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- [00:07]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
One thing that this point to is a concern we've raised from the very beginning about the agency rushing to permit this project.
- [00:14]
Casey Grove
Environmental groups weigh in after a massive drill rig toppled over on the North Slope. From Alaska Public Media, this is statewide news on Alaska News nightly for Monday, January 26th. Good evening. I'm Casey Grove. Also tonight, a Fairbanks college student's protest against AI Art lands him in jail.
- [00:32]
Lizzie Hahn
And was tearing them up and putting them in his mouth, chewing them, swallowing some bits, but spitting some bits out.
- [00:40]
Casey Grove
Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Night Leap. Governor Mike Dunleavy introduced a series of bills on Friday and today that he says would stabilize the state's finances. The most prominent pieces of Dunleavy's plan are a statewide sales tax and a new formula for permanent fund dividends. Here's Dunleavy pitching the plan during his State of the State speech on Thursday before the details became public.
- [01:07]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
I want to stop our fights over the PFE and the permanent fund, and I want to minimize arguments over how much we're going to spend each year and how we're going to control the growth of government.
- [01:17]
Casey Grove
The governor did not take questions on the plan. His press office declined requests to interview members of his administration and did not respond to questions sent by email this afternoon. The sales tax would be set at 4% from April through September and 2% for the remainder of the year. Dunleavy is pitching the tax as temporary. As written, it would expire in 2034. The new dividend formula would split the state's annual permanent fund drawdown 5050 between state services and dividends. If the 5050 formula were in effect this year, next year's PFD would cost the state roughly $2 billion and provide each eligible Alaskan with about $3,200. That would require an amendment to the state constitution. The bill would also seek to extract additional revenue from the North Slope's oil and gas industry by raising the minimum tax companies must pay on each barrel of oil for as many as five years. Democratic Senator Bill Wielikowski of Anchorage says he has reservations about the plan. He says he'd rather the state lean more heavily on the oil industry and outside tech billionaires to raise revenue. But he says Dunleavy's proposal will get serious consideration in the Senate.
- [02:26]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
I'm glad the governor put something out.
- [02:30]
Casey Grove
I think it's the basis for discussion. You know, it's hard, hard to pass any of these major bills without the governor actively engaged. And this shows that he's actively engaged. Wielikowski says it's too soon to say if the governor's plans will pass the Senate this year. Leaders in the House have said they're not optimistic Dunleavy's plans will pass this year, which is his last as governor. The oil rig went by the nickname the Beast, but right now it looks like a fallen giant. A 165 foot tower crashed into the frozen ground on the North Slope about six and a half miles from New Exet. The rig, known as Doyon Rig 26, was commissioned in 2016 by ConocoPhillips and built, owned and operated by Doyon Drilling, a subsidiary of Doyon, a regional native corporation based in Fairbanks. As KNBA's Rhonda McBride reports, there are many unknowns for Conoco, Doyon and the surrounding community.
- [03:31]
Rhonda McBride
Rig 26 weighs almost 10 million pounds and was being moved on a gravel road on Friday afternoon when it suddenly toppled over, conoco Phillips said in a statement. No one was seriously hurt. Two workers who were on the rig when it crashed, as well as six responders were taken to nearby clinics, treated and release. The company says there was no damage to community infrastructure with no impact to oil pipelines and fuel deliveries. The Department of Environmental Conservation says that the rig had a capacity for 8,400 gallons of diesel on board, but DEC says it has been unable to get close to the wreckage due to worries that metal from Rig 26 might fall on response team members. According to the DEC report, the wreck happened near a tributary to the Colville River. Rosemary Atoona Rohrock is a former New Exit City mayor and a longtime environmental activist who lives in the community. She says the event highlights the longtime worries some have had about development in the area.
- [04:36]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
We're very concerned about what this means to our community and whether or not we're safe in our lands and waters where they're developing.
- [04:46]
Rhonda McBride
Last month, the environmental law organization Earthjustice filed a lawsuit challenging the winter exploration program near New Exit. The lawsuit centers around concerns over how the project will affect subsistence activities and ecological resources, especially near Teshapuk Lake. Ian Dooley is an attorney with Earthjustice. He says the Doyon rig was being moved for the exploration program.
- [05:12]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
One thing that this points to is a concern that we've raised from the very beginning about the agency rushing to permit this project without proper or adequate process, without considering the comments and the concerns that have been raised.
- [05:25]
Rhonda McBride
Dooley says there are also immediate concerns about contamination because the wrecked rig with diesel on board is so close to the colville river tributary. ConocoPhillips says Doyon is in charge of a unified command that is managing the response, but neither company has agreed to an interview about the incident. In 2022, ConocoPhillips and Doyon set a new long distance horizontal record of almost seven miles with Rig 26. Tim Bradner, publisher of the Alaska Economic Report, says both companies were proud of the rig which they designed and built especially for Arctic drilling. Bradner says the module was a huge success story for both companies.
- [06:10]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
It was significant because it was very specialized for the drilling of these long distance extended reach wells and that enabled a lot of undeveloped pockets of oil and reservoirs that were difficult to reach from the surface.
- [06:25]
Rhonda McBride
Neither ConocoPhillips nor Doyon have said what can be salvaged from the wreckage or whether it's a total loss. It is believed to be one of the largest mobile land drilling rigs in North America. Bradner says drill 26 was a huge milestone for Doyon, capping decades of hard work development.
- [06:45]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
Doyon drilling in the late 1980s is a spectacular success story because it was a major entry Alaska Native Corporation into the oil business. Doyon so prominent Alaskan owned drilling company is pretty amazing.
- [06:57]
Rhonda McBride
In a court filing over the pending environmental lawsuit, ConocoPhillips said the accident wouldn't impact its winter drilling plans. It said it would use a substitute drilling rig from doy on in Anchorage, with help from Alona nydin, I'm Rhonda McBride.
- [07:19]
Casey Grove
Still to come in Alaska News Nightly, the Akiak Dash leaves fans mushers breathless.
- [07:24]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
I'm getting too old. I'm only 22, but I feel really old.
- [07:30]
Casey Grove
That's ahead. Stay with us. A University of Alaska Fairbanks student is out on bail after ripping almost 60 images off the walls of a university art gallery and eating them earlier this month. But he wasn't trying to satisfy a peculiar craving. It was an act of protest against AI generated art. The incident has since gone viral, prompting countless social media posts and even reaching national outlets. Lizzie Hahn, an undergraduate journalism student at uaf, broke the story in the Sun Star, a student run publication in Fairbanks. She told the Alaska Desk's Shelby Herbert about how the incident is shaping culture and policy around AI on campus.
- [08:09]
Shelby Herbert
Hey Lizzie, tell me what happened here.
- [08:12]
Lizzie Hahn
A student was tearing images or like Polaroids off of an exhibit in the UAF art gallery and was tearing them up and putting them in his mouth, chewing them, swallowing some bits but spitting some bits out. This was a protest against the use of AI art since this exhibit was made in collaboration between the artist Nick Dwyer and AI like, he used ChatGPT to help him make this.
- [08:39]
Shelby Herbert
So tell me what happened to the.
- [08:41]
Lizzie Hahn
Protester, the person who ate the AI art? His name is Graham Granger. He was arrested by the UAF police and charged with criminal mischief in the fifth degree. And he was taken to the Fairbanks Correctional center, where he was for about six or seven hours, I believe. So he. He's out on bail.
- [09:01]
Shelby Herbert
That was quite a splashy headline. And that story has really sprouted wings since I've had folks texting me from the east coast about it. How does it feel to see your work get so much exposure?
- [09:12]
Lizzie Hahn
It's. It's really insane to me. I am a young journalist here at uaf. I'm a senior, graduating soon, so, like, this is my first to go. Some people have said that it's going viral. It has definitely been picked up by multiple, multiple, multiple news sources. So art news for one brute, America for another one.
- [09:33]
Shelby Herbert
I think I just saw it in the New York Post.
- [09:35]
Lizzie Hahn
Yeah, New York Post. Just so many media sources that have taken the information and my images and spread them to their corners of the world.
- [09:46]
Shelby Herbert
Tell me about where you were when you found out this was going down.
- [09:50]
Lizzie Hahn
That's actually kind of a funny story. I'm in a pottery class, right? So I was walking to pottery, and it's in the fine Arts building. And as I was walking in, I noticed that there was, like, a police car outside of the building. So I walk into class, and then my editor, Collins, starts, like, texting our whole staff slack. And he's like, hey, is anyone in the arts building? There's a student protesting in the gallery. And I was like, oh. So I asked my pottery teacher, like, hey, do you know anything about this? And she's like, yeah, I do. So we walk down there together, and all we see is just this, like, these torn up, chewed up bits of, like, Polaroids laying there on the exhibit floor. The artist was there, Nick Dwyer. And he was like, yeah, someone came and he started chewing up my work.
- [10:38]
Shelby Herbert
And how does the artist feel about all this?
- [10:41]
Lizzie Hahn
He was upset, and rightfully so. Like, this was his MFA exhibit. He had put a lot of time and effort into this. He wanted to press charges, and he had begun to press charges. But then the next day, things had kind of cooled down. He had talked to some of the art professors and had realized that pressing charges maybe wouldn't be the best idea. So then he said that he would revoke those charges.
- [11:03]
Shelby Herbert
So, Lizzie, you're a journalism student and a student reporter, but you also Have a foot in the art world. You're an art miner. Can you tell me about how AI content and tools are being received on campus, especially in the humanities?
- [11:17]
Lizzie Hahn
Yeah. So every teacher has an AI policy. This has been a fairly new development to the syllabi that we are getting. It's gone from teachers saying, you're not allowed to use AI, don't use AI, but in the past year, there's been kind of a shift towards, like, yes, you can use AI, but cite it. And then also in the art community, we're starting to see a little more use of AI, and that has really been because of Nick. Like, Nick is really spearheading the use of AI art. And AI is kind of an interesting mashup because you don't really think of them going together. But Nick has really used AI in his pottery and now in this AI art exhibit. I don't know that many students personally, besides from Nick, who are using AI art, but I think that in the future it totally could change and the use of AI could become more common.
- [12:15]
Shelby Herbert
You're working on part two of the story.
- [12:17]
Lizzie Hahn
Can you give us a little tease.
- [12:19]
Shelby Herbert
About what comes next?
- [12:20]
Lizzie Hahn
Yeah. So kind of looking into what is happening here at uaf, because since this protest has occurred, there has been a lot of uprise. Our student government here on campus has actually proposed a resolution to ban AI art in the department. But also at the same time, the art department is creating a statement about, like, their AI policies. So unsure where that will go, but bright futures ahead.
- [12:50]
Casey Grove
That was University of Alaska Fairbank Sunstar reporter Lizzie Hahn speaking to the Alaska Desk's Shelby Herbert about her recent reporting on AI generated art. The majority owners and would be developers of Alaska's proposed liquefied natural gas pipeline announced last week a spate of new agreements they say move the project's first phase into early development. The news came Thursday, near the end of a busy week for the company, which got special recognition from Governor Mike Dunleavy in his final State of the state address. KDLL's Ashlyn O' Hara reports.
- [13:35]
Ashlyn O'Hara
The Alaska LNG project promises energy stability for a huge swath of Alaskans and international customers. And during his annual address to lawmakers Thursday, Dunleavy teased there may be more at stake. A birthday wish.
- [13:50]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
We were joking around earlier. My daughter's birthday's tomorrow. And I said, you know what her wish is before she blows out the candle tonight? To have a big gas pipeline in Alaska and don't let her down.
- [14:00]
Ashlyn O'Hara
Dunleavy's been loud about his enthusiasm for the gas line megaproject, which he's touted as a once in a lifetime opportunity.
- [14:08]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
This will be the single most transformative project in Alaska since the Trans Alaska Pipeline. More than anything, Alaska LNG is a dream realized, a hope fulfilled just like TAPS before.
- [14:21]
Ashlyn O'Hara
If it's built, the two phase Alaska LNG project would move North Slope Gas to South Central through a roughly 800 mile steel pipeline. From there, some of the gas would be liquefied in Nikiskee and shipped to buyers around the world. Another portion of the gas would be reserved for in state use. Dunleavy's address came hours after Glenfarn Group, the project's majority owner and would be developer, announced it would move the project's first phase to early execution. The announcement described a smattering of new non binding agreements that cover gas supplies and steel. Glenfarn also plans to extend its working relationship with the company that recently finished updating the project's estimated cost. Glenfarn reiterated the new price tag will not be made public even if the state becomes an investor. Here's Glenfarn CEO Brendan Duvall during a press conference.
- [15:11]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
We are a private company and we don't produce that number, but what I can tell you is it's come in in a range where it's financeable and it's sufficiently profitable that we can make the financing work.
- [15:25]
Ashlyn O'Hara
It's been less than a year since Glenfarn assumed majority ownership of the Alaska LNG project. Since then the company's toured the world. Glenn Farnes picked up a handful of non binding gas sales agreements and support from the White House and Alaska's congressional delegation and project leaders briefed Kenai Peninsula residents on local project implications. John Sims says those developments are a big reason why his company wants in on the action. Sims is the President of NStar Natural Gas Company which announced a tentative 30 year agreement to buy gas from Glen Barn on Thursday.
- [15:57]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
There's only one project that's available in the world that can reduce the price of energy for the State of Alaska and that is the pipeline coming down from the North Slope.
- [16:08]
Ashlyn O'Hara
Sims says Instar and Glenfarn have been in talks since late 2024. The two companies are collaborating on a natural gas import facility in Nikiski, which Sims says would help address the utility's immediate energy needs but won't be needed if the pipeline is built. And if that happens, Sim says NStar has bigger goals.
- [16:27]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
We are looking over the long term for the project that we're working on with Glen Pharn to be the sole provider. So that means we would buy all of our gas from them in time.
- [16:39]
Ashlyn O'Hara
Glenbarn still hasn't actually decided whether it will develop the Alaska LNG project initially. The company planned to decide by the end of 2025. Now, Duvall says that decision won't come until at least February. Larry Persely remains skeptical about the project's viability. He's a former state revenue commissioner and used to coordinate the federal agency tasked with advancing an Alaska gas line project. Until Glenn Barnes announces binding contracts, he says, it's hard to get excited about the pipeline's prospects.
- [17:08]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
Similar projects take years to put together. Customers and financing and investors and tax structures and contracts. And werts believe this one's being put together in a matter of months and that they're close to the finish line because there's press releases about conditional, provisional, tentative, possible agreements.
- [17:31]
Ashlyn O'Hara
No, personally, says Glenn Farnes, gone where no company has before by identifying which companies would supply steel. But he says identifying a company and signing a contract with a company are two different things. And he says key logistics associated with starting work remain hazy. Rail cars to move the steel work camps, pipe layers.
- [17:50]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
You can't buy those off the shelf on 30 days notice.
- [17:55]
Ashlyn O'Hara
Glenfarn told lawmakers last year it expects to need around 7,000 workers at peak pipeline construction. Legislative support for the gas line is expected to be a top issue this session. Dunleavy has said he will introduce legislation aimed at alleviating the property tax burden on Glenfarn, though that's met some opposition from local governments, including the Kenai Peninsula Borough. Reporting in Sulvatna, I'm Ashlyn O'. Hara.
- [18:21]
Casey Grove
This year's Kuskokwim 300 sled dog race saw a historic finish as Bethel's Pete Kaiser earned his 10th first place finish in the race, breaking the nine win record held for years by mushing legend Jeff King. KYUK's Evan Erickson has more.
- [18:37]
Evan Erickson
The scene on the Bethel Riverfront on Sunday morning was electric as family, friends and fans cheered the hometown hero across the finish line after a little more than 38 hours on trail.
- [18:47]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
Kind of just reminiscing about the last 20 years and how we got here.
- [18:51]
Evan Erickson
And in this year's race from Bethel to Antioch and back, Kaiser says victory never felt assured.
- [18:56]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
I thought, wow, there's just like seems like there was six or seven different teams that could maybe pull this off if they kept having the run they were having.
- [19:03]
Evan Erickson
Kaiser says his initial expectations of a perfect trail were tempered by challenging snow conditions in the Upper section of the race between Kalskag and Anniac. But he says his 8 year old lead dog Delmer, who has run the Iditarod and K300 at least half a dozen times since he was a pup, was up to the task.
- [19:19]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
Haven't noticed any age with him at all and he's just as good as he ever was.
- [19:25]
Evan Erickson
Second place musher Riley Dyke of Big Lake crossed the K300 finish line a half hour after Kaiser, his second year in a row. Chasing Kaiser down the final stretch of the trail to Bethel. Dyke says he ran basically the same team that he did in the 2025 race, but that he had to fight harder this time around due to trail conditions upriver.
- [19:43]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
It was a soft, deep kind of swimmin and sugar from the moose riding up the trail and that takes a big toll stress wise on a dog team.
- [19:52]
Evan Erickson
Roughly a half hour after Dyke, Akiak veteran musher Mike Williams Jr. Took third place. He says he had been waiting to see how a newly added pair of yearlings and a pair of two year olds would handle their first K300.
- [20:04]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
The dogs poured their hearts out there and they gave me all they had and then some.
- [20:10]
Evan Erickson
It's Williams Jr. S 15th time running the race. He says he decided at the last minute this year to sign up. The extreme weather and extended power outages in Akiak hampered training, but when he saw 17 year old Charlie Chingliak of the nearby village of Akiachuk sign up, Williams Jr. Says he couldn't resist. Another local talent, Bethel, born and raised musher Jessica Kleika, crossed the finish line just six minutes after Williams Jr. To take fourth place. She says snowless trail conditions around Kinik, where she currently mushes, made training extra challenging this year.
- [20:42]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
It like made you wonder if you.
- [20:43]
Shelby Herbert
Wanted to be a musher because you.
- [20:44]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
Were behind them on a four wheeler.
- [20:45]
Lizzie Hahn
Like, but this was worth it.
- [20:49]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
We did it.
- [20:49]
Evan Erickson
There hasn't been a female musher in the top five spots in the K300 since 2002. The 2026 race was marked by mushers who got their required hours of rest out of the way early in the race, packing the field for the return trip to Bethel. The race for first took shape quickly among the dozen or so mushers who left Antioch fully rested and blasted through Kalskag Saturday evening. In the final 50 mile push to Bethel, Kaiser did what he does best, holding on to a commanding lead.
- [21:17]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
Once we're on the home stretch and have a little lead, you know, I think we're hard to beat in that section.
- [21:22]
Evan Erickson
A day before the race, Kaiser said it was still hard to wrap his head around tying mushing legend Jeff King's all time record in 2025.
- [21:30]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
You know, as a kid growing up.
- [21:31]
Evan Erickson
Watching the race and then starting to.
- [21:33]
Casey Grove
Race it myself, I thought Jeff's record was untouchable.
- [21:36]
Evan Erickson
Now Kaiser has accomplished in the span of a decade and a half what took King 25 years. Kaiser's all time win record has, for the time being, established hometown dominance for the race. His other record of five consecutive K300 titles is likely to hold for years to come. Kaiser will earn at least $30,000 from a $200,000 total purse, the largest mid distance race purse in the world. Second place Dyke stands to earn at least $20,000 and third place Williams Jr will receive at least $15,000. In Bethel, I'm Evan Erickson.
- [22:10]
Casey Grove
Coastalaska's Angela Denning interviewed mushers for this story. Well, during K300 weekend in Bethel, there's a shorter and faster race to Akiak and back that's not to be missed. KYUK's Samantha Watson reports how this year's Akiak Dash leaderboard featured a new victor in a swath of the region's youngest mushers.
- [22:47]
Shelby Herbert
In the waning afternoon sun on the Frozen Kuskokwim River, 24 year old Michael Larson was the first musher to cross the finish line in the 34th running of the Akiak Dash. His eight dogs on the line panted after their 63 mile sprint as the musher was congratulated by bundled spectators. The Queethlich musher maintained a steady distance ahead of the pack for the back half of the race. Larson was the first to complete the loop outside of Akiak and follow the trail back toward Bethel along the established K300 route. He says this year's trail was good, a Goldilocks of sorts.
- [23:27]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
Not too hard, not too soft.
- [23:29]
Shelby Herbert
Last year Larson earned his spot among the dash's legacy of high performing rookie racers. He came in second place to decorated Guithlok musher Raymond Alexie. Larson runs dogs from the Alexi Kennel. He says this race he passed another musher to take the lead in the same spot. Alexi passed him last year, maybe about.
- [23:50]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
Eight minutes behind Raymond, probably around the same time. The second don that's behind me, I passed him. He passed me. Same spot where I passed him this year.
- [24:02]
Shelby Herbert
In only his second season Racing Dogs, he did one better, earning a $7,000 cut of the $50,000 total race purse about his plans for upcoming races, the 24 year old said he'll have to see. Chovalar Wassily Jr. Of Akia Chuck, who won the 2024 Akiak Dash, came in second this year nabbing $5,000. The 17 year old said his lead dogs Tiffany and Flower proved to be strong forces on the trail.
- [24:32]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
They did pretty good.
- [24:32]
Shelby Herbert
They were just commanding Nabuskiak Mushar Spirit on Cheney took third, coming in just seconds ahead of fourth placed finisher Jason Pavila and earning $4,300. 22 year old Pavila said the young blood on the trails has been keeping him on his toes.
- [24:53]
Governor Mike Dunleavy
I'm getting too old. I'm only 22 but I feel really old. Yeah. Spare Don Jr. Charlie in the K300 all of these young men are great.
- [25:06]
Shelby Herbert
The races roster was another featuring a strong turnout of teen mushers and competitors from the villages of Akia, Chuk and Kwithluc. This year's race had two rookies, 26 year old Nelson Lomack and 15 year old Maya Pavla. The two newcomers made the top 10 leaderboard, coming in 9th and 10th places respectively in Bethel. I'm Samantha Watson.
- [25:39]
Casey Grove
And that's all for this edition of Alaska News Nightly. If you missed any of tonight's stories, we're online@alaskapublic.org and wherever you get your podcasts. We had reports tonight from Eric Stone in Juno, Rhonda McBride in Anchorage, Shelby Herbert in Fairbanks, Ashlyn O' Hara in Saldana and Evan Erickson in Samantha Watson in Bethel. Our audio engineer is Crystal Hyde. Annie Feit helped produce tonight's show and I'm Casey Grove. Good night. This is statewide news on Alaska Public Media.