We Are Proud of America and its Energy Workers

July 6, 2020

Life as the Alaska State Director for Power The Future is incredible.  I thoroughly enjoy my job, advocating for the men and women who work in Alaska’s cornerstone energy industry.  Meeting with them – whether on job sites, in corporate offices, or via online interactive opportunities – helps me realize what a phenomenal workforce we have in Alaska, and how imperative it is for me to do my part to provide the best opportunities for them and their families in the future.

I spent the 4^th of July weekend on the banks of the Kenai River, at our family’s recreational property.  We enjoyed the typical summer weekend’s activities – eating, watching movies, hanging out with neighbors and fishing.

During a typical weekend of fishing, my friends and I might see a couple of eagles.  This weekend, they were everywhere.  We probably saw three dozen or so during the weekend; some sitting majestically in trees, some soaring in the breeze, some diving for fish, and even one guarding a nest, with her eaglets’ beaks just poking out of the top, trying to see the world.

Americans before me who chose the eagle as our national symbol made the right choice. Their keen eye, powerful body, spectacular endurance and overall resplendent appearance certainly mirror America and its equally impressive set of character traits.

As I commiserate with so many families of energy workers across our state and nation, whose livelihoods are recovering from a near-constant set of setbacks so far in 2020, it was encouraging to have so many eagles around me this weekend. 

Seeing them lift off and take flight, as the one is doing in this picture (note the immature eagle peering up at it from the branch below) reminded me that America has faced setbacks before, but we’ve persevered and are resilient. America’s energy community was soaring prior to COVID-19’s arrival in March, with energy independence not just words on a wish-list, but actually occurring as the new year began.

To America’s – and especially Alaska’s – energy workers:  Just like eagles, we’ll once again rise, create opportunity and elicit cries of “oooh” and “ahhh” from the world as we do.  Our nation, after all, is the greatest in the world, and Power The Future is proud of the work you do to make it that way on a daily basis.