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Biden Administration Put ‘Environmentalists First.’ Alaska Governor Details Big Changes in His State Under Trump

Gov. Mike Dunleavy, R-Alaska. (Kevin Dietsch via Getty Images)

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Virginia Allen is a senior news producer for The Daily Signal and host of "The Daily Signal Podcast" and "Problematic Women." Send an email to Virginia.

MIAMI—The Biden administration was “violently determined” to block the development and extraction of resources in Alaska, but that has changed since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, according to Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

“Trump is all about opportunity. In other words, no limits, giving Alaska the opportunity to develop its resources, build things, market things, exactly the way it was supposed to be,” the Alaska Republican governor said.

“Under [President Joe Biden], it was the opposite. They were violently determined not to allow anything to happen in Alaska.”

“They put the environmentalists first, not the people or the needs of the state or country first,” Dunleavy said of the Biden administration, while talking with The Daily Signal at the Miami Security Forum.

Biden’s office did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment.

Alaska: Resource Rich

Alaska was the only state to receive its own executive order on Trump’s first day back in the White House. The order, titled “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential,” again made it the policy of the United States to “fully avail itself of Alaska’s vast lands and resources,” including Alaska’s liquefied natural gas.

Trump’s order “means hope” for Alaska because it compels the federal government to take full advantage of the state’s natural resources, from timber to mining, thus increasing investment in Alaska, the governor explained.

Trump’s executive order to further develop Alaskan oil resources is significant following the conflict with Iran that has rocked global oil markets. Iran threatens ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping lane.

Japan, for example, imports about 90% of its oil from the Persian Gulf. It takes, under normal circumstances, about 20 days for an oil shipment to reach Japan from the Middle East, but it would take just eight days for an oil shipment to reach Japan from Alaska, Dunleavy explained.

In addition to holding a wealth of natural resources, Alaska is also a critical U.S. national security asset due to its proximity to Russia and its location in the Arctic.

Both Russia and China demonstrate a keen interest in the Arctic. Russia, in particular, is extracting the region’s natural resources for economic purposes and asserting military dominance there.

In just the past 10 years in the Arctic, Russia has “revitalized Soviet-era bases, deployed missile defense systems, invested in domain awareness capabilities, increased aerial and maritime patrols, and stepped up its exercise schedule,” according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

While Russia has about 40 icebreakers, special ships that can navigate the Arctic’s icy waters, the U.S. has had only two, one of which never fully worked, according to Dunleavy. However, the Big Beautiful Bill, which Trump signed last year, included funding to procure an estimated 17 new icebreakers.

The new icebreakers “will position us as a year-round Arctic nation where we have icebreaking going on, we have shipping going on,” Dunleavy said, calling the investment “very, very important.”

While “a lot of administrations have fallen asleep regarding Alaska,” Dunleavy said, referring to the state’s natural resources and key security location, “the Trump administration has not.”

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