“The Amount of Money That Comes from Oil and Gas Cannot Be Ignored” Power The Future Energy Hour Recap: Rebecca Logan, Alaska Support Industry Alliance

December 16, 2020

As election results continue to be disputed on a federal level, this week’s Power The Future Energy Hour, hosted by Alaska State Director Rick Whitbeck, began to break down the changes Alaska could see with an administration change in January.

After an opening segment where he shared his thoughts on a 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that impacted Hilcorp’s Liberty project, he spoke with Daniel Turner, Power The Future’s founder and Executive Director, in segment two.  They discussed the hypocrisy of the eco-Left as it relates to moving to “green” energy without using domestic mined materials.  Daniel also noted that the reliance on China and other countries would impact US manufacturing and support jobs; all designed to weaken the US under a Democrat-led government.

Rebecca Logan, the President and CEO of the Alaska Support Industry Alliance and a frequent guest, joined for the last half-hour.

Rebecca shared her thoughts on a Biden administration and his plans to transition in the energy world.  She answered a question from Rick regarding the eco-left forgetting the importance of mining to that plan with an amazing answer:

“The biggest thing they forget is that they need money, and when you look at the kind of money that comes into the federal government, and the potential over the next ten years as people talk about what the bridge to clean energy is…oil and gas is where the money comes from…the amount of money that comes from oil and gas cannot be ignored, and so you have to have money to do what you want to do…even what Biden is looking to do, you have to have money to subsidize the renewable energy, because it just isn’t market-friendly.  And if you don’t do that, then the costs for the consumer are outrageous.”

The need for mining was driven home by Rebecca, when she said, “As Senator Murkowski likes to say, ‘You’ve got to dig holes’ for mining.  Everything you want to do with your clean energy future requires mining. We’re going to have significant mining in America, and in Alaska.”

Rick and Rebecca talked about the Alliance’s daily newsletter and blog, AKHeadlamp.  Started in 2015, it reaches over 30,000 people some days, it grabs headlines on oil, gas, mining and politics, in addition to a new topic this year: climate change.  Rebecca noted the new topic, saying, “We can let people like AOC control the messaging and conversation, or those of us who are free-market people, who want to see markets not mandates, try to take control of that messaging.”

The remainder of the time Rebecca was on the show focused on how the Biden administration will change how resource development projects are studied and permitted, as well as how the Alliance will be continuing to advocate for Alaska’s energy workers.  The conversation was amazing, and we thank Rebecca for always being willing to take time out of her busy schedule to join us on the Energy Hour.

If you missed this week’s show live, you can still catch it – as well as every episode from the past 22 months – on Power the Future’s Soundcloud.

The Energy Hour can be heard live every Tuesday night from 5:00-6:00 PM local time 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 and political communities.  Feel free to reach out to Rick@PowerTheFuture.com with show ideas or feedback!