Elizabeth Harball, Alaska's Energy Desk

Energy infrastructure is a tempting target for hackers, and the trans-Alaska pipeline is no exception. Alyeska, which operates the pipeline, now ranks cyberattacks as one of its top three risks.

Bernhardt said in the next few weeks, the agency will kick off the regulatory process required before the administration can hold an oil lease sale in the refuge.

A top state regulator is asking the legislature to make sure oil companies pay to clean up old oil wells, even after the wells are sold to a different company.

Every summer, millions of migratory birds like the greater white-fronted goose descend on the National Petroleum Reserve, to lay eggs, molt their feathers and fatten up. A lot of the oil potential lies squarely in migratory bird habitat.

Murkowski cited a recently released Alaska Department of Labor report, stating the share of out-of-state workers in Alaska’s oil industry rose to 37.1 percent in 2016.

The Wednesday night meeting was the only opportunity for Alaskans to comment on the draft proposal in person. But it wasn’t what some participants had hoped for.