Power The Future Energy Hour Recap: Daniel Turner and Mike Heatwole

August 12, 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).

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 inclusion of the American Mineral Security Act – championed by Alaska’s senior US Senator, Lisa Murkowski – in the latest COVID-19 relief and stimulus package.  Daniel had an op-ed published on Real Clear Energy the day before, where he focused on why Democrats should support American mining.  The discussion on that op-ed took the rest of his segment.

Following Daniel, Rick welcomed a frequent guest, Mike Heatwole, back to the show for the remaining segments.  Mike is the Sr. Vice President of External Affairs for the Pebble Project, and during his first segment, he provided an update on the project, since the Army Corps’ release of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) had been released a few weeks ago.  We chatted about the impacts Pebble will have on advancing “green” energy, and on the ways it’ll benefit the residents in villages throughout the region.

The second segment continued with talks around the state permitting, as well as the recent screeds from social media by those who want to veto the project.  I asked Mike what he’d say directly to Donald Trump, Jr. and others who wanted to stop the project, even if all they knew about it was it was near beautiful fly-in fishing lodges.  Mike’s response was clear and direct:

“Here’s what I can promise you.  Don Jr and Joe Biden – neither of them ever cracked a page in the US Army Corps of Engineers’ final EIS for the project.  So, for the person who’s out there saying ‘I really like what they’re saying’, I encourage that person to pick up the executive summary of the EIS and read it for yourselves.  Don’t take the company’s word for it, don’t take the opposition propaganda, and don’t take the media’s slant.  Read for yourself and draw your own conclusion.  I think the average Alaskan who does that…will realize ‘there’s a lot more there than I’ve been led to believe.”

Mic drop, Mike Heatwole.

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. 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!