Senator Dan Sullivan: The Alaska Energy Comeback and America’s Path to Energy Dominance

in American history.

“NPRA has now, David, become probably the hottest”

only gas basin in the world, right? All these big energy companies came back. And at the same time, we did these things called Congressional Review Act resolutions that are laws that President Trump signed.

And what they are is they rip out all the previous regulations by Biden to lock up our state. And what that does, when you rip out those regulations, President signs that rescinding of rags in the law, it makes it so the federal agencies can't go in

and re-regulate that area. So now we have certainty for years, for now decades, to energy companies saying, hey, come back to Alaska. We know Biden tried to drive you out. Americans are capable of achieving extraordinary things

when they have the freedom and opportunity to do so. This is American potential. >> Everyone, welcome to the American potential podcast. I'm your host, David From. You know, when most people think of Alaska, they picture,

you know, snow covered mountains, moose, grizzly bear, maybe the northern lights, but, you know,

what not everybody always realizes is that Alaska is one

of the most energy rich places in America and the world. Today, we're going to talk about energy with, I guess, that we've had about four Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan. He served as a assistant secretary of state, for economic, energy and business affairs,

and before that ran Alaska's department of natural resources. So he knows the thing or two about natural resources and energy. He's also been Alaska's attorney general. And since 2015, he's represented Alaska in the U.S. Senate.

And before all of this, Senator Sullivan spent 30 years serving our nation in the United States Marine Corps. So I want to welcome back to the podcast, Alaska's U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan. >> Senator, welcome.

>> David, thank you. Thanks very much and great to be back on the show. >> Awesome. Well, thanks. Well, we just got some before we came on. You know, I've just loved Alaska.

I've had the opportunity to do a lot of work there and spend a bunch of time up there. And it's just, everyone knows it's a magical place or a mysterious to them, but you know, I'm sure everybody asks you about being from Alaska and representing Alaska.

Like, what do you tell them about your home state? >> Well, look, I just say it's the greatest state in the greatest country in the world, right?

“And I believe that there's so many magical things about Alaska.”

You know, I fell in love with Alaska. When I fell in love with a beautiful Alaska native woman, my wife, Julie, we got married in Fairbanks. Coming up on 32 years. >> Congratulations.

>> It was, thank you very much. So, but it's kind of what you just described. It's so, it's such a great state that kind of looms large on the imagination of the American people. The last frontier, the size, the beauty, the majesty.

But it's also a place, not only with incredible people, and I mean incredible people, I'm so honored to represent them.

But with huge assets that are absolutely critical

to the United States of America, we're going to talk about energy. We're going to talk about critical resources, but also location in our military. One thing is I'm very proud of David and my Senate career. You know, you mentioned my 30 years in the Marines,

and we can talk about how I got involved in the Marine Corps, I love the Marine Corps, retired two years ago, after 30 years on active duty and the reserve.

“But how strategically important Alaska is for America, right?”

And we've had a huge military buildup, Coast Guard buildup that's continuing right now that I've led in the Senate, but you know the father of the US Air Force, Billy Mitchell. - In testimony in the 1930s to the Senate Armed Services Committee,

called Alaska the most strategic place on the planet, and said that whoever controlled Alaska, which fortunately the United States of America does would be able to dominate the world. So it's not only beautiful and a great place for hunting and fishing

and incredible wildlife, but it's one of the most important states

for the entire United States, and it's really privileged to serve as a US Senator. - Well, you know, I've been blessed to be able to spend some time there, and some of the people closest to me are Alaska, and it is a group of great and very unique people.

I wanna go to your service in the Marine Corps,

and the military and strategic importance,

and then talk a little more about energy

“because energy is such a crucial issue for Alaska”

and for the nation, and you've been a real leader on that. So, you know, 30 years in the Marine Corps, and tell me about, like, as a veteran, you know, some of the things that you've observed and done with regard to the veteran community,

and I'm giving you, I got a little plug to give. We are starting, we are sending up our, a partner organization of ours at Merit's Prosperity called Concern Veterans for America, and they arrived today, in fact, in Alaska,

and we'll be there for the future to try to talk to the veteran community, and hopefully help veterans and talk about national security and America's interests. So, tell me about the veteran's community

and how you see them interacting with our government. - Well, look, I mean, I've got to mention, it's a really important part of Alaska's heritage, Alaska's culture, because we're so strategic,

it's, and because we have a big military presence that we're building up now, and I can get into that, we are the state with more veterans per capita than any state in the country. So, as you know, 'cause you've spent a lot of time

in Alaska, it's a very patriotic state, you know, we just had Memorial Day, about a little over a month ago,

and, you know, I always try to get

to different Memorial Day services throughout our state. I was in a big service and anchorage, a big service Memorial Day service and the Matsu Valley, and they're just hundreds of people who come, gold star families,

we know real sacrifice.

“And the only thing I love about our Memorial Day”

of services in Alaska that I'm not sure you see in other places, we bring our kids, right? We bring our young people, we have them listen, we have them listen to the stories of heroism and sacrifice.

So that element, veterans, big military, big military families and patriotism is a huge part of our state and it's something just really proud to be a part of, you know, I serve on the Armed Services Committee so that oversees the active duty and reserve component

of our department of war, but I also serve on the Veterans Affairs Committee. And that's really important as I mentioned for Alaska, you know, you transition. Like I did a couple of years ago from being in the military

to being retired or a civilian, but you're a veteran and taking care of our veterans is a huge part of what I've tried to do as a U.S. senator, both being on the committee, on the Veterans Affairs Committee,

on Armed Services Committee. And so I really appreciate what AFP's been doing in terms of partnering with veterans. It's so important, not just for Alaska, but for all of America.

- Well, you know, unfortunately the, so often the government's fallen short of the promises

“that's made and I think we've been trying to make up ground there”

and make sure, I mean, it's unbelievable that we talk about stories on this podcast all the time of veterans not getting the care that they're a promise or that they need. - Yeah, I think that this president

and some prior Congresses have tried to rectify some of that but we still got a long way to go, so I appreciate the work that you can do in there. - Yeah, it's hugely important and you know, what you just said, it's getting the veterans

and I always say this to veterans, right?

In Alaska, it's getting the veterans, the benefits that they have earned, they have earned. And some of them, you know, the real hard way, right? You got combat vets with wounds and war wounds and you know, so a big part of my job

and I got a great team about combing Alaska, a really good team is getting out to the veteran community and saying, hey, guys, if there's a problem, you have with the VA, don't try to take them on at the big bureaucracy, call my office

and let us kick in the door and get you the benefits that you have earned. And so that's a big part of my job as a senator. It's not just legislating and things like that. It's doing the case work for veterans and other

Alaska's who need help with their federal government and it's really an honor to serve them. So how did you go from being in the Marine Corps to getting involved in public policy and eventually elected office?

What was that journey like? Well, you know, my journey in the Marine Corps was a little bit, it was a little bit interesting. I come from a big, big family, big Irish Catholic family, my dad served in the Navy.

I had five uncles and great uncles serve in World War II so it was a very proud tradition in my family.

When I went to undergrad, I went to Harvard which was a very anti-military place.

“I thought about joining the military when I was there.”

I didn't, you know, that place wasn't really an institution that encouraged that and then I was at Georgetown and the Gulf War, the first Gulf War happened in 1990. And you know, I went down to the Marine Corps, Osso, the officer selection office

and I said, and I was going to grad school and I said, I wanna join. I wanna sign up, I wanna be an infantry officer and I wanna go fight in the Gulf War. And this is in the fall of 1990.

Kind of let my dad in on it. My girlfriend who's not my wife of 32 years of my wife Julie, incredible woman was very supportive. But my father who was also supportive, he gave me probably some of the best advice I'd ever received.

He said, hey, son, you know, as a Navy vet, I appreciate what you're doing. I respect what you're doing. But you're gonna miss this war.

“My father predicted this, this is in the fall of 1990.”

He said, this war is gonna be over a hundred hours. And you're not gonna be able to fight in it

and then you're never gonna go back to grad school

and finish Georgetown. So my strong advice is, don't join now. If you're still motivated when you finish school, then join. And so that's what I did. And so I got out, joined as an infantry officer,

reconnaissance officer, and you know, like a lot of Marines, I was on active duty and reserves over 30 years, played all over the world. And, you know, retired just two years ago as a full bird colonel.

So I love the Marine Corps, you know, I'm Alaska's 8th U.S. Senator. That's where a young state, right? We've only had eight United States. - That is the incredible.

- In our history. But with the exception of husband and father, the proudest title I've ever had is United States Marine. And that's, that will, I will take that to my grave.

So, so I've always really cared about these issues

in terms of national security and I will tell you, as a Marine has spent a lot of time in the Marine Corps, it's really helped me in my Senate job, right? Because, you know, you can question the admirals and generals in hearings and stuff,

but I was able to stay in the reserves through even a good portion of my Senate career. In some pretty good billets that were important billets in the Marine Corps, that I was also able to, you know, call BS on some of the admirals in generals

when they are kind of test-fine from the Armed Services Committee. So, gave me a lot of insights,

“and I think it really helped my day job,”

which was a nice state senator. And these are issues I care deeply about, not just for Alaska, but for America, strong military, strong national defense, and a lethal military.

And, you know, certain administrations, the Biden administration in particular,

weren't always focused on lethality for our warfighters.

- Well, you talked about national security and another important national security issue that I hear very aware is resource development and energy. - Yeah, Alaska is one of the great places in America for this.

And there's just a diversity of resource development. What are the different types of energy produced in Alaska? - Well, it's a great question, right? I mean, we obviously have one of the biggest bases in the world in terms of the north slope of Alaska

in terms of oil and gas. We're having this huge Renaissance, what I call the Alaska comeback in terms of what's going on on the north slope. And it's huge, huge oil and natural gas reserves

on the north slope, some of the biggest in the world. But it's also critical minerals. It's also other forms of energy. It's also timber. It's also, believe it or not, water.

I mean, we just have so many resources that we need to use for Alaska's benefit. But also for America's benefit, you mentioned, I was previously the commissioner and charge of natural resources and energy for Alaska,

which was a great job. But when people ask me, David, hey, what are you coming back from? As I talk about this comeback? Well, hey, this is a huge difference

between the parties. And I have this chart that I've hung held out for about four years now. This was called the last frontier lockup, okay?

It was the 70, 70 zero executive orders that Biden issued during his four years in office that was exclusively and singularly focused on shutting down Alaska. This wasn't like an executive order

by the Biden EPA that hurt Wyoming and West Virginia. 70 that they issued to crush our state, killed thousands of jobs.

“And then when Schumer was the majority later, right?”

We called this the Schumer shutdown. This guy, hundreds and hundreds of votes in his career, focusing on shutting down Alaska.

So the bottom line and this is elections

have consequences for the energy sector of America, for the resource development sector of America, but especially for Alaska, 'cause a core tenant of the Democratic Party on the left wing of the party,

which is where all the energy is, as you know, is when they get power, one of the things that they insist that their elected officials do is go crush the state of Alaska and kill thousands of jobs.

So we have a comeback from that, because that was really hurting our state when Biden was an office, when Schumer was the Senate majority later. And now I will tell you David,

there are all kinds of things happening

in our great state that are unleashing

“Alaska's extraordinary resource potential.”

That's great for my constituents, but it's great for America. You know what, the comeback. And it's not a, not by accident, come back happen because of leadership.

You guys are the, you are leadership for Alaska, President Trump's leadership, you know, the administration. - President Trump loves helping Alaska. - Oh, he just, he is constantly trying to help our economy

and move the economy forward and yeah, it's leadership. - Well, and you know, President, and Doug Bergman, others need partnership and the U.S. Senate to need leaders, you step forward and, and tell,

you know, recognize the need for resource development

and for us to be energy abundant and independent. You know, what are some of the things that you've done and that you're looking to do that help continue to grow energy abundance and especially for Alaska?

- Well, look, the biggest thing we've done is what was the, what we passed last year. We're almost coming on the one year in a university of the Working Families Tax Cuts Act. And that has so many good things in it for Alaska

across so many different areas, the military, the Coast Guard, working families, aviation safety. I mean, it's just historic wins that I quit calling it the Working Families Tax Cuts Act.

I actually call it the Alaska Opportunity Act because there is so much in that bill for the great state of Alaska. So when that bill passed, you might remember the president says,

hey, one of the things this bill is really gonna do, it's gonna unleash American energy. Well, President was right, but one of the biggest areas in terms of American energy was Alaska. So there's our whole host of provisions

in that bill, statutory provisions that help our state. Let me give you a couple examples. In Alaska, we have this area up here. That's called the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska NPRA. All right, if you can see that.

Biden issued several executive orders to try and crush NPRA NPRA stands for the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska. Set aside by Congress to go drill because there's so much oil and gas potential.

We ripped out those Biden regs and we got mandatory lease sales in the NPRA. That doesn't look very big. That section right there. That's about as big as Indiana.

Oh, wow. So is a big part of Alaska, right? That's how giant our state was. I mean, you have to try to get somebody that every globe, every map totally shorts Alaska

in terms of the actual, I mean, you can't like, the North Slope up here, the whole North Slope or all the oil and gas is, that's about almost the size of Montana, right? In Montana, it's a really big state,

but it's not that relative to Alaska. So NPRA, we got 10 years of mandatory lease sales where we're telling the federal government,

“hey, we don't care whoever the hex and power, right?”

Even if it's a Democrat, they have to go put out lease sales for NPRA for the next 10 years. We did the same brand war, right? That's another federal area with a ton of oil and gas.

in Alaska called Cookin' Let. That's another oil and gas area of our state.

So we said, first of all, federal government,

“you have to hold these mandatory lease sales.”

And by the way, the first one we held for NPRA was the biggest in American history. NPRA has now David become probably the hottest oil in the gas basin in the world, right? All these big energy companies came back.

And at the same time, we did these things called congressional review act resolutions that are laws that President Trump signed. And what they are is they rip out all the previous regulations by Biden to lock up our state.

And what that does, when you rip out those regulations, the president signs that rescinding of regs in the law, it makes it so the federal agencies can't go in

and re-regulate that area.

So now we have certainty for years, for now decades, to energy companies say, and hey, come back to Alaska. We know Biden tried to drive you out. We know, we know Schumer tried to drive you out. And you have certainty long-term certainty

to invest in our state.

“And that's why we're seeing this giant renaissance”

in terms of investment, oil production. And by the way, Democrats were against all of the Schumer Biden. They didn't vote for any of it. But this renaissance, this comeback is happening.

It's going to mean hundreds of thousands of barrels through the Trans-Alasca pipeline. It's going to mean thousands of new jobs. I was just on the north slope of Alaska with Doug Bergham, our great Secretary of Interior.

We're at a place called Pickah,

which had a brand new new oil, first oil event, 80,000 barrels.

Going down the Trans-Alasca pipeline that just started, it was great to be there for that first oil. And we're at another development called the Willow Project, which has a huge build up 3,000 workers, David building that. And that's going to be close to 200,000 barrels a day.

These are massive projects. And it benefits Alaska, but this benefits America and makes our country much stronger. Well, you know, the Alaska, the whole state revenue, I need to tell you, is dependent upon oil.

Yeah, it's-- Oh, yeah. So you know, to fund the government,

“and I think it's an amazing place where the numbers”

you're talking about are huge. It's lost to most people, but it's huge. And the fact that we were just sitting on that and not developing it out of a political agenda in the previous administration is just a crime.

I had it. Well, I'll mention one of the working family's tax attacks from the, I call the Alaska Opportunity Act, is to that issue of revenues, and this helps my state a lot. By 2034, these are all areas of federal lands

that we, in the law, mandate lease sales. But by 2034, the split of the revenues go into Alaska, vice the Fed is going to change dramatically. It's going to be about a 70% split to the state. A versus 30% to the Fed's.

We've been trying to get this done in Alaska for decades. Right now, the split in a lot of those federal basins is either 50, 50, or actually 70, 30 favoring the federal government. So again, this is going to be more revenues

for the people I represent. And I was proud to work hard to get that in this bill. That's a big deal. They really is. I know Alaskaans are proud of their natural resources

or to be fish, timber, energy, oil, and gas. And it belongs to the people. And I think be the constitution, right? So it belongs to the people in one final point. We're proud of our resources.

But we're also proud of the way in which we develop these. We have the highest standards on the environment, on development in the world. So if you're producing energy in Alaska, you're using the great American worker.

You're producing revenues for our great nation. And you have the highest environmental standards on the planet Earth. That was one of the reasons I literally brought this chart when it was about 50 executive orders

into an oval office meeting with Joe Biden. And I said, Mr. President, what are you doing? Why are you shutting down my state? Why are you killing all the jobs in Alaska?

on the planet Earth. We need American energy.

“You're sanctioning Alaska more than you sanction Iran”

in Venezuela, in their terrorist states. And my citizens are Americans. He was clueless, he didn't have an idea. But all of these reasons are reasons why the Alaska come back matters to my constituents,

but it really helps the whole country. - Well, it's an absolute true. Just as we as you wind down, what are some things that you'd like to see happen going forward? - Well, look, one of the things we're working on right now,

and I will tell you the president and his team have been fantastic on this. It's a project that I have been working on way before I was a U.S. senator. It's the giant Alaska LNG project.

Now, again, on the north slope, the estimate, if you can believe this, about 230 trillion cubic feet of gas. Conventional gas on the north slope.

“That is one of the biggest natural gas reserves”

on the planet Earth. That gas has been stranded, again, up here on the north slope for decades, right? And what we've been trying to do for decades is build a pipeline in an LNG facility,

near Anchorage, near Cookin that can transform that gas to Alaska's and our military. So we would have 50 to 100 years supply of clean burning low-cost energy, which will really transform our state.

In the next sport, that LNG to our allies in Asia. You know, it's a six-day cargo shipment from Anchorage or Cookin to Tokyo. Alaska was the first place to export LNG anywhere in the world, our original oil and gas space.

And right here, Cookin-lit, we started exporting LNG to the Japanese in the late 1960s. We had a perfect record 50 years

of never missing an cargo shipment.

That Cookin-lit basin near Anchorage is starting to run out. But now we have this giant LNG project. The president, his cabinet, have been pressing this, have been fully behind it. We got to get this done.

This will be a game changer, of course, for Alaska. It will completely revolutionize our state. By the way, 20,000 workers would be estimated to build that project. It would be the biggest LNG project in America.

But it'll transform our national security and energy security with our Asian allies in a huge way. It'll strengthen them. It'll deepen our ties to Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and it will be great for the United States of America.

So we are working hard on that. The working family's tax cuts act had provisions. It helps advance that project as well. So that to me, David, is the next really big thing for Alaska. And really big thing for America.

Yeah, I know that's been a big part of the news up there. And I hope they get that done. It is really crucial. So as we close out, I don't want to step back a little bit. What would you tell people is the biggest reason

to be optimistic about Alaska going forward? Well, first, I would say the people.

We have incredible people, resilient, tough, hardworking people.

As I mentioned, some of the most patriotic people in the country were so many veterans, but when you live in Alaska,

“you got to have a little bit of a toughness, right?”

A little bit of resiliency, and we have that. So that's the number one reason I'm optimistic. The people I'm honored to represent in the U.S. Senate. I know them, and I know how hard they work, and they have a sense of toughness, but optimism.

But also this whole idea of the comeback, right? We are on the verge of getting things done in our state that we've been trying to get done for decades. And it's not just in the oil and gas sector, with regard to reversing the decline of oil going down

the trans-Lasca pipeline, we're not turning that around. It's getting back to what I tried to set as a goal when I was the commissioner in natural resources in Alaska

about a million barrels a day of production.

We're heading in that direction now because of the policies that we've been discussing today in that's exciting. The Alaska LNG project is hugely exciting. But the other thing that is happening right now

'cause there's so patriotic is this historic buildup

“of our military that we're having right now.”

Just last week, David, the Coast Guard, a commentant, Mark Wayne Mullen, our great Secretary Homeland Security, and I, we announced four icebreakers being home-ported in Alaska. We're finally building icebreakers.

We're gonna home-port them in our state.

Believe it or not, Alaska has never had a icebreaker home-ported

in our state. The state, what the ice? - Yeah, it does actually never have a icebreaker. We're changing that. - The president's budget, the Air Force's budget,

just put forward a seven billion dollar recapillization of our big Air Force based near Anchorage, called J.B. or Joint Base Elementor Fritzerson. That's gonna make that probably the most strategic Air Force base in the world.

So these are all things that are happening,

but they're gonna take Alaska's to build them.

That J.B. or recapillization, I just mentioned, 4000 private sector jobs, good union jobs, to build out our military. So there's a ton going on in our great state, and it's exciting, and it's gonna benefit Alaska's.

But my theme here is when Alaska's strong, when we're benefit, when things benefit us, it benefits America, and these are a couple great examples of all of these things. - All very true.

“I will add one thing that I think you're probably”

very excited about, and that I'm excited about,

and all you're interested about is summer in Alaska. 'Cause summer in Alaska's magical. Not summer in Alaska, but it can be difficult, but it is the wonderful time of year. (laughs)

- Well, I love all time. I mean, we had a very, very cold winter. That doesn't make news, but man, it was cold throughout a lot of parts of our state. I love all the seasons.

I love the winter. I will tell you that. But you're right. Summer's magical. There is a sense of energy when the sun is up

for a good portion of the whole day. You feel it, it's magical, and there's a dynamism to that that we love in Alaska. - Well, Senator, I appreciate your joining us. I appreciate your leadership in Alaska.

I've come to love that state, and I hope to see you up there at some point. - Good David, thanks. I'll see you back home soon. - Thanks.

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“But all of you remember, liberty and freedom are easily taken for granted.”

Don't take them for granted. Go out there to spend freedom and liberty. Thanks for joining us, and we'll see you on the next episode. - Thank you for listening to American Potential. You may listen to more stories from Americans

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