Video Clips
Quoted moments from Alaska public meetings, hearings, and press conferences.
Alex Strawn
“I know to get anything on the, the ballot has to be, I think, the second meeting in August. The assembly has to have something passed, so time is of the essence. I would agree. So maybe we can do both. We can schedule a back-and-forth informational session as well as a draft resolution.”Mat-Su Borough: Regular Planning Commission Meeting - June 15, 2026 · Jun 15, 2026
Speaker C
“coming before us, I think it would be worthwhile for us to, to be able to discuss it, come up with something, and give it to the assembly like, we're online with this, this is what we would like to see.”Mat-Su Borough: Regular Planning Commission Meeting - June 15, 2026 · Jun 15, 2026
Alex Strawn
“are we looking for just general support of the annexation, or are we going to be more specific about we want to see it on the ballot, or what—. What would be the take-home message barring asking Mr. McCarty?”Mat-Su Borough: Regular Planning Commission Meeting - June 15, 2026 · Jun 15, 2026
Speaker C
“I'd like to have more information that we could talk and discuss and then send it up to the assembly.”Mat-Su Borough: Regular Planning Commission Meeting - June 15, 2026 · Jun 15, 2026
Speaker A
“I would like to see a resolution. Prepared on this Eagle River exit deal. That's what I was—. I want more information.”Mat-Su Borough: Regular Planning Commission Meeting - June 15, 2026 · Jun 15, 2026
Speaker C
“I'd like to, uh, add, um, the annex now to a future one so that— oh yeah, so that we get more than like, like, hey, hi, my name is Ken McCarty. Okay. And then, bing! Yeah, I'd like to see that as well. Something a little more in-depth so we get something to chew on.”Mat-Su Borough: Regular Planning Commission Meeting - June 15, 2026 · Jun 15, 2026
Speaker A
“Hearing and seeing none, Resolution 26-09 has passed.”Mat-Su Borough: Regular Planning Commission Meeting - June 15, 2026 · Jun 15, 2026
Colleen Vague
“Reducing regulatory burdens for truly small-scale multifamily developments makes sense. Please ensure the proposed legislation has no loopholes”Mat-Su Borough: Regular Planning Commission Meeting - June 15, 2026 · Jun 15, 2026
Colleen Vague
“neither the IM nor the draft ordinance mentioned using fencing instead of perimeter landscaping for multifamily developments. It appears a requirement for perimeter landscaping is being removed for all multifamily developments, including large-scale ones. Is this really what is best for the communities and neighborhoods.”Mat-Su Borough: Regular Planning Commission Meeting - June 15, 2026 · Jun 15, 2026
Bert Stedman
“I think 2 mils of our 2% of $16 billion is somewhere around $320 million. So I just need to, I guess, get some of these numbers adjusted. And I'd rather, Mr. Chairman, have us look at the aggregate dollars and going to the state, and then if there's a split to the municipalities like we do with our oil tax, we look at the whole, you know, the portion that goes to each borough and then a portion that goes to the state. But if we don't use the aggregate dollar amount, we get our tax modeling off.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Adam Prestidge
“the 2 mills 2 mils is a concept that was first introduced by Wood Mackenzie and other— and Gas Strategies and other consultants to AGDC quite some time ago, and it was an assumption that went into our ability to commit to a $16 price cap. And so I don't see that there was a commitment to $16 at any time before we had an assumption that was based on 2 mils.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Adam Prestidge
“that price cap, that commitment that we can get this project done with a cap on the price at $16, is an extraordinary commitment. It is a commitment that we're able to make on the basis of how 381 was put together. If there were a significant change to the tax structure, for example, going from 2 mils to 3 mils would be a 50% increase on the tax burden as set out in HB 381. That would really put in— that would really challenge our ability to maintain that $16 price cap.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Bert Stedman
“I would suggest that on the interest rate you use, not something below 5, but use the government bond rate.— as a base. I think the Department of Energy was talking about 20-year bond rate plus 3/8 and then step it up.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Dan Stickel
“we certainly have produced the Phase 1 analysis and will be happy to provide that for the version of the bill that passed out of the House. And we do have extremely detailed model assumptions document. Provide that to the committee, and then I think we can go from there on providing any additional information that would be helpful and any additional sensitivities the committee would like to see. We'll go ahead and get that information. We'll see where we can slide that into our hearing schedule.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Adam Prestidge
“one of the benefits, one of several benefits that we see with the alternative volumetric tax is that it is calculated based on a reportable throughput on the pipeline that is then calculated by multipliers, and there's no value— there's no question of valuation applied to that. And so what that means is that we avoid, for all parties involved, the potential for litigation over what is the value of this property over the decades to come.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Bert Stedman
“what we're being asked for is concessions, and I want to know what we actually gain, whatever concession we give, not looking at hypotheticals 30 years out. We're trying to get a financing package across the line, is my understanding. Otherwise, why would we give a concession?”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Bert Stedman
“Frankly, when I look at this bill and I see 2 mills, I find that alarmingly low. If I could pay 2 meals for my house, I'd run down to City Hall with a Christmas card to the mayor.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Dan Stickel
“it's a 20 mils tax or 2% of assessed value, and that assessment is done centralized by the State Department of Revenue. We manage the appraisal and assessment process for all oil and gas property in the state, and then any municipal oil and gas property taxes are allowed as a credit against that state tax.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Bert Stedman
“I think there's a couple months difference in when the 16 cents was in play and when the concept of the effective 2 mil tax rate was put on the table or put in play.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Bert Stedman
“isn't there a timing difference between when the $0.16 was agreed to and when the concept of the volumetric tax numerics were put in play, like a couple of months difference in time?”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Adam Prestidge
“this tax structure, the alternative volumetric tax, has the benefit of creating alignment. And so the more, the more gas that flows on the pipeline, the greater the revenue to, to the state. The more gas that flows on the pipeline, the lower the cost of gas to the ratepayers.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Dan Stickel
“Property tax revenue to the state would be estimated at $24 million initially in 2029, ramping up to $239 million by 2033, which is when the full export operations begin and the project construction is completed. And then the municipal revenues, in addition to those state revenues, would start at $50 million initially in 2029, ramping up to $497 million in 2033. So all told, you have a little over $700 million per year of property tax revenue that would come just from the AK LNG project to the state and municipalities if the project were to proceed under current law.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Bert Stedman
“We can't control capital cost or operating costs. Or much other variables. We have very few levers we can move. But we can make that 1 mil equivalent, 2 mil equivalent, 3 mil, 4 mil, 5 mil, whatever we want.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Bert Stedman
“I think the model has all that. It's got to have all that data in there to just print it out. It doesn't have to be fancy looking.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Bert Stedman
“I'd like to know the marginal impact of a 1 millage rate change. You got 2.13 mills here. If you change that assumption in your model to make that 3.13 mills, what's the effect of the economics of the project?”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Bert Stedman
“if nothing else for us to, you know, nice to have a hearing on it, but to take a look at it, I think it's critical that we know if we give a concession with our left hand, it's not taken away with some mechanism on the right hand. And how much of a concession is needed to get it to the economic hurdle? And maybe it's zero tax, for all I know. But I think we need to see that on Phase 1, because that's what they're trying to get the FID on, is my understanding.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Bert Stedman
“I'd like to know the operating expense of the pipeline. I'd like to know the operating expense of the liquefaction plant, um, and some of these other component parts, um, that you have to plug in your model.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Bert Stedman
“I'm kind of curious when the corporate income tax kick in on the gas line. You know, I think it's somewhere around 20, 21 years out, which means it's time you deal with your depreciation and your interest costs and your carry-forwards. It's not making any money for decades.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Bert Stedman
“The issue at the table is the gas line. And what would be nice if we could see an analysis on the gas line itself and also the marginal impact of the change in property tax from the 20 mills to, you know, the— to the 2 mills, which is basically what's on the table.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Dan Stickel
“we look at, under our baseline modeling, 2031 is the first year of exports when the first train comes online, and that would be the first year of tax liability for the alternative volumetric tax with a total of $39 million paid in, and that would increase to $131 million by 2033, which would be the first year of the full export operations. Under this version of the bill, the state would receive about 9% of the total AVT revenue, with the remainder allocated to the various municipalities and communities as outlined in this bill.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Dan Stickel
“given the time and resource constraints with a special session that ends in 4 days, we have maintained our baseline model assumptions at this point.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Bert Stedman
“I don't want to get personally lost into big dollars if the whole project is built and it's full of gas and everything's wonderful. I think we should be concentrating on the economic of the project and trying to see how close we are to the hurdle rate to get it to FID or not.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Dan Stickel
“we calculate based on our, our assumptions that the effective rate would be somewhere between 10 and 11 cents per 1,000 cubic feet.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Dan Stickel
“each additional mil of equivalent mil rate on the full project would be equivalent to about 5 cents of AVT revenue.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Jesse Kiehl
“through some of my history, both here in the Capitol and in municipal government, it's pretty good we know what it means is never good enough on tax law. You have to have the words on the paper.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 15, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 15, 2026
Paul McDonough
“one of the larger intents here is that we don't unintentionally endorse the legislative position on class sizes. Um, I think people in this room especially know Alaska has local defined in our state constitution. And I actually was a critic of the HB 165, but then it's, it's movement into other bills, uh, because the state can recommend whatever it wants, but it's up to us to actually determine what is our standard.”Anchorage School Board: 6/13/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Jun 13, 2026
Paul McDonough
“this version with its red lines does a good job at achieving what we think is the proper means of coming up with class size averages through evidence-based analysis of the science, while still also acknowledging that our main job is to comply with state statute.”Anchorage School Board: 6/13/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Jun 13, 2026
Pat Higgins
“the goal here is you got litigation going on in regards to what is, uh, adequate funding, and we don't want to do anything inconsistent with that.”Anchorage School Board: 6/13/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Jun 13, 2026
Kelly Lessens
“President Jacobs said in that meeting, I want to send the legislature a bill, right? And this gives the administration space to develop its own guidelines for pushing effectively, for pushing at the bill for the delta for the class sizes that we have not been able to attain for a very, very long time and don't appear to be able to attain in the near future.”Anchorage School Board: 6/13/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Jun 13, 2026
Dora Wilson
“the repetitive nature of continuing to communicate that particular message, I think, is awesome because For many reasons, that message is not received. And so just to kind of put that, prioritize that in the messaging that needs to be in what I'll call the basic messaging. But basic messaging is really important for those legislators and for our community to understand that we cannot have smaller class sizes because we cannot afford to have that.”Anchorage School Board: 6/13/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Jun 13, 2026
Carl Jacobs
“That motion is adopted by a vote of 7 to 0.”Anchorage School Board: 6/13/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Jun 13, 2026
Pat Higgins
“I think this gives a, a good reflection that we're not at odds with that study, and I think that's an important issue.”Anchorage School Board: 6/13/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Jun 13, 2026
Kelly Lessens
“the superintendent shall ensure that key stakeholders receive this information within 1 week following the board's annual passage of the district's budget”Anchorage School Board: 6/13/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Jun 13, 2026
Paul McDonough
“I appreciate the board's intent in this policy where we have basically two tiers. Um, I'll make a, a note for the record that the way this reads in the Intention of Governance Committee, seems that the, the top 2 numbers are indeed the maximum compliance thresholds, and we're, we're still not in compliance with those. But the second numbers are the scientific evidence-based numbers”Anchorage School Board: 6/13/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Jun 13, 2026
Paul McDonough
“I move to approve ASD Memorandum 178, um, with the S version attached describing the board policy for 6, 1, 5, 1.”Anchorage School Board: 6/13/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Jun 13, 2026
Paul McDonough
“this policy makes it clear that the science is that they're inadequately funding our district. If we do not have the, the Pikus Oden numbers, which can be amended by a future governance committee and then a future board, if the science changes. Um, but if we don't have them in here, it makes our ability to raise a lawsuit a lot more unclear”Anchorage School Board: 6/13/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Jun 13, 2026
Paige Brown
“is it the board's will to get the financial delta for both class size targets, both the one in the bill as well as the Pikus Avenue? I'm assuming so. I just wanted to clarify.”Anchorage School Board: 6/13/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Jun 13, 2026