Moriarty heading to Interior to work on Trump's Alaska exec order

Kay Cashman

Petroleum News

The May 21 issue of Suzanne Downing's Must Read Alaska reported that Kara Moriarty is leaving the Alaska Oil and Gas Association to join the U.S. Department of Interior.

"Our intel says she will be working on the Alaska-focused executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Jan. 20," Downing wrote.

Executive Order 14153, signed by Trump, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum's Order 3422, were both titled "Unleashing Alaska's Extraordinary Resource potential."

They outlined the "initial suite of actions" to implement the orders. It appears Moriarty will be directing the next suite of actions, although Petroleum News has not yet confirmed her appointment with Moriarty.

Moriarty has been president and CEO of AOGA for more than 13 years and was deputy director of the organization for more than four years before that.

It is "safe to say," Moriarty said in an interview with Petroleum News at AOGA's 50th anniversary in June 2016, that since its inception in 1966, the non-profit has monitored and weighed in on every major federal and state policy issue impacting Alaska's oil and gas industry, working closely with other stakeholders and government officials.

"Our mission has remained the same," Moriarty said: "To foster the long-term viability of the oil and gas industry in Alaska."

Moriarty started her career in 1996 as a teacher in the small Inupiat village of Atqasuk on the North Slope.

--KAY CASHMAN