**Title**: Energy in the North - Nils Andreassen
**Date**: October 14, 2026
**Participants**: Amanda Byrd, Nils Andreassen

00;00;00;14 - 00;00;01;06 [Nils Andreassen] The cost of diesel fuel this year has just skyrocketed. The conflict in, Ukraine. And then, Middle East, has really exacerbated everybody's planning difficulties.

00;00;10;19 - 00;00;17;03 [Amanda Byrd] This week on energy in the North, I speak with Nils Andreassen, the executive director for the Alaska municipal League. The organization is 76 years old and predates Alaska statehood. It was formed to strengthen local government and serves 165 cities and boroughs. I began the conversation by asking Nils what exactly does the Alaska municipal League do?

00;00;33;04 - 00;00;49;12 [Nils Andreassen] I think when I started eight years ago, we were mainly an advocacy organization and advocacy and conferences. We bring members together and talk about what their needs are. Make sure that state and federal policymakers understand them. Respond accordingly. In more recent years, we've shifted to a lot of member and shared services. So we're providing services to local governments. We help them collect tax. We help them invest. We, help provide insurance. We've shifted more recently to other kinds of services like planning and GIS and cybersecurity, basically, whatever strengthens a local government, and enables them to have the capacity to meet residents needs. That's kind of our mission.

00;01;12;19 - 00;01;14;03 [Amanda Byrd] You also put on events.

00;01;14;03 - 00;01;15;28 [Nils Andreassen] We host, annual conference, about a thousand people in Anchorage. We do a summer and spring conference as well, but we've added an infrastructure symposium every April. We'll host the Rural Energy Conference, this year at the end of October in Fairbanks. And every other year we host a tax conference, but our energy portfolio is actually expanded over these last few years.

00;01;35;23 - 00;01;48;16 [Amanda Byrd] So the Rural Energy Conference. In 2009 was the very first time that I helped put on my first rural energy conference, and that was in Fairbanks. It was one of the biggest things I have ever done in my life. It is a conference that brings people from rural Alaska.

00;01;53;15 - 00;02;03;10 [Nils Andreassen] Yeah. It's nuts and bolts. Operator-focused. Right. So for those who are running diesel powerhouses and managing community, power utilities, we want to really connect directly with them. We want to support them, and hopefully provide solutions, technology, processes, access to agencies and resources that can help them do their jobs. And better. So that's really what it's for. There will be a number of different tracks that kind of follow along those lines. It's really focused on just connecting with them, pretty directly and giving them tangible solutions. So less policy, less business. More like here's how you how you manage a rural, powerhouse and utility.

00;02;34;16 - 00;02;44;01 [Amanda Byrd] This conference is not only for rural, remote people. This conference is actually for anybody who wants to attend. How do people sign up for this?

00;02;44;04 - 00;02;47;24 [Nils Andreassen] There's a website - AKruralenergy.org where folks can learn more. The agenda will be up online. Opportunities to attend, to sponsor, to engage with folks who are attending. It's a great opportunity.

00;02;56;04 - 00;02;59;14 [Amanda Byrd] So yesterday, the headline, and this was recorded in August, the headline yesterday read that gasoline prices in Shungnak were at $26 a gallon. That's got to be a point of topic at the conference this year.

00;03;11;05 - 00;03;11;24 [Nils Andreassen] Yeah. The cost of diesel fuel this year just skyrocketed. The conflict in, Ukraine, and then the Middle East has really exacerbated everybody's planning difficulties. We tried to tackle this a little bit during the legislative session. And there was a bill that was passed that increased the amount that communities could borrow for their bulk fuel needs. That doesn't lower the cost. It just gives them more access to funding to pay for it sufficiently. There is work to do. I know we worked with the legislature to try to get more funding out to communities to offset some of those costs, and that was moderately successful. But there's going to be pain points over the course of this year. And I think we're just starting to see those higher cost translate, out into rural Alaska, especially.

00;03;50;22 - 00;03;58;12 [Amanda Byrd] Nils Andreassen is the executive director for the Alaska municipal League, and I'm Amanda Byrd, chief storyteller for the Alaska Center for Energy and Power. Find this story and more at uaf.edu/acep and follow us on social media.