Update: Public Comment Deadline Extended to July 17, 2026

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources has extended the public comment deadline for the Preliminary Decision on ADL 422741, the proposed STAK Energy Corporation land lease application.

All comments must be received in writing no later than 4:30 p.m. Alaska Daylight Time on July 17, 2026.

Written comments may be submitted to:

Division of Oil and Gas, Permitting Section
550 W. 7th Avenue, Suite 1100
Anchorage, AK 99501
Email: DOG.Permitting@alaska.gov
Phone: (907) 269-8800

Please note that this extension is not the result of any new information submitted by the applicant. The application materials and Preliminary Decision available for public review and comment remain unchanged from those originally noticed.

An updated public notice reflecting the revised comment deadline has been posted here: Public Notice of Preliminary Decision: ADL 422741, Land Lease Application, STAK Energy Corporation – Alaska Online Public Notices.

We encourage Alaskans to submit any additional comments or information they would like DNR to consider before the close of the extended comment period.

 

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources has released a Preliminary Decision and supporting documents for the proposed STAK Energy Campus, a large natural gas-powered high-performance computing facility near Dalton Highway Milepost 390 on the North Slope. The documents do not represent final approval of the project. They do, however, move the proposal into a formal public review process for a potential 50-year negotiated lease of state land.

At its core, this proposal is not simply a “data center.” It is a combined industrial power plant, high-performance computing campus, remote Arctic operations base, and future pipeline-dependent gas project. That distinction matters because the environmental and financial implications extend well beyond server buildings.

The project would occupy approximately 715.4 acres of state land about 26 miles south of Deadhorse and roughly one mile west of the Dalton Highway. The proposed footprint includes a principal gravel pad of approximately 640 acres, a 1.8-mile gravel access road, maintenance buffers, on-site natural gas power generation, high-performance computing buildings, worker facilities, utility systems, and fiber optic infrastructure. The project would require roughly 7.1 million cubic yards of gravel fill to build a stable working surface over permafrost.

STAK proposes 1 to 3 gigawatts of on-site natural gas-fired generation, with electricity consumed behind the meter by the computing facility rather than delivered to the Railbelt or another Alaska utility grid. Natural gas would be supplied through one or more dedicated pipelines from producing or developing fields estimated to be 25 to 90 miles from the site. That pipeline infrastructure is not part of the current lease application and would require separate authorizations and review.

These maps show the proposed STAK Energy Campus location near Dalton Highway Milepost 390, including its proximity to Deadhorse, the Dalton Highway, TAPS, the AGDC right-of-way, the Sag River, and the MP390 gravel pit. They also illustrate the project’s proposed footprint: a large pad area, access road, lease boundary, buffers, and internal facility layout for data centers, power generation, cooling systems, substations, control center, and camp facilities.

What the Preliminary Decision Means

DNR’s Preliminary Decision is a preliminary best-interest finding. It means the agency has determined that issuing a 50-year negotiated lease may be in the State’s interest, subject to public comment and additional review before a Final Finding and Decision.

The public comment period is therefore a critical part of the process. The current documents show what DNR and STAK are proposing, but they also show that many important details remain unresolved. Those unresolved details include final lease compensation, gas supply terms, pipeline routing, air emissions modeling, wetland delineation, permafrost thermal modeling, cultural resource surveys, and the amount of financial assurance required for reclamation.

Because the proposed lease term is 50 years, the question is not just whether STAK can build the project. The question is whether the State has enough information now to determine that this long-term use of public land, gas, gravel, and regulatory capacity is in the public interest.

Financial Analysis: Public Revenue Versus Public Risk

The documents identify several potential economic benefits: construction spending, lease revenue, jobs, property tax value, and a new commercial use for North Slope gas. DNR also notes that STAK has estimated approximately $500 million in site evaluation, engineering, gravel road and pad construction, and initial camp and support infrastructure.

That number is significant, but it should not be interpreted as the full project cost. A 1 to 3 gigawatt gas-fired power facility paired with large-scale high-performance computing infrastructure would require major additional investment in turbines, computing modules, substations, backup systems, fiber, workforce facilities, pipeline infrastructure, and long-term operations. The public record does not disclose the full capital cost, expected annual revenue, customer contracts, gas pricing, financing structure, or projected tax payments.

The proposed lease compensation structure is one of the most important financial issues. DNR states that the final lease would include both a base rental rate and an additional rental based on a percentage of annual gross receipts from the lessee and any sublessees. This is important because a standard per-acre rent would likely fail to capture the value of a large AI or cloud-computing campus using Alaska land and gas resources. A gross-receipts component could allow the State to participate in the project’s upside.

However, the key terms are not yet available to the public. The documents do not disclose the base rent, the gross receipts percentage, what counts as gross receipts, whether affiliate transactions are included, how sublease revenue would be treated, what audit rights the State would have, or whether there would be minimum annual payments. Without those details, the public cannot evaluate whether the lease would provide a fair return.

The project’s gas demand also raises significant financial questions. STAK’s own cumulative impact analysis estimates that full simple-cycle operation could consume roughly 350 to 500 million standard cubic feet of gas per day. Annualized, that equals approximately 128 to 183 billion cubic feet per year. Over a 50-year lease term, sustained operation at that level would imply several trillion cubic feet of gas consumption.

That could create a major new private market for North Slope gas. But the documents do not explain how gas would be priced, whether gas use would affect other gas commercialization pathways, what royalty or tax revenues would result, or how the State would evaluate the opportunity cost of dedicating large volumes of North Slope gas to behind-the-meter computing.

The project also creates financial risk. The proposed infrastructure would be large, remote, energy-intensive, and built in permafrost terrain. Reclamation could involve removal of industrial buildings, turbines, tanks, electrical systems, batteries, electronic waste, roads, gravel infrastructure, and contaminated materials if spills occur. DNR requires a performance guaranty, but the amount is not included in the documents and would be based on an independent estimate provided by the applicant.

A technically sound financial review should therefore require, at minimum, disclosure of projected lease payments, gross-receipts rent terms, projected property tax value, gas supply and pricing assumptions, full buildout cost, pipeline ownership and cost structure, and a reclamation bond sufficient to cover worst-case abandonment or cleanup.

Environmental Analysis: A Major Industrial Footprint in Permafrost Terrain

The environmental impacts of the STAK proposal are driven by scale. The project would convert a large area of tundra and wetlands into an industrial campus and would operate continuously for decades. Its major environmental issues include habitat conversion, hydrology changes, permafrost risk, air emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, caribou and migratory bird impacts, subsistence concerns, noise, lighting, and cumulative industrialization of the Dalton/TAPS corridor.

Land, Wetlands, and Gravel

The proposed 715-acre lease area includes a roughly 640-acre gravel pad. STAK’s cumulative impact analysis acknowledges that this is large by North Slope standards and compares it to other major industrial footprints. Gravel placement at this scale would alter the local landscape for decades. Even with careful design, a large gravel pad can affect tundra vegetation, wetlands, surface hydrology, snow drifting, dust deposition, and wildlife movement.

A key missing piece is a site-specific wetland delineation. The documents identify wetland delineation as a future study needed for Clean Water Act Section 404 permitting. That means the public is being asked to comment on the land lease before knowing the precise wetland types, acreages, functions, and mitigation requirements.

Permafrost and Thermal Risk

The project would be built in continuous permafrost terrain. STAK proposes a thick gravel pad to create a thermally stable surface, but the project would also introduce substantial new heat loads into a warming Arctic landscape. The power generation system would release heat through turbine exhaust, while the computing facility would continuously reject low-grade waste heat through dry cooling systems.

This creates a long-term engineering and environmental risk. The question is not just whether the pad can be built. The question is whether it can remain stable over a 50-year lease term under climate warming, altered drainage, snow accumulation, industrial heat rejection, and potential settlement.

STAK’s own cumulative impact analysis identifies thermal modeling of permafrost response to facility waste heat, incorporating climate change scenarios, as a recommended additional study. That modeling should be completed before the State makes a final long-term land decision.

Air Quality and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The proposed 1 to 3 gigawatt natural gas-fired power system would make the project a major new combustion source. The facility would require air quality permitting, Best Available Control Technology analysis, and detailed emissions modeling. Those analyses have not yet been completed in the lease documents.

Greenhouse gas emissions are central to the project’s design. The facility is proposed as a large, continuous gas-fired power plant supporting energy-intensive computing. Carbon capture, utilization, and storage is not included in the initial design. STAK states that carbon capture could be evaluated in the future, but current North Slope CO₂ transportation, sequestration, and regulatory infrastructure is not in place.

This means that greenhouse gas emissions are not incidental. They are a direct consequence of the project’s power model.

Water and Cooling

The project does have one notable environmental distinction from many Lower 48 data centers: it proposes to use Arctic ambient air for dry cooling rather than evaporative cooling. That could substantially reduce direct operational water demand compared with data centers in warmer regions.

However, lower cooling-water demand does not eliminate the project’s hydrologic impacts. Gravel fill, culverts, drainage design, winter construction, ice roads, water withdrawals, dust control, domestic water use, fire suppression, and pipeline construction all require analysis. The project’s hydrologic impacts should be evaluated as part of the full industrial system, not only through the narrower lens of data center cooling.

Caribou, Birds, and Subsistence

The project is located within the broader North Slope industrial corridor and within the range of the Central Arctic Caribou Herd. The documents acknowledge potential impacts to caribou movement and displacement, particularly in relation to roads, pipelines, traffic, noise, and construction timing. Proposed mitigation includes timing restrictions and pipeline crossing design, but the effectiveness of those measures depends on final routing, design, operations, and monitoring.

Migratory birds are also a concern because the Arctic Coastal Plain supports important nesting habitat. Direct habitat loss, artificial lighting, industrial noise, and increased human activity can affect nesting and movement patterns. The documents identify nesting bird surveys as a future study need, meaning site-specific bird information is not yet complete.

Subsistence impacts require more than general engagement commitments. North Slope communities rely on subsistence resources as a cultural, nutritional, and economic foundation. A project of this scale should include enforceable consultation, monitoring, and mitigation commitments developed with affected communities before final approval.

Connected Actions Cannot Be Treated as Separate From the Project

The lease documents make clear that several major pieces of infrastructure are necessary for the project but are not fully included in the current lease decision. These include gas pipelines from fields 25 to 90 miles away, use of the MP390 gravel source, possible Dalton Highway access modifications, and fiber optic corridors.

This is one of the most important technical issues. The campus cannot operate without gas supply infrastructure. A pipeline corridor could create additional disturbance to wetlands, tundra, permafrost, wildlife movement, and cultural resources over dozens of miles. Treating the lease pad as the entire project would understate the full footprint and cumulative effects.

DNR should not finalize a 50-year lease without a clear analysis of connected infrastructure and a transparent explanation of how the State will evaluate the full project, not just the initial surface lease.

Data Gaps Identified in the Documents

The documents themselves identify major unresolved information needs, including:

• site-specific wetland delineation for the 715-acre footprint and pipeline corridor;
• nesting bird surveys;
• Phase I cultural resource survey;
• full PSD-level air quality dispersion modeling;
• geotechnical and permafrost investigations;
• gas pipeline routing and route-specific environmental analysis;
• noise propagation modeling;
• detailed emissions inventory; and
• thermal modeling of permafrost response to facility waste heat under climate change scenarios.

Public Interest Questions DNR Should Answer Before a Final Decision

Before DNR issues a Final Finding and Decision, the public should have clear answers to the following questions:

1. What is the full estimated cost of the project, including power generation, computing infrastructure, pipeline infrastructure, and long-term operations?
2. What base rent, gross-receipts percentage, and minimum annual payment will the State require?
3. How will “gross receipts” be defined, audited, and enforced, especially if STAK uses affiliates, subleases, or related-party contracts?
4. What are the expected property tax benefits to the North Slope Borough?
5. What gas volumes would the project consume annually, and what royalty, tax, or other public revenue would result?
6. What is the complete footprint of the gas pipeline, gravel extraction, road access, and fiber infrastructure?
7. How much wetland and tundra habitat would be directly and indirectly affected?
8. What are the modeled greenhouse gas emissions under 1 GW, 2 GW, and 3 GW buildout scenarios?
9. How will DNR evaluate permafrost stability over a 50-year term?
10. What financial assurance will be required to ensure the State is not left with cleanup, reclamation, or abandonment costs?

 Before DNR makes a final decision, Alaskans deserve a full accounting of who benefits, who pays, what land and resources are committed, what impacts are likely, and who carries the long-term risk.

Here are some quick facts on this project: STAK-Quick-Facts.pdf

How to Submit Comments

DNR is accepting public comments on the Preliminary Decision for the proposed STAK Energy Corporation lease until 4:30 p.m. Alaska Daylight Time on June 15, 2026.

Written comments can be submitted to:

Division of Oil and Gas Permitting Section
550 West 7th Avenue, Suite 1100
Anchorage, AK 99501
Phone: (907) 269-8800
Email: dog.permitting@alaska.gov

Comments may also be submitted through the State of Alaska Online Public Notice page for ADL 422741, Land Lease Application, STAK Energy Corporation.

Submitting written comments during this comment period is important. Under the public notice, commenters who are aggrieved by DNR’s Final Finding and Decision will have the right to appeal it, but to be eligible to appeal, a person must have submitted written comments during the comment period. DNR states that a copy of the Final Finding and Decision will be sent to anyone who comments on the Preliminary Decision and will include an explanation of the appeal process.