Ky Holland, May 24, 2026

One year ago, Alaskans were told the LNG project was economically competitive with or without government support. Today we are being told the project will die without massive tax concessions. After decades of effort and over a billion in public investment, it’s fair to ask not only what changed — but what the continued political fixation on the gasline is costing Alaska in the process.

Dermote Cole captured the timeline and contradiction clearly regarding earlier claims that no tax changes were needed for the gas pipeline project. Senator Giessel also referenced a November Legislative Budget & Audit executive session discussion in her May 23 newsletter and offers a candid assessment in her May 19 newsletter. For a spicier take-down listen to the Podcast: Dunleavy’s Last Gas: A Ransom Note May 19th, 2026 – 7mins.  By Hosts: Andrew Halcro.

From my perspective, the central issue is trust and transparency. If AGDC and Glenfarne had simply said at the start of the legislative session this year, something like, …We were wrong, we believed the project could move forward under the existing structure, but changing market conditions and financing market realities in 2025 shifted. We found that we need additional flexibility to attract investors and buyers…, then I expect the Legislature and the public would have been in a much better place to evaluate the request constructively.

Instead, we’ve had to do it the hard-way with bullying, bravado, and bluster. 

I’ve said publicly that I remain open to practical tax structures that improve project competitiveness while also protecting long-term public interests. I also believe there were opportunities to structure the discussion differently — including mechanisms that could better align public concessions with future public upside if the project succeeds.

Instead, the process became highly compressed and politically confrontational, which has made it harder to build confidence in the proposal. Regardless of where people stand on the project itself, trust is an essential component of any large and complex deal.

One thing that concerns me is that if legislators and communities are struggling with confidence and information gaps, sophisticated investors and LNG buyers are almost certainly conducting the same level of scrutiny in their own due diligence processes.

At this point, while I’ll continue working constructively through the special session and evaluating any practical proposals that emerge, I’m also increasingly focused on the broader opportunity cost of Alaska’s decades-long fixation on the gasline. The final days of this session demonstrated how much legislative time, energy, and political capital can be consumed by a single issue, often at the high cost of not completing other important policy work, or inflicting collateral damage and killing the defined benefits plan.

As Yogi Berra supposedly said: “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

It feels like Alaska has spent too long standing at the intersection. I’m going to focus on advocating for our future economy and energy infrastructure that doesn’t depend on a gas pipeline, but is stronger if it is built.

Ky

Photo credit – Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Independent