What could Donald Trump’s re-election mean for climate protection in the Arctic?
That was a central question to U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski at the Arctic Circle Assembly, which took place in Reykjavík, Iceland, in October 2024.
“Should we expect changes in the Arctic engagement and Arctic policy of the United States, depending on who wins the election?” asked Assembly chairman H.E. Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson. He was also president of Iceland from 1996-2016.
Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, suggested in her reply that, at least at the U.S. Capitol, the intent was to continue business as usual on Jan. 20 regardless of the election outcome.
“Part of what I have been trying to do working with colleagues in the Congress is to make sure that our policies as they relate to the Arctic are not dependent on who occupies the White House, but that they are actually embedded into what we do and how we approach this extraordinary region,” she said.
“It should not be whether or not the president likes or does not like Alaska, but recognizing the significance of this region to not only the United States, but also where we sit in that leadership role globally.”
U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Arctic Affairs Mike Sfraga, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, and Assembly chairman H.E. Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson answer questions in a panel at the Arctic Circle Assembly in Iceland on Oct. 17, 2024. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
Murkowski was less certain about how U.S. climate policy would evolve within the executive branch.
“I think I would be less than honest with you and those that are here that if you have a second Trump administration, his views on climate are very, very different than what we saw in a Biden-Harris administration,” Murkowski said.
Grímsson addressed his question to Murkowski and U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Arctic Affairs Mike Sfraga at the Oct. 17 opening session of the Arctic Circle Assembly.
Alaska’s senior senator had just delivered a speech titled, “The U.S. and The Arctic: Where Are We Heading?”
As of Monday, the answer — in the eyes of many climate advocates — is nowhere good.
Shortly after being sworn in for his second term, President Trump signed an executive order to reverse Biden Administration orders restricting the exploration of oil and gas in Alaska. Trump also ordered the withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord, making the U.S. one of four out of nearly 200 countries not participating in efforts to reduce global warming. Last year was the first to breach the 1.5-degree Celsius limit the countries agreed to avoid under the 2015 climate agreement.
A Trump executive order also lifted the restriction of drilling in the Arctic Ocean, which President Joe Biden put into place in 2023 when he approved the Willow oil development project. Biden’s approval of the Willow project drew backlash from environmental groups.
“We will drill, baby, drill,” Trump said in his second inaugural address on Monday, pointing to a “national energy emergency,” despite the U.S. currently producing more oil than any country in history, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Trump on Monday also signed an executive order to overturn a limit on oil and natural gas leasing in the Bering Sea, which Biden signed on Jan. 6 as part of a broader drilling moratorium. Because the former president used the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act for the ban, it would likely require an act of Congress to change.
Trump’s executive orders received predictable responses from conservation-minded groups and officials.
“I’m disgusted but not surprised that Trump just directed the federal government to do everything in its power to plunder Alaska, which would turn our country’s last truly vast, intact wildlands into garbage dumps,” Cooper Freeman, Alaska director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a prepared statement. “Alaska’s remarkable public lands have some of the planet’s most robust salmon runs, caribou herds and old-growth forests remaining. These ecosystems are far more valuable whole than pillaged for oil and gas development, mining, and clear-cutting. We aren’t afraid to take on Trump and his bravado and we’ll be fighting to keep Alaska great every step of the way.”
A view of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, from the northern Brooks Range. The rocks in the background produce oil on the North Slope. (Dave Houseknecht, U.S. Geological Survey)
A press release by Earthjustice, while also denouncing the executive orders, noted many of the provisions don’t take effect immediately and could end up facing legal challenges that take years to resolve.
“While the Trump administration’s plans were made clear in the orders, it’s important to note that the vast bulk of the actions cannot be made unilaterally by the President without cooperation from government agencies, Congress, or other authorities,” the release notes. “And many of these actions will include a public process in which Alaskans, and all Americans, will be able to voice their opinions.”
Gov. Mike Dunleavy congratulated Trump on his inauguration. In a prepared statement, the governor declared, “On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order recognizing Alaska as a true energy warehouse, paving the way for unprecedented opportunities in resource development and energy independence.”
In a letter to Trump last month, Dunleavy asked for the ability to expand Alaska’s oil and gas development, including the reversal of more than 60 sanctions the Biden administration imposed on Alaska, calling their impacts “devastating.” The report detailed both immediate and long-term action, such as additional access to state land.
Murkowski was among the Alaska officials offering strong support for Trump’s energy-related executive orders, despite her efforts at the Arctic Circle Assembly to quell environmental concerns with Trump’s election. On Monday, she joined the state’s all-Republican congressional delegation in a press release publicizing Trump’s actions to promote Alaska resource development.
“The policies laid out in this Executive Order will improve our economy, our budget, and our quality of life while simultaneously making energy more affordable and enhancing national security,” she said in a prepared statement. “Alaska is the blue chip in the United States’ energy portfolio, and I thank President Trump for helping us capitalize on our resources.”
U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich also welcomed the executive order, calling it “an immediate end to the assault on Alaska’s sovereignty and its ability to responsibly develop [its] resources for the benefit of the Nation.”
“President Trump’s sweeping executive order, and the work we will do with his administration over the next four years, will put Alaskans back in the driver’s seat of our state’s destiny, advancing critical resource development projects and unleashing economic opportunities for the benefit of our hard-working families and the security of the entire nation,” Sullivan said. “I want to thank President Trump for recognizing Alaska as the great strategic asset for our country that it is and for standing up for working Alaskans.”
Rep. Begich said, “On day one, President Trump showed the American people they have a leader in the White House who will usher in a new era of economic renewal and energy dominance with an executive order aimed at unleashing American energy. Under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump, Alaska will be empowered to fully harness its vast energy and mineral resources, spearhead economic renewal, and solidify our position as an energy powerhouse.”
• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz.garrett@juneauempire.com or (907) 723-9356.
