It was after the Kodiak Fisheries Debate and before the Debate for the State held in Anchorage. The two candidates made Fairbanks the second stop in a campaign forum sweep across the state.
The format set up by the Alaska Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce allowed the candidates to ask each other a question. Mary Peltola went first.
“The Interior needs more reliable, affordable energy. I'm working to get that transmission line extended into the Interior. But you're on the record opposing federal infrastructure spending. How do we support more transmission for the Interior without this federal investment?”
Nick Begich: “Well, I am not on the record, uh, being opposed to infrastructure spending. What I am opposed to is mislabeled bills that indicate something is for infrastructure, and 80 percent of which is not for infrastructure.”
Begich said he objected to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act because it had too many social justice programs and the Inflation Reduction Act, which he said is really a law to deal with climate change. Then it was his turn.
“What promises or initiatives have you, uh, announced together with your Democrat leadership to restore Alaska's right to produce and access our resources?”
Mary Peltola: “I demonstrated the largest commitment to Alaska's right to produce by helping to muscle through the second authorization of the Willow Project. And I think everyone in the Interior of Alaska has seen the direct benefit. It was because of a bipartisan delegation that we were able to convince the President. Willow would not have happened but for a bipartisan delegation, and I made that happen.”
The candidates were asked Arctic security, tourism, immigration, Artificial Intelligence. And when it came time to ask about the Ambler Mining District Road, a proposed 211-mile industrial haul road to access mines for critical minerals, neither candidate finished their answer before moderator Lisa Cassino cut them off for time. Nick Begich said the road was figuratively promised to the state.
“The state of Alaska selected these lands, and a fundamental principle of real estate law is that you can't have stranded lands. You have to be able to access them. That's why it was a provision within ANILCA.”
Peltola said it’s not her role to give a green light to construction of the road, but she said there are a lot of factions in the state, unlike the broad coalition that supported the Willow oil-drilling project on the North Slope.
“This one is uniquely challenging because it spans two different regions. It spans the Doyon region and the Nana region and both of those regions are very interested in making sure that they have good jobs like the ones at, at Red Dog.
Both of those regions are also very invested in making sure that they have access to the limited fish and game resources that are available to them.”
… specifically with Ambler, I think one of the chief Thank you. obstacles has been AIDEA.”
After the forum, she was able to finish her answer about the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority the state agency that has been shepherding the Ambler Road project.
“AIDEA, I think has been one of the, the stumbling blocks. AIDEA needs to be more consistent in their messaging and, and, uh, you know, I think there's a lot of frustration with the AIDEA component of this.”
Begich also had a comment about the road after the forum, saying Tribal and environmental concerns aren’t as important as access, but can be worked out.
“We can't sacrifice our environment for resource development. So, we have to have strong standards for resource development. I believe those standards are in place.”
Candidate John Wayne Howe of the Alaska Independence Party, and Eric Hafner, who is in prison in New York, were not invited to the forum. The complete recording and transcript are on our website.
