EXCLUSIVE: Alaska Department of Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum discussed President Trump's key role in unleashing energy independence in the state while speaking to Fox News Digital and explaining that Alaskan resources are ready to be used if the push to acquire Greenland is unsuccessful.

Crum, speaking to Fox News Digital at the State Financial Officer Foundation conference in Orlando, Florida, explained that the "vast majority" of state government funds in Alaska come from developing natural resources, including mining and crude oil, and praised the Trump administration’s moves to reverse course from the Biden administration when it comes to that development.

"President Trump, you know our Governor Dunleavy has actually said he's probably one of the best presidents for Alaska," Crum said. "In his first term he did tremendous things for us and now in his second term, we were the only state that had an executive order directed at us and that was such a crucial thing, and it really improved our economic outlook within the state."

On the first day of his presidency, Trump signed an executive order advancing the Ambler Access Project, a 211-mile industrial road through the Brooks Range foothills that enables commercial mining of copper, zinc and other materials in a remote Arctic area in Northwest Alaska. 

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Experts told Fox News Digital in February that the action, which reversed course from the Biden administration, will play a critical role in developing mineral resources in the state. 

"We think that we are on the precipice in Alaska on an energy boom, when it comes to large-scale oil development, the natural gas line getting developed that the president really pushes very hard for, as well as all of these critical minerals that we need to get processed," Crum said. 

President Trump has vocally called for the United States to acquire Greenland for strategic purposes as well as due to its natural resources. Crum told Fox News Digital that Alaska is ready to step up when it comes to natural resources. 

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"We do have our own Greenland. We have our Greenland that has a long history and track record of developing these resources in an area of the world that people would never have thought that it could be done responsibly," Crum said. "We’ve processed oil for over 60 years on the Arctic Ocean, and we have done so while at the same time building an 800-mile crude oil pipeline that actually has seen the caribou numbers increase over time with that pipeline being built. And so Alaskans are conservationists by nature."

"We are hunters, we are fishermen, our indigenous population are subsistence, they gather, but we are the ones who use the land. We also want to be able to develop the land, so we make sure we do it the correct way," Crum continued. "In Alaska, we call it the Alaska standard. We don't need outside groups telling us that we have to do it responsibly. This is what we demand of companies as they come up there. Come up, be profitable, be clean. Profit Alaska, let Alaskan's have jobs and opportunities and also go enjoy the outdoors."

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Ultimately, Crum told Fox News Digital that Alaskan energy independence will not only be good for the United States, but it will also help push back against dependence on countries that have been hostile to the country, including China. 

"We also have antimony deposits, which is a rare thing because China is the vast producer and processor of antimony, which is needed for not only technology, but also like munitions and military, and so we've got very viable deposits within Alaska on these things," Crum explained.

FIRST ON FOX: A new piece of legislation was introduced in both the House and the Senate on Tuesday that would allow fentanyl dealers connected to distribution resulting in death to be charged with felony murder.

Under current U.S. law, there is a mandatory minimum of 20 years in prison for the same offense, but the legal process of prosecution is not tried as a murder case. The legislation would increase the severity and consequences of dealers to further crackdowns on the fentanyl crisis that has taken roughly 280,000 thousand American lives since 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIH). 

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Senator Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Representative Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, unveiled the Felony Murder for Deadly Fentanyl Distribution Act as a bicameral bill on Tuesday, which also marks National Fentanyl Awareness Day. The legislation will now head to committee in both chambers. 

"Drug cartels have taken advantage of loopholes at our borders to peddle illicit drugs into our country, meanwhile, our communities pay the price," Gonzales told Fox News Digital. "My bill sends a strong message to those who work with cartels and other bad actors—if you sell the drug and take an innocent life, justice will be delivered. Our law enforcement agencies are in overdrive combating the drug epidemic in America, it’s time to take action and up the penalties for fentanyl dealers." 

While the number of deaths is in the hundreds of thousands, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimates that "nearly 64,000 pounds of fentanyl have been seized at the southern border," which is enough to "kill 14 billion people." 

"I have seen firsthand how the scourge of fentanyl has inflicted incredible tragedy on communities across Iowa," Senator Joni Ernst told Fox News Digital Tuesday. "I have worked for years to protect Americans and stop this deadly epidemic. Increasing the severity of the punishment for the drug dealers responsible for the deaths of too many Iowans is long overdue."

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The rise in the flow of the deadly drug has been largely tied to the influx of illegal immigrants over the past four years during the Biden Administration. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) estimates "more than 90% of interdicted fentanyl is stopped at Ports of Entry (POEs), where cartels attempt to smuggle it primarily in vehicles driven by U.S. citizens."

With a recent decline in border apprehensions, the number of deaths resulting from consumption of fentanyl have declined as well. The CDC reported in February with the most recent data showing overall drug overdose deaths dropping 24% from October 2023 to September 2024.

President Donald Trump’s Border Czar, Tom Homan, claimed at a White House press conference Monday morning that the Biden Administration "unsecured the border on purpose." 

Homan went on to say that "border numbers are at a historic low" and that the U.S. has the "most secure border in the history of this nation."