ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, a Republican backed by former President Donald Trump, withdrew from the race for the state’s lone seat in the U.S. House on Friday after finishing third in this week’s primary.
Her decision left second-place finisher Republican Nick Begich as the main challenger to Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, who is the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress.
“I entered this race because Alaskans deserve better representation than what we have received from Mary Peltola in Washington,” Dahlstrom said in a statement released by her campaign. “At this time, the best thing I can do to see that goal realized is to withdraw my name from the general election ballot and end my campaign.”
Peltola, Begich and Dahlstrom were the most prominent among a dozen candidates running for the seat in Alaska’s primary. Under Alaska’s open primary system, voters were asked to pick one candidate, with the top four vote-getters in the race, regardless of party affiliation, advancing to the ranked choice general election.
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In early results, Peltola led in the vote count, followed by Begich and then Dahlstrom. It was too early to call who would finish fourth.
The general election is expected to be hotly contested. The GOP is hoping to reclaim the seat that Republican U.S. Rep. Don Young held for 49 years before his death in 2022. Peltola won the seat with victories in special and regular elections that year.
“Mary was so proud to have received more than 50% of the vote last Tuesday when many voters probably assumed she would be moving forward to the general election without their votes,” her campaign manager, Elisa Rios, said in a statement, while also touting accomplishments during Peltola’s term. “We think voters will make the same choice this November.”
Begich, who ran unsuccessfully for the seat in 2022, had support from a number of local Republican groups. Dahlstrom was endorsed by Trump and several House leaders, including Speaker Mike Johnson.
Begich congratulated Dahlstrom in a social media post Friday for running a “strong campaign.”
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“Today we move forward unified in the effort to replace Mary Peltola, who has proven by her alignment with the left that she is not the moderate she claimed to be,” Begich wrote.
Begich said before the primary he would withdraw from the race if he finished behind Dahlstrom. Dahlstrom did not make a similar pledge, but told The Associated Press she would to talk with Begich, Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy and the head of the state Republican party after the primary to analyze “who got what and what it’s going to take to have a conservative in that seat vote-wise.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee had supported Dahlstrom, but said Friday that Begich — who comes from a family of prominent Alaska Democrats — is “a great choice.”
“Nancy Dahlstrom has led a life of service and I want to thank her for stepping into the arena this year,” committee chairman Richard Hudson said in an emailed statement. “Her selfless decision today puts Alaskans and the team first, allowing voters to unite around a single Republican.”
Under state law, if one of top four candidates in the primary dies, withdraws or is disqualified within 64 days of the general election, the fifth-place finisher moves on to the general election ballot. Friday marked 74 days until the Nov. 5 general election.
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If early results hold, the other two candidates to advance to the general election would be little-known Republican Matthew Salisbury and Alaska Independence Party candidate John Wayne Howe, who were each receiving less than 1% of of the vote.
Bethel, Alaska (KTUU) – The State of Alaska announced Friday that its West Coast Storm Operations will now transition from response to recovery efforts.
Several organizations, including Team Rubicon, will begin winding down their efforts.
Team Rubicon’s remaining volunteers will leave on Sunday after the organization spent four weeks in the region.
The veteran-led volunteer group spent several weeks coordinating donations and working on infrastructure repair and cleanup.
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“There’s obviously a huge need left, and so there’s a lot of local contractors and groups that are going to be able to continue work throughout. Unfortunately Team Rubicon just is not able to do that. And so what our goal is, was two parts. One, do as much good work as we could during the four weeks that we were here. And the second part is, make sure we’re establishing a really good network,” said Jason Taylor, Team Rubicon Incident Commander.
He said he hopes the their group is invited to come back to Western Alaska in the spring to continue doing recovery work.
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Alaska could see a boom in oil production next year, a sharp reversal for a state that has seen decades of declining production, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
EIA estimates in a forecast released this week that Alaska could see a 13 percent rise in production compared to 2025 — the largest annual increase for the state since the 1980s — thanks to two new projects on the North Slope.
ConocoPhillips’ Nuna project came online in December 2024 and is expected to produce 20,000 barrels a day at its peak. Pikka Phase 1, jointly owned by Santos and Repsol, is slated to start production in early 2026 and could reach peak production of 80,000 barrels a day later that year.
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The state last year averaged about 421,000 barrels a day in production, according to EIA, and could be roughly flat this year. The agency estimates that oil production could grow to 477,000 barrels a day next year. Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, cheered the forecast in a statement.
The trans-Alaska pipeline near Pump Station 1 in Prudhoe Bay. (Marc Lester / ADN file)
A federal pipeline agency has proposed a $243,800 fine against the operator of the 800-mile trans-Alaska pipeline, related to a small crude oil leak in a pipeline heating system north of Fairbanks.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration says the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. committed several “probable violations” related to the “overpressure event and leak” in the heating system on Nov. 13, 2024, the agency says in the Oct. 2 notice.
A second small leak was also discovered soon afterward as the heating system was under repair.
The agency’s proposed fine is its first for Alyeska Pipeline in at least a decade, agency records show.
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The heating system, built in 2020, cost more than $10 million to build, records show.
Since the leak, Alyeska Pipeline has not operated the heating system, except for testing or maintenance, because other alternatives are available, said Michelle Egan, a spokesperson with Alyeska Pipeline.
Less than a cup of oil leaked, she said.
There was no environmental impact or risk to the main pipeline because the heating system was isolated from it, she said.
“We would need to work with PHMSA if we decide that there’s some reason we do need to use the system,” she said.
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The 800-mile pipeline is critical infrastructure in Alaska, transporting the North Slope crude oil that underpins much of the state economy. The pipeline has transported 18 billion barrels of crude oil since starting in 1977.
The heating system, built at Mile 238 of the pipeline near Coldfoot, consists in part of lengthy, 8-inch pipe to divert some crude oil from the mainline. The oil is heated for reinjection back into the mainline.
The system was designed to help prevent winter icing.
The November leak occurred when a pressure relief valve froze and couldn’t operate, after it had been tested with water, the report says. The failure of the valve caused the system to exceed the maximum operating pressure.
The valve was insulated for outdoor service but lacked heat tape, the report says.
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Before the leak, the valve provided “overpressure” protection in the heating system 13 times. But Alyeska Pipeline only identified these recurring “abnormal” events during the investigation into the November leak, “long after many of these events occurred,” the report says.
The recurring events and absence of records indicated that “response, investigation, and correction of the operation of the safety device had not occurred” as required by federal law, the report says.
No high-pressure alarm was configured for the heating system, though pressure information “was available via controller screens and locally,” the report says.
The crude-oil weep from the flange set was not found until Nov. 25, 2024. The pipeline company determined on Nov. 26 that the “overpressure event” occurred, the federal agency says.
The pipeline company has until Dec. 17 to respond to the proposed penalty, Egan said.
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“We’re going through that as thoroughly as we can, and continuing to work with them to make sure that we’re in compliance,” she said.
The notice was signed by Dustin Hubbard, director of the western region for the Office of Pipeline Safety in Colorado.
The proposed fine comes on the heels of a separate proposed compliance order issued by the agency in April.
That order raises concerns about inspections for possible cracks in the main pipe.
Alyeska Pipeline is “still working with PHMSA on the issue of running a crack tool,” Egan said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.
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“Our system integrity engineers assess the conditions of the pipe routinely and believe our current methods provide sufficient analysis to detect and manage issues,” she said.
Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. is owned by affiliates of Alaska’s major oil producers.
Harvest Alaska, an affiliate of Hilcorp, is the largest owner at 49%, while ConocoPhillips Transportation Alaska and ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. own the rest.
