EXCLUSIVE: Alaska’s Political Battleground Catches Eye Of Dark Money-Tied Environmental Groups

A multi-million dollar Senate race with campaign trail visits from the White House. Lucrative natural gas deals.

Alaska now finds itself in the national spotlight, becoming a crown jewel in the Trump administration’s domestic energy push and a battleground for high-stakes political duels. The Last Frontier’s significance wasn’t lost on environmental groups with dark money ties when they gathered at a luxury ski resort in the state, with planned discussions on ways to build power and the midterms’ potential impacts for the Alaska, materials exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation show.

President Donald Trump has made Alaska a centerpiece of his energy agenda, signing an executive order to accelerate oil, gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) development. His latest push came when he announced that Taiwan would purchase 30% of the LNG produced by a proposed Alaska pipeline. Taiwan’s state-owned CPC Corporation is negotiating to buy six million metric tons annually and invest up to $4.4 billion, though final agreements remain pending.

Trump traveled to Wasilla in October to campaign for Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, who faces Democratic former Rep. Mary Peltola. Vice President JD Vance also visited Alaska earlier this month to support Sullivan. More than $56 million in advertising had already been spent on the race by late August, according to AdImpact.

Sullivan trails Democratic challenger Peltola by roughly 1.5 percentage points, according to The Hill and Decision Desk HQ’s Oct. 20 polling average.

Months earlier in June, the Biodiversity Funders Group (BFG), an association of environmental, conservation and climate grantmakers, held its annual meeting at Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, Alaska. Its agenda featured discussions about “building power,” financing activities grantmakers typically avoid and navigating Alaska’s political environment during an election year.

BFG describes itself as a professional association of more than 75 environmental, conservation, climate and energy grantmakers. The organization also facilitates an Alaska-focused funding network that exchanges information and works to advance conservation, climate resilience and biodiversity policies.

BFG did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

‘Building Power’

Alaska’s mountains, salmon and wildlife were not the only subjects on the agenda.