Interior Secretary Haaland Likely to Learn Something During September Alaska Trip

July 21, 2021

News broke today that Interior Secretary Deb Haaland will be visiting Alaska in September to fulfill a promise made during her confirmation hearing. 

Power The Future inquired with the Secretary’s office in early March whether or not she’d ever been to Alaska, but has not yet received a response.  During her hearing, it was strongly inferred she hadn’t crossed Alaska off her list of US states she had visited.

During questioning from Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) about the decision the courts had placed to shut down further progress on the King Cove-to-Cold Bay road, Haaland said she would not make a final decision on fighting the court’s ruling until she had met with residents in King Cove, which is adversely impacted by having no overland connectivity with the nearest airport capable of life-flight services in stormy weather. 

While giving her credit for planning the trip to Alaska to talk with King Cove’s residents, we hope the Secretary will extend her trip to see other sites across the state that provide the economic lifeblood for local and state governments. 

Should she announce additional time in the Great Land, Alaskans concerned with her lengthy set of actions in Washington, DC that have threatened our bright energy future should begin thinking of creative (and legal) ways to help the Secretary learn about Alaska while she’s here.

You can be assured Power The Future is already planning to educate the Secretary on the damage the Interior Department has already inflicted on jobs across the state.

We’ll keep our readers updated as we learn more about Haaland’s trip.