page governor's office priorities plan from November 2025, citing deliberative process and executive communications privilege.

Crowther said DNR worked with the Department of Law on the redactions and that he believed the ones citing the constitutional right to privacy covered commenters' names, addresses and emails. Executive communications and attorney-client privileges apply to many internal executive branch communications, he said.

Giessel requested the records Sept. 1. State rules give agencies 10 working days to respond, or up to 10 more with notice and a date. DNR wrote Sept. 10 that it would do the work "as expeditiously as possible" and withhold privileged material, and on Oct. 20 that it was treating her request as a priority and seeking Department of Law guidance. The records arrived Friday, in response to both the request and the subpoena, the cover letter says.

Under DNR's preliminary decision, AIDEA would get 19,950 acres beginning two miles north of Houston, paying nothing for the land but covering survey and administrative costs, and the state would give up its right to take the land back. Crowther said the parcel is larger than past transfers under that statute and "its purpose is not as explicitly defined as some have been historically." He said the proposal leaves out the state's right to reclaim the land partly to give AIDEA flexibility, but that it has been identified as "a significant matter of legal concern and public concern" and DNR is "looking closely at it."

Public comment closed Sept. 14, and DNR received more than 2,000 comments, Crowther said. Asked by Sen. Matt Claman whether a final decision could come before the new governor is sworn in, he said, "I think that is certainly possible." People who commented could ask DNR to review a final decision and then go to court, he said. Colles said the land would also have to be surveyed before a deed is issued, which "can take a couple of years." Crowther said he believed a lawsuit over the transfer was filed late last week, which DNR had not yet reviewed.