Juneau teens and residents are calling on the Alaska Legislature and Gov. Mike Dunleavy to call off the state’s longtime push for a natural gas pipeline in Alaska.
On Saturday, more than 40 people gathered at the steps of the Alaska State Capitol in downtown Juneau to protest the long-sought Alaska LNG project. The protest was led by Alaska Youth for Environmental Action, a youth-led environmental advocacy group with chapters across the state.
Paige Kirsch is a senior at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé and a member of the group’s Juneau chapter.
“I think it’s really important to be cognizant of the future of Alaska, especially because I do want to live here when I grow up, and I don’t want to live somewhere that’s purely for economic profit,” she said. “I just don’t think it’s really that fiscally responsible to keep investing in non-renewable resources.”
Alaska officials have been pushing for the proposed pipeline for decades and the state has already poured more than half a billion dollars into the project. If it’s built, the project would move natural gas from the North Slope to Southcentral for export overseas. A portion of the gas would be reserved for in-state use. The project has already been federally permitted. Last year, the Texas-based Glenfarne Group assumed majority ownership of the project from the state.
Since then, it has announced a handful of nonbinding gas purchase and supply agreements. Last week, the company announced several more agreements it says moves the project’s first phase into an early development stage.
Proponents for the project say it would tap into an underdeveloped natural resource and provide energy security to a region facing shortfalls. But others remain skeptical about whether the project will actually be built, citing high costs and competing global energy projects.
At the protest on Saturday, multiple teens took to a microphone to share some of the negative impacts they believe the pipeline would bring, including bisecting land, disrupting habitat and emitting carbon dioxide. Atagan Hood, a junior at JDHS, says Alaska’s dollars would be better spent on renewable energy to mitigate human-caused climate change.
“We are told that the 800-mile Alaska liquid natural gas pipeline is a bridge to a cleaner future, but you cannot build a bridge to a stable climate out of fossil fuel infrastructure,” he said.
Last year, an Anchorage Superior Court Judge dismissed a youth-led lawsuit challenging the pipeline.
There was one counter-protester at the event on Saturday. Kevin Nye, a retired engineer, stood on his own holding a sign that read “Build the Pipeline.” He said he wanted to represent those in Alaska who support the economic benefits the pipeline would bring to the state.
Glenfarne told reporters last week it expects to begin laying pipe later this year. But project skeptics say that the timeline is unrealistic. The company also initially said it planned to make a development decision by the end of 2025. That decision is now expected to come in February at the earliest.
