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As cyberattacks continue, Alaska lawmakers consider millions for defense

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As cyberattacks continue, Alaska lawmakers consider millions for defense


JUNEAU — On March 22, the commissioner of Alaska’s Division of Income was known as right into a particular assembly to debate an issue: The Everlasting Fund dividend division was underneath assault.

In a brief time frame, greater than 800,000 makes an attempt had been made to get into the division’s techniques, that are accountable for paying the annual dividend to Alaskans. The division shut down its computer systems, the division’s firewalls held, and “no Alaskans’ information was accessed,” stated Anna MacKinnon, director of the division.

“Our system repelled, because it ought to, the assault on our system,” she stated Friday.

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The assault was solely the newest to afflict laptop techniques operated by the state of Alaska. Final yr, each the state Division of Well being and Social Companies and the state court docket system had been attacked on-line. The court docket system’s computer systems had been disabled for days, and 11 months after the DHSS assault, a few of that division’s on-line assets are nonetheless offline.

In response to those and different incidents, state legislators are contemplating tens of millions of extra {dollars} for cybersecurity protection. In his funds proposal final December, Gov. Mike Dunleavy requested for tens of millions in extra funding:

* $5.4 million extra for the state Workplace of Info Know-how, with a lot of that enhance dedicated to safety enhancements;

* $1.9 million for an IT safety evaluation at DHSS;

* funding to improve the court docket system’s safety software program, together with the safety round its digital proof system;

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* new safety positions on the Division of Elections and the Alaska Everlasting Fund Corp.;

* and the flexibility to simply accept and distribute $9 million in federally funded cybersecurity grants to native governments.

The funds additionally contained cautionary notes about the price of not funding these objects. There was a separate request for $2.4 million to handle backlogs at DHSS attributable to final yr’s cyberattack.

The Alaska Home accredited all of these requests when it handed its model of the state working funds final week, in keeping with change paperwork revealed by the Legislative Finance Division.

Rep. Adam Wool, D-Fairbanks, is the chairman of the subcommittee that wrote the Division of Income funds and stated threats dealing with the company “weren’t hypothetical.”

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The division requested $2 million in extra funding to rebuild the software program behind the PFD software course of and informed the subcommittee that it has the non-public id info “for two million present and previous Alaskans.”

In a closed-door February briefing, the subcommittee heard particulars in regards to the cybersecurity threats dealing with the company. Wool declined to say what was mentioned however stated it was convincing. The $2 million request handed his subcommittee and the Home as a complete.

The funds is now within the palms of the Senate Finance Commitee, the place Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka is the co-chairman. A brand new model of the Senate’s deliberate funds will probably be out subsequent week, he stated, however he doesn’t anticipate any disagreement with cybersecurity funding.

Senate lawmakers might maintain a closed-door assembly in regards to the subject.

“We all know there’s fixed probing of just about any monetary establishment with a big portfolio within the states, so we’re simply making an attempt to beef up our defenses with out telling the dangerous guys what we’re doing,” he stated.

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Alaska

Burn permits soon required across much of Alaska following early wildfire season concerns

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Burn permits soon required across much of Alaska following early wildfire season concerns


A copy of a state Dept. of Natural Resources permit issued to helicopter skiing company Chugach Powder Guides, who was overseeing Tuesday’s heli-ski trip where three men died following an avalanche, reveals a complex system requiring multiple state and federal permits, and provides context on the state putting legal responsibilities on heli-ski business operators.



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Skiers Likely Dead After Avalanche In Alaska – Videos from The Weather Channel

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Skiers Likely Dead After Avalanche In Alaska – Videos from The Weather Channel




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Alaska political leaders excited by President Trump’s backing of gas pipeline in address to Congress

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Alaska political leaders excited by President Trump’s backing of gas pipeline in address to Congress


President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Alaska political leaders on Wednesday broadly welcomed President Donald Trump’s remarks to Congress talking up the prospects of the state’s long-sought but faltering natural gas pipeline.

In his speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, the president said, “It will be truly spectacular. It’s all set to go.”

Trump said South Korea and Japan want to partner and invest “trillions of dollars each” into the “gigantic” pipeline, which has been estimated to cost $44 billion. Japanese news outlets reported Tuesday that no final investment decisions had been made by either nation.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy — who earlier in his political career was skeptical of the pipeline — said that the president’s support “will ensure this massive LNG project is completed, and clean Alaska gas supplies our Asian allies and our Alaskan residents for decades to come.”

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U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said on social media that “the stars are aligned like never before” for the project, which he called “a decades-long energy dream for Alaska.”

In a later post, Sullivan said that he and Dunleavy had urged Trump to give Alaska LNG a “shout out” in his congressional address.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who in recent days has been critical of Trump’s moves to fire federal employees en masse, freeze federal funding and publicly criticize Ukraine’s president, thanked Trump for promoting the pipeline on the national stage.

“This project can provide Alaska and the world with clean and affordable energy for decades to come, while creating thousands of new jobs and generating billions of dollars in new revenues,” Murkowski said.

U.S. Rep. Nick Begich said, “Alaska is poised to play a central role in America’s energy resurgence.”

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The decades-long plan to construct an 800-mile pipeline to deliver natural gas from the North Slope for export has stalled in recent years.

In his speech to Congress, Trump said, “My administration is also working on a gigantic natural gas pipeline in Alaska, among the largest in the world, where Japan, South Korea and other nations want to be our partner with investments of trillions of dollars each. It has never been anything like that one. It will be truly spectacular. It’s all set to go. The permitting has gotten.”

The Alaska Gasline Development Corp. — the state agency leading the project — has state and federal permits, but it has not secured financing.

A corporation spokesperson thanked Trump on Wednesday for his “vocal advocacy” for the pipeline.

“There is tremendous momentum behind Alaska LNG from potential offtakers, financiers, and other partners eager to participate in this national energy infrastructure priority,” said Tim Fitzpatrick, an AGDC spokesperson, by email.

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Conservative Republican state legislators have been more supportive and optimistic about the project in recent months. The Republican House minority caucus thanked Trump for prioritizing Alaska LNG.

“The proposed LNG project will not only be a huge boost to the economy of Alaska but provide the nation with long term energy security and provide our allies in the global marketplace with needed resources,” said Anchorage GOP Rep. Mia Costello, the House minority leader.

But Alaska state lawmakers have remained broadly skeptical.

The Legislature last year planned to shutter AGDC because it had failed to deliver a pipeline.

”There’s still a lot we need to learn,” said Anchorage Democratic Rep. Donna Mears, chair of the House Energy Committee.

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Legislators have questioned who will finance the project, who will buy the gas, whether a connection would be built to deliver gas to Fairbanks, and if the state would need to invest some of its resources to see the pipeline built.

Members of the Senate majority recently estimated that the state had already spent well over $1 billion to advance the pipeline and related projects.

AGDC recently announced that Glenfarne, a New York-based company, in January signed an exclusive agreement with the state agency to lead development of the project.

Palmer Republican Sen. Shelley Hughes said at the time that the outlook for Alaska LNG was “more positive than it’s ever been.”

One factor that has revived interest: Trump’s tariff threats against Japan and South Korea, The New York Times reported.

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Japanese news outlets reported on Tuesday that while South Korea and Japan’s governments are continuing to study the project, no final investment decisions have been made.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told Japan’s parliament on Tuesday that “we will carefully examine its technical possibilities and profitability,” The Japan Times reported.

Larry Persily, an oil and gas analyst and former Alaska deputy commissioner of revenue, said it would be significant if Japan and South Korea signed binding agreements to buy Alaska gas. Pledging to examine the project would be familiar to Alaskans, he said.

“We’ve had decades of that,” he said.

Nick Fulford, an analyst with the Legislature’s oil and gas consultant GaffneyCline, presented to legislative committees on Wednesday about the global gas market and Alaska LNG.

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Fulford said Alaska LNG would be a “very expensive project” due to capital costs, but its operating costs would be relatively low. The Alaska project’s vulnerabilities — compared to gas developments in the Middle East — are based on “capital cost inflation,” he said.

GaffneyCline’s forecasts for natural gas demand in coming decades range widely, so do cost estimates for construction of the Alaska pipeline.

Persily said at lower demand levels, Alaska LNG does not seem to be needed in the global market. Wide-ranging cost estimates to complete the project are a cause for concern, he said.

“We’re far away from having a reasonable, confident estimate,” Persily said. “Is it a $44 billion project? Is it $50 billion? Is it $60 billion? We don’t know.”





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