Power The Future Energy Hour Recap: Kara Moriarty and Rebecca Logan

June 11, 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).

Last night’s show focused on oil and gas in Alaska.  The first guest was Kara Moriarty, the President and CEO of the Alaska Oil & Gas Association (AOGA), as well as the campaign manager for the OneALASKA campaign.  Power The Future is an issue advocacy organization, not a political one, and we don’t advocate voting for or against any candidate, campaign, or ballot measure.  That caveat aside, the discussion with Kara on why a broad coalition of Alaska businesses and individuals have stepped up to oppose the “Alaska Fair Share” ballot measure was important for many reasons.  With our state’s energy economy stifled due to COVID-19 and international supply/demand shock, any rational Alaskan would see tripling tax rates on businesses – any businesses – to be a deterrent to recovery.

The last segment welcomed back Alaska Support Industry Alliance CEO Rebecca Logan to the show.  Rebecca spoke about the long road to recovery for her members in the service and support industries.  With nearly 7,500 job losses since 2014, those companies supporting responsible resource development in Alaska have suffered for a while.  Rebecca also touched on the need for business-minded legislation in future years, and the importance of elections at the state level.

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 Rick at Rick@PowerTheFuture.com if you have ideas for future shows!