Senate panel votes to authorize subpoenas for DNR commissioner over AIDEA land transfers

The Alaska Senate Resources Committee voted Wednesday to authorize one or more subpoenas ordering Department of Natural Resources Commissioner John Crowther to appear Oct. 26 and turn over records on state land transfers to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority.

The vote was 5 yeas and 1 pass. It came after Crowther's office turned down an invitation to testify at an Oct. 8 joint hearing and did not answer a second invitation, committee Chair Cathy Giessel said. Alaska News reported Oct. 9 that Giessel said the governor had denied Crowther's appearance at that hearing.

The motion orders Crowther to appear in person at 10 am Oct. 26 at the Anchorage Legislative Information Office. It also demands records tied to Giessel's Sept. 1 public records request, along with documents on the development plans, policy reasons and legality of DNR land conveyances to AIDEA and the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation.

At the center is DNR's preliminary decision to convey roughly 19,950 acres of state land in the Houston area to AIDEA at no cost. AIDEA plans to use the land for a multi-use industrial and energy development district with logistics hubs, energy corridors, manufacturing and data centers. Legislative attorneys have questioned whether the Houston transfer meets the public-purpose test.

A second proposal would give AIDEA about 885 acres at Port MacKenzie for rail-support and cargo-logistics facilities. Public comment on that proposal runs through Oct. 21.

In declining the Oct. 8 invitation, Crowther's office wrote that the governor's office had not given permission to attend. Giessel also said DNR's response to her records request did not meet the requirements in state regulation.

Vice Chair Sen. Wielechowski, who made the motion, said Giessel had tried to settle the matter without a subpoena and had not succeeded.

Sen. Matt Clayman asked whether the subpoena must be served. Emily Nauman, director of Legislative Legal Services, said that if the motion gives the chair authority to issue it, "the chair might have authority to later decide not to issue the subpoena in the event that, say, the department decided to comply with the intent of the subpoena without the actual subpoena needing to be delivered."

Clayman said it was his understanding that a 2025 legislative subpoena to the executive branch on revenue matters was never served because the administration agreed to comply. Giessel said she would welcome Crowther's appearance without service.

Wielechowski amended the motion to allow "one or more subpoenas" in case Crowther cannot make the first date.