The Anchorage headquarters of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, shares space with a sister agency, the Alaska Energy Authority. (Photo by Nathaniel Herz)
Alaska’s state-owned development corporation is advancing plans to explore for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and to build a 300-mile road to a mining district in Northwest Alaska.
The board of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority voted unanimously Thursday to spend up to $750,000 on outside legal help related to both projects.
The Biden administration rejected the proposed Ambler Road earlier this year, a decision that AIDEA is challenging in court. AIDEA is also challenging the administration’s decision to cancel the results of a 2020 oil lease sale in ANWR and is preparing for a new sale to be held later this year.
AIDEA Executive Director Randy Ruaro noted that the results of the November election, sending former President Donald Trump back to the White House, may change the federal government’s policies on both projects, but until that change occurs, the corporation needs to prepare.