Weeks before Alaska gets a new governor, its economic development arm goes on a spending spree

A $25 million investment in a nuclear energy startup. Another $36 million for a controversial mining road. And up to $75 million for a new state-owned company promoting broadband.

Those are among the multi-million-dollar decisions that GOP Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s appointees and state officials have made as part of a spending blitz by Alaska’s economic development arm just weeks before Dunleavy leaves office.

The spending announcements have totaled more than $200 million since August — and reflect an aggressive push by state officials to advance projects that could come under fresh scrutiny after Dec. 7, when Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins is set to become Alaska’s next governor.

“We’re trying to push everything forward, Mr. Chair, as our mission statement tells us to do — and frankly, as our Alaska Constitution tells us to do,” the executive director of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, Randy Ruaro, told board members at a Nov. 6 meeting.

The export authority, known as AIDEA, is a state-owned corporation that’s promoting some of Alaska’s biggest and most contentious resource development projects. Under Dunleavy, the agency has faced sharp criticism over investments in oil and gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, as well as in controversial mining road proposals.

The recent spending decisions have drawn scrutiny from skeptics. But AIDEA officials say they reflect months of work and staff time rather than a slapdash effort to get funds out the door. The corporation is self-funded and its finances are separate from the state’s operating fund.

Supporters say AIDEA’s investments will create jobs and generate new revenue for Alaska’s budget; they point also to a dividend that the agency pays to the state government annually — some $15 million this year.

Critics, though, say the export authority’s leaders have gone rogue, spending on speculative projects with limited oversight at a time when the rest of the state government has been strapped for cash.

Kreiss-Tomkins has said he would “completely reassess” AIDEA if elected and that he’s likely to change its leadership.

“We will have more to share once additional additional votes have been counted and the transition progresses,” a Kreiss-Tomkins campaign spokesperson said in a texted statement. The campaign declined an interview request.

In addition to authorizing tens of millions of dollars in entirely new investments, AIDEA is also ramping up a contentious plan to search for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, starting as soon as January if it can secure necessary permits.

The agency has already signed a contract for advanced geologic studies, and it “will incur significant financial impact if it is forced to terminate the program” after Nov. 29, lawyers representing the corporation said in a recent court filing.

Rep. Ashley Carrick, a Fairbanks Democrat who has pushed for stronger legislative oversight of AIDEA, said she’s broadly concerned about the corporation’s direction.

“I just feel like this administration is taking some actions on their way out the door that could have some pretty large implications for upcoming AIDEA projects and AIDEA spending,” Carrick said. “I’m not sure that’s the direction that most Alaskans want to see AIDEA go.”

In late October, AIDEA announced a $25 million investment in NuCube Energy, an Idaho-based startup that’s designing small nuclear reactors. That money has already been committed, AIDEA spokesperson Andrew Jensen confirmed in an email, and it gives AIDEA an ownership stake in the company. Neither AIDEA nor NuCube has publicly disclosed the size of that stake. NuCube is in the middle of a deal to become a publicly-traded company and “can’t comment beyond what has been publicly filed” with U.S.securities regulators, a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

AIDEA’s board, also in October, authorized staff to create a subsidiary focused on improving broadband in Alaska, and to transfer up to $75 million to it. Those funds have not yet been committed, Jensen said in an email.

A couple of weeks later, the authority’s board approved up to $10 million for a second equity deal — this one to acquire a stake in GeoAlaska, a small company studying geothermal energy potential beneath Augustine Island, a remote volcano in Cook Inlet.

Then, late last week, the board approved an estimated $86 million in spending on preliminary work on the proposed Ambler Road, a 211-mile haul road across northern Alaska that’s drawn fierce opposition from environmental groups. That figure includes $50 million that the agency had previously authorized.

Board members also in recent weeks have greenlit more than $50 million in cash and loans for shipyard projects in the Southeast Alaska towns of Wrangell and Ketchikan.

And on Nov. 9, AIDEA launched an investment platform run by a new subsidiary, Alaska Data Corp., in partnership with a San Francisco-based finance firm called Plural. The platform is designed to let Alaskans invest directly in specific projects, with the aim of financing data centers and other infrastructure. (It lists no offerings yet.)

AIDEA allocated $20 million for Alaska Data Corp. earlier this year. A web page for the subsidiary lists Brandon Brefczynski, AIDEA’s deputy director, as its president and another AIDEA official, former conservative talk radio host Dave Stieren, as its vice president.

AIDEA declined to make Ruaro available for an interview.

In an emailed statement, Jensen said AIDEA’s staff and board “take seriously their roles as fiduciaries” and have a “statutory mandate to advance economic growth and general well-being for Alaskans.”

The recent announcements “are proof we’re meeting that obligation,” the statement said, noting that the agency generated more than $60 million in annual net income and $52 million in total dividends over the past three years.

The spending decisions come after “months of staff work and due diligence,” the statement added.

The board has at least one more meeting, on Dec. 4, before a new governor takes office.

Jensen would not say whether the corporation would sign more deals between now and then. But the statement he emailed said that AIDEA “will continue to follow its fiduciary responsibilities and conduct all due diligence required, building on the countless hours of staff time that have brought” proposals forward.

This story was originally published in the Anchorage Press. Subscribe here.