Alaska’s natural resources commissioner resigns

The commissioner for the Alaska Department of Natural Resources will step down June 30, the governor’s office said.

Corri Feige was appointed in 2018 at the start of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration. She had previously served as director of Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas under former Gov. Bill Walker.

As commissioner, Feige supported the governor’s resource development agenda, including by speaking out against the Biden administration’s actions to limit oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and mineral projects in the Ambler region in Northwest Alaska. Feige also played a key oversight role in the state’s approval of the sale of the Prudhoe Bay oil field, Alaska’s largest, to Hilcorp by BP in 2020.

Dunleavy announced Feige’s resignation on Tuesday in a statement from his office. He plans to appoint an interim commissioner by June 30.

Dunleavy also highlighted Feige’s role in the state’s efforts to assert its ownership of rivers and lakes over the federal government following a 2019 Supreme Court decision and her leadership of the department through the pandemic. The governor said her “legacy will be with Alaska for many years to come.”

Feige’s two-page resignation letter to Dunleavy said “recent developments” she did not describe prompted a need to focus on her family, leading to her leaving from the position.

Feige declined to be interviewed for this article.