Sullivan spoke to a joint session of the Legislature, the first since the beginning of the pandemic. Gov. Mike Dunleavy gave his State of the State address virtually in late January and Sen. Lisa Murkowksi, R-Alaska, met with lawmakers but did not address the body as a whole.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Alaska’s way of life is under attack by the Biden administration, Sullivan said, and the administration’s environmental policies would cost hundreds of jobs in Alaska, particularly in the energy sector. But state resources could help make the U.S. more independent in its supply chains which had become too dependent on foreign countries, particularly China.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Throughout his speech, Sullivan warned that Biden’s aggressive environmental agenda would force jobs abroad, particularly to China which is expanding politically and militarily. China has some of the worst environmental policies in the world, he said, and uses Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region as slave labor.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
![\"From](\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/25039835_web1_SULLIVAN-JUE-210504-Extra_1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\n\t\t\t\tBut the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted America’s dependence of foreign countries for many resources, Sullivan said in a news conference with reporters following his <\/a>speech<\/a>. That caused an awakening among many of his colleagues in Washington, he said, and there was increased bipartisan interest in the security of U.S. supply chains.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t [Could rare earth minerals be Alaska’s edge?<\/a>]<\/ins><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t “The more we highlight that, the more I think American companies are going to come home,” Sullivan said in the news conference. “But I also think there’s an appetite in the Congress to incentivize that transformation to come back home, in a whole host of ways, and I think that’s a great bipartisan opportunity that could really benefit Alaskans.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t How to attract companies that have moved operations abroad back to the U.S. is an important question, Sullivan said, but he’s seen increased interest in the issue on both sides of the aisle. The private sector in America was becoming increasingly wary of working with China, Sullivan said, and have begun to reconsider supply chains.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t “I think it’s starting to happen all over, I can’t give you an example of specific companies, but I know because I’ve cared about this issue for a long time, the (urge) for a bipartisan approach to making this happen with regard to supply chains is clearly shifted and is clearly happening,” he said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t In a handout provided to <\/a>lawmakers<\/a>, Sullivan laid out policy proposals he said were a more worker-oriented energy plan than the proposals put forth by the Biden administration. Sullivan’s proposals call for expanding the use of liquid natural gas, which the U.S. could export to other nations, as well as investments in infrastructure for resource projects.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t One of the policy areas highlight on the handout and mentioned by Sullivan is the permitting process for resource projects in America. The National Environmental Policy Act needs to be reformed to ensure environmental reviews are not used to unnecessarily delay projects, the handout says. That act was reformed by the Trump administration, which rolled back many of its environmental regulations. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t