Power The Future Energy Hour Recap: Daniel Turner and Chantal Walsh

July 23, 2020

Every Tuesday night from 5:00-6:00 PM local time, Alaska State Director Rick Whitbeck hosts the “Power The Future Energy Hour” on KNVT (92.5 FM, 1020 AM and online at 1020KVNT.com).  The show (also replayed during the same hour on Saturday night) is heard throughout Southcentral Alaska communities, and acts as a recap of Power The Future activities in Alaska, as well as an opportunity to hear from various members of Alaska’s energy community.

Since the show’s inception in January 2018, it has had dozens of guests, including members of Congress, Alaska’s Governor, Lt. Governor, State Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners, members of the Governor’s leadership team, executives from organizations throughout Alaska who fight for jobs, opportunities and progress alongside us (The Alaska Support Industry Alliance, Resource Development Council, Alaska Oil & Gas Association, Alaska Miners Association and others), state legislators from both parties who have a role in energy policy as part of their legislative duties and executives from many of Alaska’s leading resource development projects (both current and potential).

Daniel Turner, PTF’s Executive Director and Founder, calls into the Energy Hour every week, and we spend the second segment talking about national and international energy issues.  He hung around for a deeper discussion this week, focusing on the organization’s study, The Fight For Rare Earths.  We took a deep dive into the reasons Power The Future initiated the paper, as well as the reaction from people when they find out just how delicate a balance there is currently with China.  The Communist country’s very real ability to put a chokehold on everything from US military might to “green” technologies, by shutting off the supply chain of rare earths to our country, should signal a need to increase domestic mining and processing of rare earths.

The last segment featured a discussion with Chantal Walsh, the Chairwoman of the OneALASKA campaign, fighting yet another oil-tax initiative that will appear on Alaska’s general election ballot in November.  While PTF can’t take an official position on the proposed measure, we can highlight the importance of the industry and its investment in Alaska.  Walsh spoke about the coalition of businesses and individuals who are fighting to protect those jobs and investment in Alaska. 

Guests in upcoming weeks will include lawmakers, industry executives and senior-level government officials, as well as experts on Alaska’s resource economy and our budget.

If you’re not listening to the show live, feel free to catch the replay on SoundCloud.  You can catch this week’s show here.  Feel free to reach out to us at Rick@PowerTheFuture.com if you have ideas for future shows!