"Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority"

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy introduced bills to create an “energy independence fund” to finance sustainable energy projects on Friday.

The proposed project would run roughly 211 miles from the Dalton Highway to the Ambler Mining District in the Northwest Arctic Borough.

The Checkbook Online system went dark nearly a year ago, leaving the public largely blind to details about state spending.

President Joe Biden imposed a “temporary moratorium” on all oil and gas leasing activities in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge shortly after taking office on Wednesday, citing the “alleged legal deficiencies underlying the program” and the inadequacy of a required environmental review.

The state won 10-year oil leases for nine pieces of land by submitting the minimum offer: $25 an acre. But drilling for oil in the refuge is expensive, and it faces an aggressive opposition campaign.

The road would stretch 211 miles from the Dalton Highway to the Ambler Mining District east of Kotzebue and would cross Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve.

One of the Trump administration’s biggest energy initiatives suffered a stunning setback Wednesday, as a decades-long push to drill for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ended with a lease sale that attracted just three bidders — one of which was the state of Alaska itself.

It’s a controversial move, and a way for the state to secure drilling rights in the coastal plain in case no one else bids on the leases.

The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority is asking its board to allow it to spend up to $20 million on the sale.

Interim borough manager Alekka Fullerton said nine homes were destroyed after heavy rains caused landslides and flooding, but it’s hard to know how many people remain displaced.