INDIRECT
STATE LAND LEASE
Pending decision
DECIDES · ALASKA DNR, COMMISSIONER JOHN CROWTHER
A DNR preliminary decision would transfer about 19,950 acres, roughly 31 square miles, of state land about two miles north of Houston in the Mat-Su to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority at no charge, a state subsidy meant to seed a multi-use industrial and energy district that AIDEA's own development plan describes as including scalable data centers, advanced manufacturing pads and a logistics hub on the Parks Highway and the Alaska Railroad, about 60 road miles north of Anchorage. Written public comment was to close August 19th, DNR extended it to September 14th, and it is now closed. The decision sits with the department.
The comment room is closed. Written comment on ADL 234762 ran from July 10th through September 14th, the state's notice archived the day after, and Alaska DNR received more than 2,100 comments. Only people from whom the division received timely written comment during that period may appeal the Final Finding and Decision, so the appeal stays open to those who wrote in and is shut to everyone else. No final finding and decision has been published. Houston's city council heard a two-year moratorium on new data center construction on October 8th, and no outcome could be found as of October 11th. The Senate Resources Committee has scheduled Natural Resources Commissioner John Crowther to appear on October 26th after voting to subpoena him.
JUL 13Preliminary decision reported
AUG 13Houston City Council rejects a data-center ban 4 to 2 and passes two resolutions objecting to the transfer process
AUG 19Original public comment period ends
AUG 26AIDEA board meeting, 9:00 a.m., Anchorage
AUG 27Public meeting on the conveyance, 6:00 p.m., on Zoom
SEP 1AIDEA asked to attend a Houston City Council meeting in September, no date set
SEP 2Second public meeting on the conveyance, 11:30 a.m., on Zoom
SEP 9Five Senate Resources Committee members write to DNR questioning the conveyance's legality
SEP 14Extended public comment period ends
SEP 15Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly votes unanimously to oppose the transfer
OCT 8Houston City Council hears a two-year moratorium on new data center construction
OCT 26Senate Resources hears Natural Resources Commissioner John Crowther and AHFC chief executive Brian Butcher on public and charitable use land conveyances, 10 a.m., Anchorage LIO
TODAY
2026-10-25 · The Legislature's schedule for Monday, October 26th lists the Senate Resources Committee at 10 a.m. in the Denali Room of the Anchorage Legislative Information Office, marked with a time and location change, for a presentation on public and charitable use land conveyances by Natural Resources Commissioner John Crowther and Brian Butcher, chief executive of the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation. The DNR public notice for ADL 234762 did not load today, so its preliminary decision stage was not re-read.