Alaska land and permitting for AI
State land leases, gravel, permafrost and the public comment windows that are the only door most Alaskans get.
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 Sep 14 on AIDEA's free state land for a Mat-Su data center park. The bodies deciding on this beat include Alaska DNR, Division of Oil and Gas, Department of the Air Force, Enhanced Use Lease program and Regulatory Commission of Alaska (prudency); Alaska DNR (storage lease and technical determination).
Decisions on this beat
STAK Energy's North Slope AI campus lease
Pending decision · Alaska DNR, Division of Oil and Gas
A preliminary decision would give STAK Energy a 50-year lease on 715.4 acres of state land about 26 miles south of Deadhorse for a gas-fired AI and cloud campus its developer pegs at more than $10 billion, with 1 to 3 gigawatts of on-site generation. More than 500 public comments arrived before the first deadline; fewer than a dozen supported the project.
4 sources on file · the full record
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
Enstar's Cook Inlet gas storage plan (Kenai Loop Pool)
Pending decision · Regulatory Commission of Alaska (prudency); Alaska DNR (storage lease and technical determination)
On July 10th, 2026 the Anchorage Daily News reported the RCA issued a 17-page order denying Enstar's request for an advance determination that its proposed Cook Inlet gas storage project was prudent, saying the utility lacked basic information. The $240 million project would have bought the depleted Kenai Loop Pool reservoir from AIX Energy to hold 25 billion cubic feet of gas, close to half Enstar's annual demand, adding up to $12 a month to the average bill. Enstar and Hilcorp have competing DNR lease applications for the same pool, and DNR has not confirmed it is technically capable of storing gas. Without approval, Enstar president John Sims said the company suspended the project. Enstar reopened the question on July 23rd, 2026 with a 31-page petition for reconsideration, arguing the order was erroneous and suffers from a lack of true understanding of the nature of the problem, and calling the Kenai Loop Pool the only viable commercial storage option in Cook Inlet. Alaska Public Media reports the commission has thirty days to respond and that inaction is an automatic denial.
7 sources on file · the full record
AIDEA's free state land for a Mat-Su data center park
Open for comment · Alaska DNR, Commissioner John Crowther · Sep 14
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 and DNR extended it to September 14th.
10 sources on file · the full record
Anchorage data-center zoning ordinance AO 2026-27
Decided · Anchorage Assembly
On March 27th, 2026 the Anchorage Assembly adopted ordinance AO 2026-27 in a 10 to 2 vote, defining data centers in the municipal zoning code for the first time. It confines them to commercial and industrial zones, requires landscaping buffers and enclosed power equipment, and requires written statements from electric and water utilities that the grid has sufficient system capacity before a project proceeds. Members Scott Myers and Keith McCormick voted against it.
3 sources 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 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
Every one of these is also in the full Alaska AI Docket, published as open data at /data/ under CC BY 4.0.
Articles on this beat
Every beat
Data centers · Power and the grid · Land and permitting · Defense and federal · Research and science · Data sovereignty · State policy