Defense and federal AI in Alaska
JBER, Eielson, Clear and the federal decisions that land in Alaska without an Alaska vote.
Where this beat stands
Alaska AI tracks 8 decisions on this beat, each one with the documents it was verified against. 1 is open for public comment right now. The nearest date is Nov 2 on DeepGreen's underwater data center in Cook Inlet. The bodies deciding on this beat include Department of the Air Force, Enhanced Use Lease program, Alaska Department of Administration, Office of Procurement and Property Management and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Decisions on this beat
Air Force land leases for AI data centers at JBER, Eielson and Clear
Pending decision · Department of the Air Force, Enhanced Use Lease program
The Air Force offered about 4,700 acres across 12 parcels at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Eielson AFB and Clear Space Force Station for privately financed AI data centers. Residents near the five Eielson-area parcels raised noise, permafrost and grid concerns, including one parcel less than a mile from North Pole Middle School.
12 sources on file · the full record
Alaska's statewide speech-to-text contract
Pending decision · Alaska Department of Administration, Office of Procurement and Property Management
Alaska is soliciting one statewide contract to convert speech, live or recorded, into written text for general, medical and legal records. The notice says every state governmental entity may use the resulting contract, naming the Legislative Branch, the Court System, the University of Alaska, boards and commissions, cities, boroughs, school districts and federally recognized tribes. The public notice does not use the terms artificial intelligence, machine learning or automated speech recognition.
1 source on file · the full record
The Dixon Glacier diversion into Bradley Lake
Pending decision · Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
The Alaska Energy Authority has asked FERC to amend the license for the Bradley Lake Hydroelectric Project, the largest in Alaska, so it can build a new dam diverting meltwater and surface runoff from the Dixon Glacier into Bradley Lake, raise the lake's normal maximum operating pool by about 16 feet, and install a 0.3 megawatt micro-hydro turbine in one of the dam's fishwater release valves. The application projects about 38 percent more average annual generation while installed capacity rises from 119.7 to 120.0 megawatts, because the gain comes from water rather than from turbines. AEA estimates construction at about $400 million and about three years of study and permitting followed by three years of construction. FERC accepting the application for filing is a procedural step and not an approval.
4 sources on file · the full record
The Air Force nuclear microreactor at Eielson
Pending decision · Department of the Air Force with Defense Logistics Agency Energy, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the license
The Air Force intends to award Oklo a 30 year fixed price power purchase agreement for a microreactor delivering up to 5 megawatts to Eielson Air Force Base outside Fairbanks. Oklo would build, own and operate it, and the contract is signed only after Oklo obtains a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
4 sources on file · the full record
The executive order that lets big data centers skip the usual federal review
Watching · The President, carried out by the Council on Environmental Quality and the Interior, Energy and Defense departments
Executive Order 14318, Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure, directs federal agencies to speed approvals for data centers adding more than 100 megawatts of load or costing at least 500 million dollars. It tells agencies to find and create categorical exclusions under the National Environmental Policy Act, and directs Interior and Energy to offer federal sites while Defense may competitively lease military land.
3 sources on file · the full record
An 89 million dollar federal grant for a coal plant in the Susitna watershed
Pending decision · U.S. Department of Energy made the selection; the plant itself needs state and federal permits nobody has applied for yet
The Department of Energy selected Terra Energy Center Corporation of Anchorage, an affiliate of Flatlands Energy, for an 89 million dollar grant to study a 1,250 megawatt coal fired power plant west of Skwentna, with a 60 mile pipeline carrying its carbon dioxide to Beluga for injection into a depleted gas reservoir. The money funds a viability assessment rather than construction, and Terra must match it.
3 sources on file · the full record
Alaska's bid to run its own carbon storage permits
Pending decision · Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission applies; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency decides
The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is applying to the Environmental Protection Agency for primary enforcement authority over Class VI wells, the wells used to inject carbon dioxide for permanent underground storage. If the application succeeds the state, not the federal government, would permit and police every carbon storage well in Alaska.
3 sources on file · the full record
DeepGreen's underwater data center in Cook Inlet
Open for comment · Federal Energy Regulatory Commission · Nov 2
DeepGreen Cook Inlet SPV LLC, a Delaware company whose parent formed in January 2026, applied to FERC in February for a preliminary permit over an initial operational envelope of 1,650 acres of Cook Inlet seabed west of Nikiski, proposing a 100 megawatt data center of 66 hives of AI servers powered and cooled by approximately 330 to 350 tidal turbines in water 45 to 166 feet deep. A preliminary permit authorizes study rather than construction, for up to four years, and FERC's Northwest branch found the application incomplete in a June 18th letter.
7 sources on file · the full record
Every one of these is also in the full Alaska AI Docket, published as open data at /data/ under CC BY 4.0.
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Data centers · Power and the grid · Land and permitting · Defense and federal · Research and science · Data sovereignty · State policy