Tadd Owens is new RDC executive director

Steve Sutherlin

Tadd Owens has returned to the Resource Development Council as executive director. He was a project coordinator at the RDC for three years prior to taking a post at Bradley Reid Communications.

Owens said his priorities will remain consistent with the traditional priorities of the RDC. The council has championed a long-term fiscal plan for the state, development of ANWR, and access to land for multiple uses.

“The list of big issues doesn’t change very much,” he said.

The group is pro gas line but has members that support differing routes.

Owens said the RDC supports Arctic Power in the effort to open ANWR to exploration.

“Our membership is so diverse,” Owens said. “I have to determine what is a priority for the membership and focus staff and resources on it.”

While the oil sector is strong, forestry and other industry sectors are dealing with serious issues, Owens said. A lawsuit over Cook Inlet Beluga whales and the Endangered Species Act has recently sparked the RDC into action, as have concerns over the bow head whale and the stellar sea lion.

When Owens was ten, his father brought the family to Alaska for an ARCO job. Owens left the state to study political science at Carlton Collage in Northfield, Minn.

Owens replaces Kenneth J. Freeman.