Trump’s Plan for “Energy Dominance” in Alaska Is a Pipe Dream
Who benefits from this decision?
Log In
Email *
Password *
Remember Me
Forgot Your Password?
Log In
New to The Nation? Subscribe
Print subscriber? Activate your online access
Skip to content Skip to footer
Trump’s Plan for “Energy Dominance” in Alaska Is a Pipe Dream
Magazine
Newsletters
Subscribe
Log In
Search
Subscribe
Donate
Magazine
Latest
Archive
Podcasts
Newsletters
Sections
Politics
World
Economy
Culture
Books & the Arts
The Nation
About
Events
Contact Us
Advertise
Current Issue
Politics
/
StudentNation
/ March 19, 2026
Trump’s Plan for “Energy Dominance” in Alaska Is a Pipe Dream
A natural gas pipeline has been proposed once again in the 49th state, but advocates and critics alike are skeptical.
Raphaela Gold
Share
Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Email
Ad Policy
President Donald Trump speaks to the press in October after signing an executive order to allow construction of an access road to the Ambler mining district in Alaska.
(Sarah L. Voisin / Getty)
This story was produced for StudentNation, a program of the Nation Fund for Independent Journalism, which is dedicated to highlighting the best of student journalism. For more StudentNation, check out our archive or learn more about the program here. StudentNation is made possible through generous funding from The Puffin Foundation. If you’re a student and you have an article idea, please send pitches and questions to [email protected].
Alaska’s Railbelt is quickly running out of natural gas. The region, which hosts three-quarters of the state’s population, could face severe energy shortages as soon as 2027. Utilities rely on fossil fuel production from vast Cook Inlet fields to power and heat the state’s largest cities, but old reserves are dwindling faster than new ones are discovered.
Now.the Trump administration and industry actors are breathing new life into an old dream: a natural gas pipeline.
Plans for such a pipeline have circulated for more than 50 years, but none of them have gotten off the ground. The Alaska LNG (liquified natural gas) Project, as it is currently known, wants to change that. It has become central to the Trump administration’s agenda of “energy dominance,” and featured in a day-one executive order entitled Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential. The pipeline would stretch 807 miles across the state from the North Slope, which holds a glut of oil and gas on the banks of the Arctic ocean, to a liquification plant in Nikiski, a small community on the Kenai Peninsula in the south. Its first gas has been promised for the Railbelt. Eventually, most of it would be liquified and carted across the Pacific to Asian markets.
But although Glenfarne, the company that owns 75 percent of the project, optimistically expects the first gas to flow by 2029, the project still lacks committed buyers for its natural gas. And its exorbitant cost of $44 billion is likely an underestimate, according to independent analysis. Chances that it will come in time to save the Railbelt are slim. “There’s nothing new about these boondoggles costing a lot of money and not providing economic return,” said Sam Cason, former chair of Alaska’s …
Who benefits from this decision?
Log In
Email *
Password *
Remember Me
Forgot Your Password?
Log In
New to The Nation? Subscribe
Print subscriber? Activate your online access
Skip to content Skip to footer
Trump’s Plan for “Energy Dominance” in Alaska Is a Pipe Dream
Magazine
Newsletters
Subscribe
Log In
Search
Subscribe
Donate
Magazine
Latest
Archive
Podcasts
Newsletters
Sections
Politics
World
Economy
Culture
Books & the Arts
The Nation
About
Events
Contact Us
Advertise
Current Issue
Politics
/
StudentNation
/ March 19, 2026
Trump’s Plan for “Energy Dominance” in Alaska Is a Pipe Dream
A natural gas pipeline has been proposed once again in the 49th state, but advocates and critics alike are skeptical.
Raphaela Gold
Share
Copy Link
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Ad Policy
President Donald Trump speaks to the press in October after signing an executive order to allow construction of an access road to the Ambler mining district in Alaska.
(Sarah L. Voisin / Getty)
This story was produced for StudentNation, a program of the Nation Fund for Independent Journalism, which is dedicated to highlighting the best of student journalism. For more StudentNation, check out our archive or learn more about the program here. StudentNation is made possible through generous funding from The Puffin Foundation. If you’re a student and you have an article idea, please send pitches and questions to [email protected].
Alaska’s Railbelt is quickly running out of natural gas. The region, which hosts three-quarters of the state’s population, could face severe energy shortages as soon as 2027. Utilities rely on fossil fuel production from vast Cook Inlet fields to power and heat the state’s largest cities, but old reserves are dwindling faster than new ones are discovered.
Now.the Trump administration and industry actors are breathing new life into an old dream: a natural gas pipeline.
Plans for such a pipeline have circulated for more than 50 years, but none of them have gotten off the ground. The Alaska LNG (liquified natural gas) Project, as it is currently known, wants to change that. It has become central to the Trump administration’s agenda of “energy dominance,” and featured in a day-one executive order entitled Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential. The pipeline would stretch 807 miles across the state from the North Slope, which holds a glut of oil and gas on the banks of the Arctic ocean, to a liquification plant in Nikiski, a small community on the Kenai Peninsula in the south. Its first gas has been promised for the Railbelt. Eventually, most of it would be liquified and carted across the Pacific to Asian markets.
But although Glenfarne, the company that owns 75 percent of the project, optimistically expects the first gas to flow by 2029, the project still lacks committed buyers for its natural gas. And its exorbitant cost of $44 billion is likely an underestimate, according to independent analysis. Chances that it will come in time to save the Railbelt are slim. “There’s nothing new about these boondoggles costing a lot of money and not providing economic return,” said Sam Cason, former chair of Alaska’s …
Trump’s Plan for “Energy Dominance” in Alaska Is a Pipe Dream
Who benefits from this decision?
Log In
Email *
Password *
Remember Me
Forgot Your Password?
Log In
New to The Nation? Subscribe
Print subscriber? Activate your online access
Skip to content Skip to footer
Trump’s Plan for “Energy Dominance” in Alaska Is a Pipe Dream
Magazine
Newsletters
Subscribe
Log In
Search
Subscribe
Donate
Magazine
Latest
Archive
Podcasts
Newsletters
Sections
Politics
World
Economy
Culture
Books & the Arts
The Nation
About
Events
Contact Us
Advertise
Current Issue
Politics
/
StudentNation
/ March 19, 2026
Trump’s Plan for “Energy Dominance” in Alaska Is a Pipe Dream
A natural gas pipeline has been proposed once again in the 49th state, but advocates and critics alike are skeptical.
Raphaela Gold
Share
Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Email
Ad Policy
President Donald Trump speaks to the press in October after signing an executive order to allow construction of an access road to the Ambler mining district in Alaska.
(Sarah L. Voisin / Getty)
This story was produced for StudentNation, a program of the Nation Fund for Independent Journalism, which is dedicated to highlighting the best of student journalism. For more StudentNation, check out our archive or learn more about the program here. StudentNation is made possible through generous funding from The Puffin Foundation. If you’re a student and you have an article idea, please send pitches and questions to [email protected].
Alaska’s Railbelt is quickly running out of natural gas. The region, which hosts three-quarters of the state’s population, could face severe energy shortages as soon as 2027. Utilities rely on fossil fuel production from vast Cook Inlet fields to power and heat the state’s largest cities, but old reserves are dwindling faster than new ones are discovered.
Now.the Trump administration and industry actors are breathing new life into an old dream: a natural gas pipeline.
Plans for such a pipeline have circulated for more than 50 years, but none of them have gotten off the ground. The Alaska LNG (liquified natural gas) Project, as it is currently known, wants to change that. It has become central to the Trump administration’s agenda of “energy dominance,” and featured in a day-one executive order entitled Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential. The pipeline would stretch 807 miles across the state from the North Slope, which holds a glut of oil and gas on the banks of the Arctic ocean, to a liquification plant in Nikiski, a small community on the Kenai Peninsula in the south. Its first gas has been promised for the Railbelt. Eventually, most of it would be liquified and carted across the Pacific to Asian markets.
But although Glenfarne, the company that owns 75 percent of the project, optimistically expects the first gas to flow by 2029, the project still lacks committed buyers for its natural gas. And its exorbitant cost of $44 billion is likely an underestimate, according to independent analysis. Chances that it will come in time to save the Railbelt are slim. “There’s nothing new about these boondoggles costing a lot of money and not providing economic return,” said Sam Cason, former chair of Alaska’s …
0 Comments
0 Shares
29 Views
0 Reviews
