Salmon conservation and fishing NGO SalmonState has raised concerns with Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy’s efforts to slash regulatory requirements amid the state’s ongoing budget crisis, suggesting the changes will hurt “every Alaskan who hunts, fishes, and depends on wild salmon.”
On 4 August, Dunleavy issued an administrative order directing state agencies to streamline regulations and guidance, with a goal of reducing regulatory requirements by 15 percent by the end of 2026 and by 25 percent by the end of 2027. Among the changes outlined in the order is the establishment of clear permitting timelines, with projects automatically approved in the event of a missed deadline. Dunleavy also directed state Department of Natural Resources, Department of Environmental Conservation, and Department of Fish and Game to streamline their permitting processes.
“Alaska must compete on the world stage,” Dunleavy said in a statement. “This order eliminates unnecessary red tape, modernizes permitting, and promotes accountability – while maintaining strong protections for our people and environment.”
SalmonState slammed Dunleavy’s statement, claiming the governor was weakening salmon protections “in favor of outside interests whose sole objective is increasing billionaire bank accounts and lining the pockets of far off investors.”
“Dunleavy says we need to handcuff our experts and apply arbitrary timelines to development projects in order to compete on the world’s stage; who are we competing with: New Jersey?” SalmonState Executive Director Tim Bristol said in a statement.
Dunleavy’s orders come amid a state budget crisis driven by a steep drop in tax and settlement revenue from oil companies – declining from USD 281 million (EUR 241 million) in 2020 to USD 3.1 million (EUR 2.7 million) in 2024, according to Alaska Public Media. At the beginning of August, the state legislature again passed a bill requiring the Dunleavy administration to turn over oil tax data in the format requested by the legislative auditor, overriding the governor’s veto. State lawmakers claim the governor has refused to turn over oil tax data in a useful format for five years, providing only raw data that the legislative auditor claims is unusable.
“These [administrative orders] are the latest installment in Dunleavy’s relentless campaign to deny the Alaska public critical information while working to dismantle the set of checks and balances that help make Alaska the best place to live in America," Bristol said.
State lawmakers are also preparing to subpoena Dunleavy’s administration for the tax and settlement information.
“It flaunts his disregard for the constitutional separation of powers and ignores countless compromises made, assuming reasonable regulatory balance between those who want to privatize all of Alaska's resources for their own profit and those who appreciate the great benefit of an owner state,” former Republican Alaska Senate President and SalmonState advisor Rick Halford said.
