KEEP IT IN THE GROUND
WORKING GROUP
Addressing the catastrophic impacts of climate change means keeping the remaining fossil fuel resources in the ground. A just transition to a socially and environmentally regenerative economy requires saying "no" to economic choices we know are inconsistent with climate justice. This working group acts to mount popular grassroots campaigns to end fossil fuel extraction in our state.
Our Story
There is one thing that is clear in this moment: oil is a declining industry. Oil prices are reaching new lows, demand is down, infrastructure is failing and the industry may never recover to previous profit levels. While this is a scary prospect for Alaskans as our state budget is deeply tied to oil, it offers us the opportunity to shape the future of our state.
For too long, Alaska’s government has been propping up the oil industry through credits and write-offs, making our sacred lands a ripe terrain for this extractive industry. State officials hinged our prosperity on these boom and bust profits, disregarding the effects on the land and ignoring the inevitable decline. Now, we are in an economic, climate, and health crisis and the people of Alaska are living in a state of uncertainty.
But in the midst of uncertainty there is hope. We have an opportunity to shape the future of our state. Despite what the oil industry might want us to believe, our state is rich in more than oil. Our lands, waters and peoples are resilient. The government has mishandled our state’s wealth and resources for decades, and now we must create a different path forward.
We are cultivating a mass movement of Alaskans to rise up and demand that our government stop leaking Alaskan dollars out of the budget to fund the unsustainable oil industry. Instead, we need to invest in a sustainable future. Now is not the time to prop up a dying industry. We must be leaders in making a Just Transition to a renewable economy, fostering equitable relationships with the land, businesses and each other.
Our Campaigns
Stop AK LNG
Alaskans are uniting to stop a multi-billion dollar pipeline boondoggle that drains public money, hides the details, and threatens our future. We’re fighting to make sure our public money is used in better ways: building out reliable, clean, and affordable energy that keeps money and jobs in Alaska.
Make oil and gas pay what they owe
It’s commonly stated that Alaska has the most complicated oil tax structure in the world. The result is massive giveaways to the oil industry. We are working to end state support for fossil fuels so that oil companies owned by billionaires from outside of Alaska will finally pay what they owe.
Celebrations
For years, we’ve been advocating for changes to oil and gas subsidies, and those demands are finally being taken seriously in the legislature. In the past few legislative sessions, legislation with oil and gas subsidy reductions are being considered as serious answers to our state budget crisis.
We organized an art show called “What’s at Stake,” bringing together local artists and community members to showcase art that displays the role of fossil fuel subsidies in our community, and the world we want to build without them. In the future, we look forward to taking this show on the road, using art as a way to humanize the issue of fossil fuel subsidies.
In June of 2023, the Alaska Supreme Court issued an initial win for the city of Valdez in Regulatory Commission of Alaska v. The City of Valdez., a case challenging the terms of the BP-Hilcorp oil asset sale which was approved on a secret record in 2019. This win came after FCAC worked with AKPIRG and other communities across the state to showcase the public interest in this case.
What we do:
The KING! working group seeks to build a network of volunteer driven community climate action hubs across the state of Alaska. These hubs will work together and independently to uplift Indigenous leadership and traditional knowledge, and build a people-powered campaign that shifts the power structure in the state so that Alaskans will choose to end reliance on fossil fuel extraction and build a lasting, regenerative economy that protects our lands, waters and ways of life. Through this structure, we aim, to:
Change Alaska’s tax structure to eliminate excessive indirect expenditure write-off that greatly decrease state revenue.
Change the structure and function of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) to increase public participation and oversight, end funding extractive projects and instead fund regenerative solutions.
