ABSTRACT
The rise of consultant expertise suggests greater control over access and production of Arctic knowledge that is privatized via commodification. The chapter outlines a few of the forms responsible for stabilizing the reality of Arctic hydrocarbon development since the turn of the millennium. First, the rise of the consultant expert as a type of Mephistopheles, a child of the idea of development through which monetizing frontier Arctic oil and natural gas can be posed in a new logic. Second, is the staging of knowledge provisioning in non-traditional policy locations like executive roundtables, which take place in hotels, galleries, and other elite spaces. Together, these two forms represent a shift in energy planning from political hearings suggesting new spaces and spokespersons of knowledge provisioning that reside alongside older and more established forms such as the congressional hearing and elected official.
