11-26-16 Trump's Interior Department Appointments = Pluses & Minuses

11-26-16 Trump’s Interior Department Appointments = Pluses & Minuses

Choosing An Interior Secretary

Sean Parnell - crop-straight-seal by Dave Harbour - 9-2-11

Parnell

Dan Sullivan by Dave Harbour CU-L - DNR - 9-8-11IMG_0310_CR2

Sullivan

Cronin

Two potential Alaskan picks for Interior Secretary offer both advantages and disadvantages. Bob Gilliam, below, has used his wealth to support anti-development activism that injures the constitutional guarantee of ‘due process’. Sarah Palin created a predatory oil tax and applied it retroactively, injuring Alaska’s investment climate for nearly a decade. We doubt either has the management capacity to ‘drain the swamp’ of eco-extremism in the Interior Department. If an Alaskan is to be chosen, a better choice might be former governor Sean Parnell or U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan — both lawyers with management experience whose philosophies are pro-development, enhanced with a rational element of conservation. We also believe the public interest would be well served were an Alaska scientist, like Dr. Matt Cronin, to be involved in an agency leadership position within Interior…like the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. -dh

Bob Gillam

Bob Gillam

ADN. Alaska millionaire investor Robert B. Gillam is making a serious play for the position of Interior Secretary in president-elect Donald Trump’s administration.

Gillam, 70, is a lifelong Alaskan who lives primarily in Anchorage in a home on Campbell Lake, with his wife Mary Lou. He also has a home near Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. In 2015, Forbes Magazine named Gillam the richest person in Alaska, estimating his net worth at $320 million.

According to his son, Gillam woke on Nov. 9 with a new drive to get involved in politics now that a fellow 1968 Wharton graduate was headed to the White House.

Sarah Palin

FusionNet. In Trump’s America, Sarah Palin might be the next secretary of the Interior Department. According to an anonymous Politico source, the former Alaska governor and onetime vice-presidential hopeful is being considered for the job, and Trump has already said she will certainly hold a place in his cabinet. Other people reportedly on Trump’s short list for the Interior Secretary position include oil barons and Trump’s own son, Donald Trump Jr., who The Washington Post says could conceivably squeak past nepotism laws by declining to be paid a salary.

About the Author: wpnorthern

Dave Harbour, publisher of Northern Gas Pipelines, is a former Chairman of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, a Commissioner Emeritus of NARUC, NARUC's Official Representative to IOGCC and Vice Chairman of NARUC's Gas Committee. He served as Gas Committee Chairman of the Western Conference of Public Service Commissioners. He also served as commissioner of the Anchorage Bicentennial Commission and the Anchorage Heritage Land Bank Commission. He earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree: English, at Colorado State University, a Master of Science Degree: Communications-Journalism at Murray State University and graduated from Utility Regulatory School for Commissioners at Michigan State University. He served as a Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs at Alaska Pacific University, taught bank marketing classes at the University of Alaska and was an English teacher at Los Alamos High School. Harbour served in ranks of Private - Captain during a 4-year assignment with the Army in Korea, Idaho, Georgia and Fort Meade and received the Meritorious Service Medal among other commendations. Harbour is also a past Chairman of the Alaska Council on Economic Education, the Alaska Oil & Gas Association Government Affairs Committee, the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, the Export Council of Alaska and the Department of Commerce's District Export Council. He is a past President of the Alaska Press Club, American Bald Eagle Foundation, Consumer Energy Alliance-Alaska and Common Sense for Alaska. Harbour was instrumental in founding the American Bald Eagle Research Institute (UAS), the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, the Downtown Anchorage Business Partnership, and Arctic Power. He also served as CEO of several small Alaska organizations, including the Anchorage Parking Authority and Action Security, Inc. Harbour is also Chairman Emeritus of the Alaska Oil & Gas Congress. Harbour's wife, Nancy, is a professional, performing arts administrator and his three boys, Todd, Benjamin and William work in the fields of environmental management, energy marketing and medicine.