The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority told the Alaska Senate Resources Committee on Feb. 14 that it has staged a conditional corporate guarantee to backstop FEED (front-end engineering and design) work for the Alaska LNG project and detailed its broader loan, investment and resource-development activity.

Randy Rarrow, executive director of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, told the committee the backstop would be limited, conditional and capped at the amount of actual FEED work completed rather than a hard $50 million draw. "It's going to reflect only the actual amount of work completed for FEED," Rarrow said, adding ADA would pay only if the project sponsor opted not to proceed to final investment decision.

The guarantee was described as a contract that would set aside ADA assets as a contingent liability; Rarrow told senators ADA staff and the board had negotiated the structure so the authority's funds would remain ADA assets rather than appear in the state operating budget. "According to the statutes for ADA, ADA receipts and ADA revenue over the years ... are not considered state 'quote unquote' funds," Rarrow told the committee.

Why it matters: the proposed backstop was included earlier as a $50 million appropriation in the governor's budget; ADA said it could offer a conditional guarantee without that appropriation because the authority's assets are legally separate from the state's operating funds. Several senators said they want to see the final contract terms and asked whether the authority would receive specific consideration for taking on the contingent liability.

Key financial figures and actions: Rarrow described ADA's balance sheet and recent results for the committee. He said ADA's net position is roughly $1.5 billion; the authority reported its highest statutory net income in its history at about $65 million and that the board declared a $20 million dividend for payment in fiscal 2026. Rarrow said the board had approved a $50 million revolving credit facility for Hex (Cook Inlet) to support gas production and that ADA had committed about $200 million of its cash on hand to several named projects including a North Slope methanol plant and an Anchorage hotel. "We have roughly $345 million in cash on hand," Rarrow said, adding that roughly $200 million was committed to specific projects and that ADA keeps a target cushion of about $100 million.

ADA programs and examples: the authority reviewed its loan participation program (LPP), project finance activity, conduit revenue bonds and energy and resource development work. Rarrow said LPP remains ADA's largest asset class, where local banks ask ADA to participate when a loan would otherwise not close. He cited recent LPP examples including the Wild Birch (downtown Anchorage hotel) and Sun Mountain Development in Wasilla, and a Fairbanks project for Golden Heart Waste Management. He told the committee LPP volume runs roughly $21 million to $25 million a year.

Resource projects and development: Rarrow summarized ADA's involvement in several resource projects: Red Dog Mine (ADA owns the road and port), a planned methanol plant on the North Slope (Alieschem), a revolving line of credit for Hex/ Cook Inlet gas producers, and ADA's role in Ambler access and West Susitna access projects. Rarrow said ADA has seven leases in ANWR (the 1002 area) and is pursuing steps to regain and develop them following federal action; he described work ADA has done on seismic and geological review while the leases were unavailable.

Ambler and other access roads: ADA described the Ambler access project as a road to the Ambler Mining District, which ADA representatives said contains very large known mineral deposits. ADA staff said prior federal and state actions and past appropriations have supported the project and that future construction would rely on mine and industry commitments to pay for haul and maintenance rather than ADA carrying long-term operating costs alone.

Questions and concerns from senators: senators pressed ADA on several governance and disclosure points. Multiple senators asked for a copy of any final contract with AGDC (Alaska Gasline Development Corporation) or the project sponsor and for explicit terms that define ADAs compensation or consideration for encumbering assets. Several senators noted that ADA board appointments are made by the governor and are not subject to legislative confirmation. At least one senator asked how long the proposed FEED encumbrance might last; ADA said FEED could take 18 months to two years and that ADA's contingent liability would reflect the scope of the FEED work actually completed.

Rural jobs, workforce and training: ADA opened the presentation with a short video of a village speaker emphasizing jobs as critical to youth opportunity and suicide prevention. Rarrow and senators discussed the authority's focus on employment outcomes for projects and on reaching rural residents with training. ADA said it is seeking to use Department of Transportation STIP training funds and other partnerships to support job readiness in communities, and that for many projects ADA tries to prioritize workers nearest the project when feasible.

Legal and budgetary separation: Rarrow explained ADA's statutory history: early post-statehood legislation and later enactments (identified in presentation materials as House Bill 14 and an early Senate bill) separated ADA's assets from the state operating budget; ADA staff cited statutory language and specific statute citations in explaining why an ADA-held contingent guarantee would not show up as a state operating appropriation. Rarrow said that operating budgets remain subject to legislative review, while ADA asset management is governed by board authority under statute.

Other opportunities: ADA told the committee it is watching energy and industrial trends including data center opportunities, chemical production using natural gas feedstock (methanol and related products), and secondary mineral processing (for example, antimony). Rarrow said ADA was not pursuing hyperscale data centers but was interested in smaller facilities that could use excess community power capacity.

What the committee asked ADA to provide: multiple senators requested copies of agreements or proposed terms when they are finalized, more detail on the economic consideration ADA would receive from a FEED backstop, and follow-up material on bond rating plans, mining economic reports (Ambler and others), and workforce/job-return analyses ADA has commissioned.

Ending: ADA's presentation closed after roughly 90 minutes of committee questioning. Committee members said they expect follow-up materials and directed staff to distribute requested documents when ADA counsel cleared them for release.