Gov. Mike Dunleavy and other state of Alaska officials pose for a photo with Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, center, and other government officials during Dunleavy’s trip to Taiwan last month. (Taiwan Office of the President)
Recent heated debate on the benefits of the AKLNG project for Alaskans is missing a key perspective — the international relations one. AKLNG, an 800-mile natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to Nikiski, has existed in several fantasy forms over the past four decades, and is currently being spun by state huckster AGDC and Outside project manager Glenfarne as an eventual export project to Asian countries transitioning off coal.
However, it does not appear taht the Asian countries are clamoring to sign on. Despite the Trump administration’s threats of tariffs if they do not, international schmoozing by the Dunleavy administration and rising energy demands, not a single country has committed to buy.
A politically fraught visit to Taiwan by Dunleavy, which prompted the international relations equivalent of a cease and desist letter from China, only produced reports of a non-binding and confidential letter of intent. Confidential (as in, not publicly available for you and me to read) does not inspire a lot of confidence. The symbolic “victory” of a nonbinding agreement for a boondoggle project doesn’t seem worth antagonizing China, a global superpower. As Taiwanese energy activist Angelica Oung put it, “US LNG is not just pricier, Taiwan is being asked to invest billions to get the Alaskan LNG flowing in the first place. This is like me helping you to build your restaurant so that you can sell me an overpriced meal.” No wonder Taiwan’s letter of intent is non-binding.
And what about South Korea? Ahead of trade talks this week, South Koreans worry about the shaky ethics of potential decisions made by their temporary and unelected head of state. Public support does not appear to be enthusiastic, especially as their rates of LNG imports are hitting multi-year lows as they actively try to curb reliance on fossil fuel imports.
In February, the Trump Administration announced a joint venture with Japan for AKLNG. This was apparently news to the project’s owner, AGDC, whose president, Frank Richards, told the Senate Resources committee that AGDC didn’t have a joint venture with Japan. Additionally, the Japan Times reports that “Japanese officials have not said they have agreed to participate in the pipeline.” Note that the president of Japan’s Osaka Gas has said there is no immediate need to buy LNG from the USA, as it has enough to cover its needs to the mid-2030s
Despite the rhetoric from our governor and at the federal level, there is, at this point, no concrete foreign investment in Alaska’s LNG pipeline. Our Pacific neighbors like Taiwan, South Korea and Japan shouldn’t be bullied into making bad investments in an expensive pipe dream of a project. Nor should Alaskans gamble on our Pacific neighbors’ supposed interest in doing so. We both have real, local energy solutions of our own to develop.
Sarah Furman is the co-executive director of the Fairbanks Climate Action Coalition.
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