Nathaniel Herz, Alaska's Energy Desk - Anchorage
After leaving Trump administration, Balash will work for oil company that’s developing an Alaska project
Joe Balash, the high-level Alaskan appointee at the U.S. Department of the Interior who pushed to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil leasing, is taking a job with an oil company seeking to develop a major project in Alaska.
Here’s how a Kenai Peninsula wildfire could cause higher electric bills in Anchorage and Fairbanks
The wildfire damaged transmission lines that carry power from a major hydroelectric dam near Homer, officials said. And it could be months before the lines are fixed.
Wildfires and warming could transform Alaska’s forests, making leafy trees dominant over evergreens, study says
If wildfire frequency and temperature rise in Alaska like the paper’s authors expect, broadleaf trees like birch and aspen could become dominant, taking over from evergreens like spruce, which are better adapted to cold weather and scarce nutrients.
BP and Hilcorp just announced Alaska’s biggest oil industry deal in years. Here’s why it matters.
If you don't work for an oil company, you might be wondering: Why should I care? And why does this matter? We asked and answered some of the big questions.
Even before vetoes, poll by anti-tax Gov. Dunleavy shows Alaskans, narrowly, favoring more taxes
Alaska GOP Gov. Mike Dunleavy opposes new taxes. But in a poll he quietly commissioned earlier this year, a narrow majority of respondents supported them.
Experts: Heat and drought, not spruce beetles or leaf miners, turned Alaska forests into kindling
There are more insects in the forest than other years, but experts say climate is the biggest factor for fires.
The McKinley Fire raged through this area over the weekend. Here’s what it looks like now.
As the the McKinley wildfire continues to burn in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. leaving charred destruction in its wake, emergency crews work to protect area homes and property.
With ANWR drilling on its doorstep, an Alaska Native village is poised to profit
It’s still too early to know if petroleum even exists in the refuge in commercially-viable quantities. But if it’s found, Kaktovik’s residents are simultaneously positioned to be among the biggest beneficiaries, and to experience some of the biggest disruptions.
Meet the Trump administration official whose signature could formally open ANWR to drilling
On his second day on the job at the U.S. Department of Interior, Joe Balash says he was personally tasked with carrying out Congress’ instructions to hold an oil lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "I am confident that we are able to move forward here and not devastate the Porcupine caribou herd. I am absolutely convinced of that,” Balash says.
As polar bears encroach on this Alaska village, feds charge whaling captain with illegally shooting one
As Arctic sea ice melts, polar bears are spending more time near the Alaska North Slope village of Kaktovik. Now, federal prosecutors have charging a whaling captain there with killing one in violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
New U.S. Senate candidate in Alaska touts credentials as doctor, fisherman, grizzly-slayer
Al Gross, an orthopedic surgeon from Petersburg, announced Tuesday that he's running as an independent against incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan.
In the Alaska village where ANWR is the backyard, many see drilling as an opportunity
Many of the Alaska Native residents of Kaktovik, the one small village inside the refuge, see oil development as an opportunity -- though some remain deeply skeptical.
Could Arctic warming be behind gray whale deaths in Alaska, and elsewhere? Here’s why scientists are asking.
Scientists aren't calling climate change or declining sea ice the smoking gun yet. But they’ve seen enough other events that have come along with Arctic warming, like sea bird die-offs, that they’re asking questions.
A stretch of the Denali Park Road sits atop a creeping landslide. And it’s picking up speed.
Officials at Denali National Park and Preserve are studying whether the existing path of the park’s 92-mile road can be spared from a creeping landslide, in what scientists say could be a preview of Denali’s future as its permafrost thaws.
Federal researchers open formal investigation into gray whale deaths, including Alaska’s
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Friday that the 70 dead whales seen this year it constitutes an "unusual mortality event."
As sea ice melts, fish are showing up farther north off Alaska. A federal fishing trip will investigate if they’re sticking around.
Two summers ago, federal scientists discovered something shocking: The Northern Bering Sea was teeming with cod and pollock. Those two commercially valuable species had never been found in such large huge numbers that far north.
A judge blocked a Trump plan for a controversial road through an Alaska wildlife refuge. Now the administration is appealing.
Lawyers for the Trump administration are appealing a decision by federal judge Sharon Gleason that blocked a land exchange that was supposed to lead to construction of a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge on the Alaska Peninsula.
As gray whales die along the West Coast, Alaska scientists look for answers beneath blubber
Researchers are trying to determine the cause of a gray whale die-off along the West Coast, including Alaska. And they're looking at whether recent warming trends in the Arctic, and reduced sea ice, has affected their prey.
Ketchikan planes in mid-air crash both had equipment designed to help avert collisions. What went wrong?
How the planes' GPS transponders were or weren't working is a question investigators will explore, they said Wednesday.
Alaska lawmakers are trying to fight crime by toughening prison sentences. Not everyone agrees that will work.
People who work with released prisoners say the best way to combat crime is enhancing access to programs that target mental health problems and drug addiction -- not increasing prison terms.