By admin 
This story was supported by and co-published with the America’s 250th Project | American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
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As the U.S. war on Iran threw the world’s global energy markets into crisis this spring, Arctic Village was settling into a cold snap. The spruce trees were furled with snow, the air sharp enough to freeze the breath inside your nose. There are no roads leading out of this Gwich’in community in northern Alaska, and its fuel has to be delivered by plane. In other rural parts of the state, diesel is barged up rivers during the short summer. These logistical challenges make the war’s price spikes especially painful.
After the Strait of Hormuz closed, gas surged past $12 a gallon, says Tonya Garnett, a spokesperson for the Gwich’in Steering Committee, a group of tribal leaders. “Everything has to be flown into our community,” she explained, meaning prices shot up overnight – not only for heat and electricity, but also for basic necessities like milk and other staples.
That shock is part of a broader reckoning over Alaska’s energy future. After decades organized around fossil fuel extraction, the state is having the kind of argument societies tend to have when the foundations of an old economic order start to wobble. The men who drafted the Declaration of Independence would find the conversation familiar: They understood that who controls a territory’s resources — and who bears the costs of their extraction — is at the core of political power.
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Many rural Alaskan communities are turning to renewables to save money, and to reduce their dependence on deliveries that can be cut off by weather or supply chain failures. The effort is small-scale, incremental and often creative by necessity. Meanwhile, the state and federal government continue to double down on extractive development. Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy argues that Alaska must accelerate domestic oil and gas production to stabilize both the state’s economy and broader U.S. security. On his first day back in office, Trump signed an executive order aimed at “unleashing” Alaska’s resources, reopening previously suspended leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and directing faster approval of energy and mining projects. His administration sees the state as key to expanding American oil and gas production, as it pushes for U.S. dominance in global energy markets. That language of national interest is much the same as the Crown once used to justify managing the colonies’ timber, fish and fur.
That approach centers on maximizing exports and profits. Yet Alaska spends more on energy per capita than any other state, making it vulnerable when the system that oil built begins to crack. Its communities can no longer afford the fuel they need, its utilities are running out of natural gas and its school budgets are lurching into crisis. The state brings in less revenue from oil now than it ever has, reflecting both declining production and a 2013 overhaul that lowered production taxes – which was voted in by state legislators who simultaneously worked for ConocoPhillips, Alaska’s largest oil producer.
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