Interior Secretary Doug Burgum spent Wednesday evening in Fairbanks, after campaigning with President Trump in Wasilla earlier this week.
Burgum spoke at a Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce event, where he touted Alaska’s potential for Artificial Intelligence data centers. He held up a project in his home state of North Dakota as an example.
“We have people knocking on our door that want to drop 10 billion on a data center, and they don't want any tax breaks,” Burgum said. “We said, ‘Hey, we're worried about electric rates.’ They said, ‘Don't worry, we'll do a rebate for everybody in the entire area.’”
But that pitch comes amid looming questions about the region’s power supply.
Golden Valley Electric Association, the utility co-op that serves Fairbanks and surrounding communities, issued its first-ever energy emergency alert on Monday. The alert urged users to conserve electricity and prepare for possible outages until Wednesday morning.
The utility said the problem that caused the shortage will take years to fix.
Data centers see public pushback
Burgum said Alaska has the resources to become an economic powerhouse, and he blamed regulatory and permitting processes for holding back that development. He said he hopes Congress will pass legislation to roll back environmental regulations after the midterm elections.
The sole Democratic candidate in Alaska’s gubernatorial race, Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, attended Burgum’s speech as an audience member.
Kreiss-Tomkins said he mostly agrees with Burgum about Alaska’s potential for oil and gas development, but not about data centers. He said he favored a more cautious approach.
“I think we should pause,” Kreiss-Tomkins said. “We should make sure that we have laws in place that protect the public interest. And then, in a thoughtful way, development can proceed.”
Alaska has seen proposals for as many as 15 data centers, including on military land near Railbelt and Interior communities. They’ve drawn pushback from Alaska residents.
In July, state officials received more than 500 public comments on a proposed North Slope data center and power plant. And in August, the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly passed a resolution to ask the Alaska Legislature to impose a moratorium on data centers, pending a plan to address community concerns.