Alaska is well-known for its beautiful landscapes, but it wasn't purchased from Russia in 1867 to be a tourist attraction. Alaska was acquired for its tremendous resource potential, and we joined the Union in 1959 with an agreement to support ourselves through the development of those nearly unlimited natural resources.
No other State was founded with such a mandate, and our Constitution requires that our resources—whether natural or financial – be developed for the maximum benefit of our People in accordance with the principles of sustained yield.
“North to the Future” is our State Motto, but it's more than that. It's a way of life. It's a mission statement. Alaskans have worked tirelessly to fulfill it, and we've only just begun. Since Statehood, Alaska has developed world class fisheries that are the envy of the world. We've produced more than 18 billion barrels of oil responsibly from our North Slope fields without flaring natural gas, and multi-billion dollar projects are now under construction in our Pikka and Willow units under the highest environmental standards in the world.
We're the No. 1 producer of silver and zinc in the U.S., and No. 2 in gold. Alaska is also home to 49 of the 50 identified critical minerals with the richest known deposits of graphite, heavy rare earths, and cobalt In the Nation. We have one-seventh of the Nation's timber and vast areas of farmland characterized by our clean soil and abundant fresh water.
We were the first State to export LNG in 1969, and our strategic location with an unimpeded route to Asia continues to provide new opportunities for our trillions of cubic feet of natural gas. There is room for expansion at the third-busiest cargo airport in the world in Anchorage, and for Alaska to become the “Panama Canal of the North” as Arctic shipping increases.
While our traditional natural resources will provide benefits for decades to come, we've also embraced emerging technologies over the past three years with successful legislation to open Alaska for business to advanced nuclear reactors, nature-based carbon offsets, and carbon capture, utilization, and storage with the largest reservoir space on the U.S. West Coast at an estimated 50 gigatons in Cook Inlet alone.
We have world class offshore wind and geothermal potential, and the second-strongest tides in the world in Cook Inlet where research is ongoing to develop the first utility-scale tidal project in the U.S.
In sum, Alaska has everything the world needs now, and for the next 50 years and beyond. The investment opportunities are second to none. We're Open For Business, and we're looking forward to doing business with you.
Sincerely,
Mike Dunleavy, Governor