Video Clips
Quoted moments from Alaska public meetings, hearings, and press conferences.
0:52
Speaker G
“11 Years ago, on March 22nd, 2014, Washington experienced one of our nation's worst natural disasters. In a matter of seconds, the side of a mountain, a tragic massive landslide near Oso, Washington, killed 43 people, destroyed an entire neighborhood of over 40 homes, and severely damaged public infrastructure and private property.”House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources (Begich): Leg Hrg on the following bills · May 20, 2025
0:53
Stauber
“in the waning days of his administration, President Biden announced a withdrawal of over 625 million acres on the Outer Continental Shelf. The Biden administration's offshore energy lockups, along with their onshore mineral withdrawals, have cost Americans thousands of good-paying, often union jobs”House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources (Begich): Leg Hrg on the following bills · May 20, 2025
0:27
Doug Helton
“After 33 years of service, I retired alongside more than 1,000 other NOAA employees who left amid the Trump administration's effort to gut the agency. Together, we represented 27,000 years of experience— it's an irreplaceable loss that endangers Americans' health, safety, and the economy.”House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources (Begich): Leg Hrg on the following bills · May 20, 2025
0:36
Sandra West
“Just 3 states so far have the USGS's ShakeAlert system, which is capable of providing warning before shaking even starts. 4 Months ago, the USGS published a ShakeAlert plan for Alaska.”House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources (Begich): Leg Hrg on the following bills · May 20, 2025
0:35
Sandra West
“The National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, known as NEHRP, is one of the most successful pieces of hazards legislation ever, coming up on its 50th anniversary. It coordinates the efforts of 4 agencies: the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Science Foundation, FEMA, NIST.”House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources (Begich): Leg Hrg on the following bills · May 20, 2025
0:39
Stauber
“These bills would authorize important programs that help save lives and protect our communities, including the National Landslide Hazard Reduction Program, or NILHRP, the 3D Elevation Program, or 3DEP, the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, or NEHRP, and the National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring System, NVIEWS.”House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources (Begich): Leg Hrg on the following bills · May 20, 2025
1:01
Speaker A
“it funded 8 different schools with a high-quality pre-K classroom. Students were selected by lottery based on the risk factors. So this is an area where we were really serving vulnerable populations”Anchorage Assembly: ACCEE Fund Board Meeting 2026 05 20 Meeting Recording · Jun 9, 2026
0:45
Trevor Storrs
“how are you as an administration prioritizing prevention over tertiary? The homeless work is not prevention, it's tertiary. And the work that ASD and what we're doing actually hopefully will lessen the individuals that will find themselves in mental health distress, physical distress that then leads to homelessness and other issues.”Anchorage Assembly: ACCEE Fund Board Meeting 2026 05 20 Meeting Recording · Jun 9, 2026
0:40
Jessica Simonson
“Is there any way if we say we can only just say, example, we can only give ASD $1 million so they can keep the other programs are important. Is there any way for that other million to come out of a different pocket”Anchorage Assembly: ACCEE Fund Board Meeting 2026 05 20 Meeting Recording · Jun 9, 2026
0:21
Trevor Storrs
“to be honest, the philanthropy and corporate, they're also strained. There isn't some magic relationship that's going to give us $2 million to do. So us hoping, uh, we're obviously always want to do that. I absolutely agree with Kevin, but usually that is one-time funding.”Anchorage Assembly: ACCEE Fund Board Meeting 2026 05 20 Meeting Recording · Jun 9, 2026
0:33
Kevin Berry
“if a teacher leaves the sector or a kid gets kicked out of pre-K, that's a pretty permanent change. And we also then don't get data on what would have happened if they'd stayed in that program”Anchorage Assembly: ACCEE Fund Board Meeting 2026 05 20 Meeting Recording · Jun 9, 2026
0:55
Speaker A
“us being able to conduct that community needs assessment is really important to prioritize. That is where it opens the door for the partnerships to, you know, once we have data and can share that, that will open the door to see who's interested”Anchorage Assembly: ACCEE Fund Board Meeting 2026 05 20 Meeting Recording · Jun 9, 2026
0:54
Trevor Storrs
“if we fund ASD, that leaves us— and I'm just working off of $5 million, uh, give or take That leaves $3 million, which greatly changes how we put money out. Or we don't fund ASD, they don't have funding to fill that in. That's 8 classrooms with 100-plus, maybe 200-plus, I don't know, kids that would then lose that preschool.”Anchorage Assembly: ACCEE Fund Board Meeting 2026 05 20 Meeting Recording · Jun 9, 2026
1:00
Trevor Storrs
“asking the ASD if they could present a budget and showing if they had— because right now it's $2 million, and I'd have to give this greater thought, but you get the concept. If you received $150— $1.5 million or $1.75 million, how would that impact the budget? What would be lost”Anchorage Assembly: ACCEE Fund Board Meeting 2026 05 20 Meeting Recording · Jun 9, 2026
0:39
Speaker C
“98% of the staff who participated said they were more likely to remain in the field, which is a high—”Anchorage Assembly: ACCEE Fund Board Meeting 2026 05 20 Meeting Recording · Jun 9, 2026
0:23
John Espindola
“As of right now, we're not involved in any aspect of the project, so specifically speaking to the regulatory commission, we would have no nexus with what happens at this point regarding permitting.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance, 6/9/26, 1:30pm · Jun 9, 2026
0:35
John Espindola
“We understand the two phases of the project are still under the purview of FERC jurisdiction, as we have not seen a different determination of jurisdiction in the FERC docket. Under its 2020 decision, jurisdiction lies entirely with FERC for both in-state and export as it relates to the AK LNG project.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance, 6/9/26, 1:30pm · Jun 9, 2026
0:40
Steve DeVries
“There's a big difference in how the Commission reviews costs to consumers from gas supply contracts and how the commission reviews all other costs. And the reason for that is because there's a specific provision in Title 42, and that statute is on slide 7, which specifically and narrowly constrains our review authority.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance, 6/9/26, 1:30pm · Jun 9, 2026
0:49
Steve DeVries
“the first step would be for FERC to decline or express or to demonstrate that it no longer is exerting exclusive jurisdiction over the pipe. If that was the case, then we would see the situation come before us, the regulatory commission, as to whether or not the state would— state meaning the regulatory commission— would have jurisdiction to regulate that, the pipeline under those circumstances.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance, 6/9/26, 1:30pm · Jun 9, 2026
0:32
Steve DeVries
“Right now, the plate that we have before us is that FERC has asserted exclusive jurisdiction. Until that changes, FERC and federal jurisdiction preempt state law and would preempt the regulatory commission from taking any action.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance, 6/9/26, 1:30pm · Jun 9, 2026
0:33
Steve DeVries
“its certificated service area is only allowed to charge rates for services it provides in its certificated service area. If it wanted to expand its service area to include Fairbanks, it would need to apply for a new certificate in order to do so. Whether rates charged for a Fairbanks service area would be the same as those charged for Anchorage or current service area would have to be decided in a particular docket to see whether or not there was a justifiable reason for doing so.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance, 6/9/26, 1:30pm · Jun 9, 2026
0:30
Julie Vogler
“Without having that contract in front of us, we do not know what's going to be proposed, what will be presented, how they will satisfy the requirements of 4205.141. So those are unknowns to us at this time.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance, 6/9/26, 1:30pm · Jun 9, 2026
0:18
John Espindola
“Yes, we would, and that would be determined in an adjudicatory proceeding based on a full record.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance, 6/9/26, 1:30pm · Jun 9, 2026
0:52
Steve DeVries
“we would look at prudence if the issue is raised. Utility practices are presumed prudent unless they are challenged when a cost is being reviewed by us in a docket. It is when they are challenged and a record is to be developed that shows that it is likely or that serious questions have been raised as to the prudent practices or prudent utility practice of a utility in question that calls the prudence of that decision into question, then we would— then it would be before us to adjudicate.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance, 6/9/26, 1:30pm · Jun 9, 2026
0:49
John Sims
“The predominant activity is from Hilcorp, which is one of the reasons why NStar is so concerned about them kind of slowing down production and moving their investments other— other places is because there's no one else in Cook Inlet that has the balance sheet to be drilling 192 wells over a 10-year period.”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026
0:31
John Sims
“Because of the cold temperatures, NStar was short on gas. And so we reached out to Hilcorp and luckily they were able to deliver an additional half BCF of gas during the month of March. That came at a cost of $16 per MCF.”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026
0:24
John Sims
“The Hillcorp contract is down there at $8.36. There is an annual inflator, so it's not going to stay at that rate for the entirety of the contract. We expected about a 1.5% increase over the duration of that contract.”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026
0:31
Brett Watson
“over the last 10 years, Pacific LNG prices, which is the market that we would be purchasing gas from, have ranged between about $5 to $15 per thousand cubic feet in what I would call sort of normal time periods.”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026
0:41
Brett Watson
“In 2033, when all of NStar's contracts have expired,, we're probably facing around $15 per MCF gas.”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026
0:45
Brett Watson
“estimates from NSTAR suggest that in addition to the purchasing the commodity on the spot market, we'd need to pay an additional dollar or so per MCF to ship that gas an additional $3 to $5 on top of that to build the infrastructure to receive that gas and regasify it from its LNG form. So kind of all-in costs from this no-project case represent gas prices somewhere in the neighborhood of $9 to $21.”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026
0:41
Matt Kissinger
“pursuing the loan guarantees with the federal government, getting lower gas prices and addressing the property tax imbalance”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026
0:39
Matt Kissinger
“even with relief, we'll still be sort of 5 times higher than LNG Canada in our property taxes”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026
0:45
John Sims
“Looking over a much shorter time frame from 2010 to 2026, you can see that that's dropped from about 350 million cubic feet a day down to right around 200 million a day. Again, how this relates to NSTAR in the wintertime when we need it the most, NSTAR's annual— or excuse me, daily peak is right around 320 for gas that we have to make sure that we have available to our customers.”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026
0:17
Matt Kissinger
“we were sort of 10 times order of magnitude higher than any of these other jurisdictions”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026
0:46
John Sims
“Well, they didn't do 185 wells, they did 192 wells, and they've spent over $1.5 billion over that time frame, again, to make sure that Cook Inlet customers, both on the natural gas side, on the electric side, had energy.”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026
0:27
Peter Micciche
“please wrap up Phase 2 ASAP with Phase 1. That divorce has made us very nervous”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026
0:16
Cathy Giessel
“We were given the legislation for this project on March 20th. That's 2 and a half months ago”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026
0:26
Cathy Giessel
“The Senate Resources Committee, since March 20th, had 36 hearings in less than 2 months on this”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026
0:34
Cathy Giessel
“we looked at capping the price of gas to consumers. We looked at not allowing any cost overruns to be put on taxpayers, onto consumers, Alaska consumers”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026
0:27
Cathy Giessel
“What if it stops with only Phase 1? We want a limit on how long the tax abatement the forgiveness, the elimination of those property taxes go”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026
0:43
John Sims
“The biggest difference between no project and Phase 1 is really the volatility that you'll see on the LNG import market. So, you know, you can look at JKM futures and get sort of an indication as to what the market thinks they may be. But the reality is, when you look at those futures versus what they actually were, there's an enormous amount of volatility that happens on the LNG market”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026
0:50
Cathy Giessel
“right now Glenfarn is a limited liability corporation. That means they're a pass-through entity, which means they pay no corporate tax to the state of Alaska on their profits”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026
0:38
Matt Kissinger
“this is a marginal project, and we don't need more studies to tell us that. We know this is a marginal project simply by the fact that Despite our need for it, despite this enormous amount of gas, we so far haven't been able to get it done.”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026
0:29
Brett Watson
“that yellow line is the trajectory for Phase 1 prices. Those start at $16 per MCF and would escalate by 2% or inflation per year, whatever's lower, um, uh, until Phase 2 is achieved, and that's that blue line where prices would drop to $5 and then escalate by 2% or inflation, whichever is lower.”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026
0:54
John Sims
“What PRA said is that in order to meet demand starting in 2010 through 2020, up to 185 wells would need to be drilled over that timeframe. That requires an estimated $1.8 to $2.8 billion and would need about an average of 13.6 wells completed per year.”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026
0:31
John Sims
“All of the green that represents the Hillcorp contract. So in 2033, that green is going away and we need to have another solution in place so that we can meet our customers' needs.”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026
0:35
Peter Micciche
“This is a condensed facility that will receive every borough service at a very large proportion to the neighboring neighbor, to the neighbor next door who's going to be paying $9,000. Okay, first bill is $2,000, quarter of what the neighbor's paying”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026
0:26
Matt Kissinger
“Cook Inlet gas resources are declining. We are getting to a point, as I believe Mr. Sims can agree, to where it's becoming quite critical, and we have to move the project forward”Taxes and the Alaska Gas Line: The Fiscal Questions Behind AK's Energy Future · Jun 9, 2026