Power The Future Energy Hour Recap: US Senator Dan Sullivan and Congressman Don Young (Week 1 of 4)

September 9, 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, its guests have included members of Congress, Alaska’s Governor, Lt. Governor, State Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners, members of the Governor’s leadership team, members of the press and blog/website hosts, 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).

This week, we caught up with Power The Future’s founder and Executive Director, Daniel Turner in segment two.  As always, the focus was on national and international energy topics, including the ongoing brownouts/blackouts in California.  Regardless of what “green” energy advocates say, the push for reliance on wind and solar by California’s governmental “leaders” have led to residents and businesses suffering from unreliable, high-cost power, when compared to what they’d have with legacy power creation and sourcing.

The month of September will be spent hearing from US Senator Dan Sullivan and Congressman Don Young, on a variety of issues and topics related to energy and resource development. 

This week, Rick spoke with Senator Sullivan on the US’s increased focus on the Arctic, including the build-up of an Arctic-class icebreaker fleet over the coming years, as well as deep-water ports in Nome (and perhaps elsewhere).  Senator Sullivan also discussed the recent visit to Alaska from the Secretary of the Navy, Kenneth Braitwaite, and how his visit will impact Alaska’s place in the ever-evolving Arctic moving forward.

Congressman Young filled the Energy Hour listeners in on how he and the rest of Alaska’s Congressional delegation have been working with the Trump administration to move LNG exports forward, as well as remove restrictions to the ill-conceived “Roadless Rule” that crushes the ability to provide timber jobs and responsible harvest in national forests.  Thankfully, progress is being made in both areas, and the Congressman did a fantastic job of recapping those important topics during his segment.

The Energy Hour will have three more weeks to hear from Senator Sullivan and Congressman Young, then be back in October to visit with political leaders, industry executives and senior-level government officials, as well as experts on Alaska’s resource economy and our budget. You can click here for this week’s show, as well as nearly every media appearance by our team, hosted on PTF’s SoundCloud page.

Feel free to reach out to Rick Whitbeck at Rick@PowerTheFuture.com if you have ideas for future shows!