I think Climate Change is a bigger concern there then elsewhere also.
But so is petroleum production. So it's complicated.
Well that's definitely a major item in Alaska, but not necessarily because of actual employment related to the Petroleum Industry.
Only 4% of the "workforce" of Alaska, is directly involved in the Petroleum industry, with a peak of 14.1k workers in 2015.
Of these "Alaskan Workers" 36.4% were out of state workers, and not Alaskan residents.....
http://labor.alaska.gov/trends/feb17.pdfhttps://www.adn.com/business-economy/2017/02/07/nonresidents-in-oil-and-gas-industry-rose-slightly-in-2015-for-6th-year-straight/In fact, one could make a compelling argument that there are more Alaskans working in the Fishing, Forestry, and Fish Canneries than employed in the Petro sector, not to even mention the large and vast tourism sector that caters to an "Alaskan Brand" of unprecedented raw wilderness and rugged landscapes not despoiled by..... (Fill in blanks)
Where I think your reference to the impact of the Petro Industry in Alaskan elections really hits home, is the way in which profits from the Petro Industry are distributed to every resident of Alaska that meets whatever statutory requirements are involved....
So, when I was in my Mid '20s one of friends from college. who was from Juneau, told me how he would get a check every year for some $3k.... the program of distribution of oil revenues still continues in Alaska, and we're not even talking about funding that goes towards Government Jobs in Alaska, which is still the largest employer in the State....
Imagine if Texas were to distribute checks to every resident of the State based upon Oil Revenues?
Anyways---- the profits from the oil industry in the form of checks in the mail to all residents of Alaska is a very different scene than in any other state in the Union, and has likely created an "ownership society" model, even among Alaskans that aren't big fans of the Petro Industry, which employs very few people, of whom a solid chunk are out of state residents.
