House Resources Committee revises governor’s Alaska LNG bill, seeking more revenue
The Alaska State Capitol in Juneau on January 23, 2026. (Marc Lester / ADN)
An Alaska House committee has made significant changes to Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s bill for the Alaska LNG megaproject, proposing a smaller tax break designed to generate more revenue for local communities and the state.
The new measure in the House Resources Committee, which passed Monday without objection, comes after the Senate Resources Committee last week adopted its own substitute bill that seeks to raise the most revenue of the three proposals.
Dunleavy introduced his measure in March, seeking to support the project by replacing state and local property taxes with a much smaller “alternative volumetric tax” based on the amount of gas flow.
Resources committees in both chambers have spent weeks studying Dunleavy’s bill before presenting their substitutes, with the idea that a break on property taxes could help quickly bring the project to fruition. Project officials have said they could start laying pipe this year, though there has no been final investment decision approving construction.
Alaska LNG is the latest version of several projects that over the last half-century have tried to tap the state’s vast stores of natural gas on the remote North Slope.
The project’s high cost has always been a barrier. It’s currently estimated at $46 billion, though critics believe it will be far more expensive.
The project proposes shipping natural gas in an 800-mile pipeline for use in Southcentral Alaska starting in 2029.
Project backers say a gas treatment plant and a gas liquefaction plant would be built next so gas can also be exported overseas to big Asian buyers, starting in 2031.
Alaska leaders consider the project important for the state’s future economic growth.
Lawmakers are grappling with finding the right balance to support the project while still ensuring that Alaska communities can earn enough revenue to deal with impacts from the potential influx of thousands of workers.
Jeff Turner, a spokesperson for the governor’s office, said the project could save Alaska households $1,450 per year on energy bills, versus anticipated costs for imported gas. The administration and House Resources are “working productively on streamlining the bill,” he said.
“There are only three weeks left for lawmakers to pass a clean, straightforward LNG volumetric tax bill that incentivizes the project’s finances,” he said. “Weighing the bill down with conditions and additional taxes make the pipeline far less likely to happen. If lawmakers want the project to go forward they need to focus on fixing the state’s existing property tax which has some of the highest rates in the world.”
Larry Persily, an oil and gas analyst and former Alaska deputy commissioner of revenue, said the House and Senate versions are similar enough that even with just three weeks left in the session, lawmakers have time to pass a single version.
“It’s a lot of work, but they are on a similar path in that the governor’s proposal is inadequate in the eyes of the Legislature and the communities,” he said. “But three weeks is an eternity when you want to accomplish something.”
The committee’s co-chair, Rep. Robyn Niayuq Frier, D-Utqiagvik, said during the hearing that the substitute is a “working document” that will receive its next hearing on Wednesday, and possible amendments.
Like the proposal in the Senate, the new House substitute would retain the governor’s proposed volumetric tax.
Dunleavy had proposed taxing the gas flowing through the full project at 6 cents for every 1,000 cubic feet, which would bring in about $75 million annually for state and local revenues. That’s far below the $1 billion annually the project could receive in property taxes under existing state law.
The House substitute proposes taxing gas flowing through the pipe at 5 cents for every 1,000 cubic feet, generating about $65 million a year for local and state revenues.
But separately, it also would tax the gas flow through the gas treatment plant at 5 cents per 1,000 cubic feet, and the liquefied natural gas plant at 10 cents per 1,000 cubic feet, generating more revenue to Alaska communities, according to a summary of the bill.
The House substitute sets a quicker timeline for that revenue to start, compared to the governor’s bill.
The House substitute also gives the North Slope and Kenai Peninsula boroughs the option to replace the volumetric tax with an equity stake in the project.
The North Slope Borough would be home to the gas treatment plant.
The Kenai Peninsula Borough would be home to the large plant that makes liquefied natural gas, or LNG, so the gas could be exported overseas to large Asian buyers.
In addition to those significant additions, both those boroughs would also have a portion of the pipeline in their backyard.
The amount of revenue the substitute might generate for the state and local communities was not presented in the hearing Monday.
Officials with the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., a minority partner in the project alongside 75% owner Glenfarne, said in the hearing that the substitute bill has some positive attributes for the project and represents progress toward a final investment decision.
But they added that it poses some challenges due to its higher take on the project than the governor has proposed.
“It will create more of a challenge in terms of the economics of the project as more taxes are placed on project,” said Frank Richards, head of the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., at the hearing.
Richards also urged the Legislature to act quickly, saying the state faces an energy crisis as locally produced gas from Cook Inlet wanes.
Post Malone ends Stagecoach 2026 set with fiery pro-war anthem
Visit Post Malone’s Smallest Bar In The West in Indio with us
The Indio installation is a marketing activation promoting Bud Light’s new Post Malone branded mini beers.
This certainly wasn’t Post Malone’s first Indio rodeo.
The rapper-turned-country-star has been no stranger to our fair valley’s mega music festivals in (very) recent years. He first played a popular cover- (and guest-) filled set that served as his country coming out party at Stagecoach 2024, only to return for Coachella to play a set of headlining gigs that felt less unanimously well-received.
So, when this year’s Stagecoach lineup dropped with Post Malone’s name prominently displayed as the Sunday headliner, there was more than a little grumbling from some who seem to have grown tired of our heavily-tattooed frequent house guest and would’ve preferred to have spent the last evening of festival season with anyone else.
But while I still can’t necessarily endorse what I believe was an unprecedented decision to have Malone headline both festivals in back-to-back years , I can say this: I think old Posty finally found a festival groove that really works for him during his fourth weekend as a festival performer at the polo grounds.
While Malone’s Coachella show provoked criticism for everything from the country fried twang with which he delivered some of his rap hits to a stage presence that sometimes felt over-the-top in its aw shucks humbleness, the musician packaged his schtick Sunday, April 26, in a way that seemed perfectly pitched to Stagecoach’s country loving crowd.
That crowd, in turn, seemed to eat up a show that seemed to fully embrace much of what worked about Malone’s beloved first Stagecoach show — the casual, even intimate vibe and Post’s inability to resist covering his favorite country tunes — while dispensing with some of the aspects that made the Coachella show less successful.
Among the latter was that show’s comparatively elaborate set and truck stop theme, which, for Stagecoach 2026, were jettisoned in favor of a simple setup that used pyrotechnics and occasional fireworks to generate a more old-fashioned spectacle that felt appropriately Stagecoach.
Then there was the music itself. The Coachella crowd seemed more interested in the bangers like “White Iverson” and “Circles” that made Malone one of America’s most streamed artists — and are part of the reason many became uninterested, even annoyed by, Malone’s country evolution.
Somehow, Malone seems to have found a way to effectively merge all sides of the Post experience here — or at least an audience that was more sufficiently open to them. I felt this was particularly illustrated by one section near the end of the set that saw Malone play three songs in succession that felt like an ideal sampling of his many sides and earlier polo ground shows (and that delivered an experience that was uniquely Post Malone, of course).
First up was the cover of a modern country classic, Kenny Chesney’s “How Forever Feels.” Then came the immortal Post Malone rap banger “Sunflower,” and finally, the country anthem that feels so perfectly Stagecoach, “I Had Some Help,” which he memorably debuted with Morgan Wallen during the latter’s headlining set in 2024.
There was no Wallen this time — let’s not forget that Ella Langley told us during her Friday Mane Stage set that he was on “dad duty” this weekend and couldn’t come — but it was no matter, the crowd seemed plenty happy to belt out the words along with Post.
In a way, even Malone’s choice to mainly highlight lower-billed Stagecoach artists (Jake Worthington and Braxton Keith) as special guests rather than one of the many superstar collaborators from his country album “F-1 Trillion” felt oh-so-Stagecoach given that the festival more typically eschews eye-popping guest surprises in favor of having the billed artists join one another on stage.
There did seem to be one attempt at adding some higher star wattage when Shaboozey suddenly joined Malone on stage and danced around (but didn’t appear to sing much or at all) during “I Had Some Help.” But even that brief appearance felt highly casual (perhaps too much so) — though Malone did seem to mutter something about him and Shaboozey working on something together.
Heck, even Malone’s rather aggressive product placement of his Post-branded mini Bud Light cans (which have been heavily marketed at the festival, from plane banners overhead to a mini pop-up bar only selling that one item) seemed to land well enough with the Bud Light loving crowd.
But if Malone’s Stagecoach debut in 2024 marked the start of his transformation into a country artist, this seemed to be the one where he fully assumed all the trappings of a country star.
Those would include the symbolic and political ones, as Malone pointedly ended his show with a cover of Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.”
That fist-pumping, unapologetically militant anthem was famously released by Keith in the wake of 9/11, and has become among the more polarizing country songs in recent memory because of its vengeful, jingoistic message. The song’s notoriety only seemed to grow during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars that would follow, when some would come to see it as the ultimate patriotic anthem while others came to regard it as summarizing everything that was wrong with the thinking that led the US into those wars in the first place.
So, for Malone to not only end the set by playing the song, but to pause for dramatic effect in the middle to loudly bellow its most contentious and memorable lyric, “and you’ll be sorry you messed with the US of A ‘cause we’ll put a boot in your ass, it’s the American way” — in a moment that felt like an exclamation point — was an unmistakably pointed choice at a time when the US finds itself in another war in the Middle East.
It was an unsubtle choice that felt especially notable given that Post Malone had never, until now, struck me as a very political artist. But I don’t think anyone would say that now, as Malone beamed from ear to ear and, with the US again in a controversial war, declared “and the eagle will fly and it’s gonna be hell when you hear mother freedom start ringin’ her bell and it’ll feel like the whole world is raining down on you.”
If nothing else, it was definitely the kind of message you won’t usually get at Coachella, delivered by a star who now seems fully at home both in the world of country music and its biggest festival.
Live Between the Hedges brings live music back to Sanford Stadium | Arts & Culture
For the first time in13 years, live music returned to the stage atSanford Stadium on April 25 at 6 p.m.Georgia natives Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan were joined by fellow award-winning artists Zach TopandLauren Alainafor the firstLive Between the Hedges concert,presented byPruittHealth.
Bryan and Aldean first played Sanford Stadium in 2013 as part of Aldean’s “Night Train” tour,which marked the only concert ever held at the venue. Georgia Athletics partnered withDugas-Jackson Consulting and Does Entertainmentto bring them back to the stage once again.
Fans with pit tickets waited at the gates hours before the concert began with hopes of making it to the front row.
Lauren Alainaopened the concert with“Thicc As Thieves,”drawing a wave of cheers and excitement from the crowd.
During her set, she performed“Little Things” as a meaningful tribute to her father who unexpectedly died in July 2024.
“If you’re here tonight and you’ve lost someone, you know what I mean,” Alania said during her set. “Life is so short and life is so precious. Call your family. Make sure that you focus on the things that matter.”
Taylee Hixon,an attendee of the concert, traveled from Charlotte, North Carolina, to come to the show. She said she was most looking forward to seeing Jason Aldean perform.
“I’ve loved Jason Aldean for so many years and it was my birthday week last week … we [made] a four hour drive,” Hixton said.
Co-headliners Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan took the stage together, opening their set with“My Kinda Party”by Aldean.
Noah Jordan, a sophomore mechanical engineering student at the University of Georgia and longtime fan of Aldean, said he was most looking forward to hearing him perform “Why.”
“It’s a great time getting to be in Sanford with the second concert,” Jordan said. “I think they should do it more in Sanford, other SEC schools get it a lot.”
As the night began to come to a close, Aldean and Bryan welcomed Kirby Smart to the stage to call the Dawgs and give his request: “She’s Country” by Aldean.
Aldean and Bryan concluded the concert side by side, and the packed stadium made it clear that live music is welcome back between the hedges.
The Vast Landscape of U.S. Exchange Traded Products
As of the end of March, there were 4,915 exchange-traded products (ETPs), including exchange-traded funds (ETFs), listed on U.S. exchanges. That’s a big universe, one that seemingly grows daily. That vast population also ensures some ETFs are mirror images of competing funds.
A familiar example is the landscape of market capitalization-weighted S&P 500 ETFs. The titans of this space all do the same thing: track the S&P 500, with only branding and expense ratios differing.
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Such similarities are also found in the commodities ETF realm, particularly in the somewhat dense gold ETF segment, where a sizable number of funds provide investors with exposure to physical bullion. Again, the only differences are the fund issuers, fees, and, in the gold example, the issuer’s storage of the yellow metal.
Silver, often viewed as gold’s “little brother,” is part of this scenario, too. Just look at the iShares Silver Trust (NYSEMKT: SLV) and the abrdn Physical Silver Shares ETF (NYSEMKT: SIVR), both of which provide exposure to, you guessed it, physical silver. But which one is better?
Making a golden choice with silver ETFs
Enthusiasm for silver ETFs is palpable. Buoyed by rising demand for the commodity from renewable energy and data centers, silver prices surged over the past year, helping both of these silver-tracking ETFs more than double in value over that time. Adding to the white metal’s potency is the fact that demand is outstripping supply because miners can’t get enough product to market fast enough.
Indeed, there’s some good news above, but it doesn’t solve the riddle of how to choose between the iShares ETF and its Aberdeen rival (Aberdeen is the issuer and “abrdn” is a brand). Fortunately, investors, particularly those wanting to own silver for the long term, don’t have to stretch to get an answer. In comparing two ETFs that do the same thing, the deciding factor often boils down to fees.
Data confirm that, across stocks, bonds, and even gold ETFs, investors consistently and overwhelmingly lean toward the cheapest funds. If you’re in that camp, deciding between the two silver ETFs is easy. The iShares fund charges 0.5% per year, or $50 on a $10,000 investment, while its Aberdeen rival charges 0.3% annually. As the chart below indicates, those savings add up after awhile.
