He signed executive orders renaming North America’s tallest mountain and ordering the repeal of any federal regulations inhibiting natural resources industrial activity in Alaska such as oil drilling, although experts say it could be many years — if ever — before the latter produces any significant results.
He’s also vowing to eliminate entire departments or agencies responsible for things that greatly affect the state such as education, disaster relief, and weather and climate reporting. But so far that’s largely limited to deleting a lot of online content that doesn’t agree with his agenda.
President Donald Trump is 20 days into his second term as of Sunday, and there is general agreement among everyone from lawmakers who fervently support him to citizens furiously protesting him that the scope of his actions and statements are unprecedented for a presidential administration at this stage. While some of Trump’s early actions have profoundly affected the lives of Alaskans — such as those caught in immigration raids in Anchorage and possibly elsewhere — for many others the primary change is mostly about the hopes and/or fears of what his administration will do short- and long-term.
Trump administration officials have acknowledged they’re using a “flood the zone” strategy intended to swamp opposition with so many things they can’t effectively keep up or respond — and that uncertainty and fear are useful weapons in furthering aims such as getting federal workers to resign or people illegally in the U.S. to self-deport. It also has triggered a deluge of false information flowing from within and outside the White House, resulting in impacts such as a large number of Alaska Natives rushing to get tribal IDs due to fears of being detained by immigration officials.
The following is a look at the actions of the Trump administration with implications specific to Alaska during his first 20 days. An article listing of all of his major actions with broader national and global implications is published separately.
• Signed a day-one executive order titled “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential.” It mandates the elimination of “all regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, and any other similar agency actions” preventing maximum extraction of the state’s natural resources. Experts, including Trump supporters, acknowledge lawsuits and other complications could stall potential new projects for years and another administration may overturn the order.
• Restored the name of North America’s tallest peak to Mount McKinley instead of Denali. The Alaska Legislature by a dominant margin passed a resolution objecting to the change.
• Ordered a freeze of federal grants and loans. The order was rescinded after courts put it on hold. Alaska officials noted the federal government provided more than 37% of the state’s budget last year and nonprofits in the state get about $1.2 billion in federal funds annually. In Juneau a grant-funded effort to reduce street fatalities was put on hold indefinitely.
• Fired Adm. Linda Fagan as U.S. Coast Guard Commandant. She was the first woman to head a U.S. military branch and, among other actions, presided over the decision to homeport an icebreaker in Juneau. Trump officials subsequently evicted Fagen from her home on three hours’ notice, not giving her time to gather personal belongings, ignoring a Coast Guard agreement giving her a 60-day waiver for her official residence.
• Ordered a “surge” of U.S. Coast Guard assets in Alaska as part of a larger effort to increase border enforcement. Also redeployed a HC-130J long-range surveillance aircraft from Air Station Kodiak to the southern U.S. to assist with deportation flights there. Officials in foreign countries have accused the U.S. of mistreating migrants during such flights.
• Invoked Native Americans in defending Trump’s executive order suspending birthright citizenship guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution. Attorneys defending the order in a lawsuit referred to a 19th-century legal provision about people needing to be “subject to the jurisdiction” of the U.S. to be citizens, which would exclude Natives on tribal land. However, the subsequent Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 established citizenship for Native Americans who were previously excluded by the Constitution.
• Conducted immigration raids in Alaska, although on a small scale compared to some other parts of the U.S. with only a few arrests in Anchorage reported so far. However, reports of Natives being detained by law enforcement officials in Alaska and elsewhere — some of which proved to be unsubstantiated — resulted in more than 100 tribal residents in a single day seeking tribal IDs that officials urged be carried at all times.
• Suggested the Federal Emergency Management Agency be shut down. Juneau individuals and households affected by a record glacial outburst flood last August were approved for more than $2.6 million in assistance by FEMA as of late November, according to the agency.
• Deleted or altered thousands of government webpages, affecting a vast amount of federal government weather, disaster assistance, fisheries, health, education and other reports. Examples of locally relevant deleted material include the news section on the homepage for the Tongass National Forest and information about “Alaska Native Education” opportunities.
• Named Emma Pokon, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, head of EPA’s Seattle-based Region 10 office, which covers Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and 271 tribal governments.
• Ordered a 60-day pause on approvals for all “renewable energy development” on public lands. Also halted the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, which in Alaska was going to provide more than $50 million over five years for charging stations and related facilities.
• Ordered, then paused, tariffs on Canada and Mexico. State officials said the Canada tariffs in particular could have outsized impacts in Alaska ranging from grocery prices for border towns such as Skagway and Haines to hindering the operations of the Red Dog mine.
• Announced on Friday that Japan will “soon” begin importing LNG from Alaska. However, the Anchorage Daily News reported “plans for the $44 billion Alaska LNG project — the lone LNG export project in the state — don’t call for exports of gas until 2031. And that’s if the project can be built at all.”
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
