Longtime private-sector engineer to head state’s oil and gas division
A private sector petroleum engineer and consultant will lead the state’s oil and gas division. Listen Now
Alaska could become climate change refuge for tropical fish
Researchers from the University of Washington used 80 years of data to figure out how much warming fish could withstand. They discovered fish in the tropics are already living in water at the upper end of their threshold. Listen now
There’s a new fight over Bering Sea black cod. Warming water may be to blame.
Small-boat fishermen who catch black cod are sounding alarms about increasing numbers of black cod that are being caught accidentally, as bycatch, by larger Seattle-based trawlers that fish in the Bering Sea.
LISTEN: A Washington Post correspondent talks about reporting on climate change on Alaska’s North Slope
The Washington Post made the Alaska North Slope village of Nuiqsut front page news earlier this month, under a provocative headline: "Alaska's warming, but can't quit big oil." We talked with the reporter who wrote the story.
Constituents use Wasilla special session to lobby Alaska lawmakers on Gov. Dunleavy’s budget vetoes
Monday’s special session in Wasilla wasn't just a meeting for Alaska’s Republican legislators.
It also gave road system Alaskans a chance to offer their opinions about the huge dilemma facing lawmakers right now: whether to uphold Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy's major line-item budget vetoes.
Ask a Climatologist: What is polar amplification?
The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet. Brettschneider says it’s a phenomenon called polar amplification. Listen now
Mulling the possibility of a “managed retreat” from climate change
By the end of the century, researchers predict climate change could displace millions of people across the country, as rising sea levels and erosion hit coastal communities. As policymakers start to grapple with that reality, there’s a specific phrase making the rounds: “managed retreat.” In other words, relocating whole neighborhoods or communities and retreating from the coast. Listen now
Murkowski’s message at AFN? “Climate change is real.”
Delegates passed a resolution asking the federal government to make climate impacts in rural villages eligible for disaster relief, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski told the convention, "Climate change is real." Listen now
One People Canoe Society to paddle for Standing Rock Tribe to protest controversial pipeline
Members of the One People Canoe Society will travel this week from Alaska to North Dakota to paddle in protest over a controversial pipeline. Listen now
Candidate Dunleavy said he had no plans to cut ferries, schools, university. Then Gov. Dunleavy proposed deep reductions.
Dunleavy’s shifting positions on state spending and budget cuts have left critics fuming; they argue that the governor was able to make dubious claims on the campaign trail that were never debunked by a weakened mainstream media, and that that might have changed the election's outcome.
A potential neighbor to the Pebble Mine sees both sides
At least one resident who lives in a community near where Pebble would be developed is still deciding whether the mine is a good idea. Listen now
Forest service gives go ahead for Kuiu Island timber sale
An old growth timber sale recently announced in a Ketchikan newspaper has one conservation group scratching its head. That’s because this type of harvest — near valuable salmon streams — won’t be allowed in the future. Listen now
Feds take key step toward approving another Conoco development in NPR-A
If it goes forward, the project would be ConocoPhillips's third oil development inside the boundaries of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Listen now
Ask a Climatologist: Alaska’s hottest temp ever matches Hawaii’s
Fairbanks hit 90 degrees last week for the first time in four years. The heat was very localized to the Tanana and Yukon river valleys.
We asked Brian Brettschneider, with our Ask a Climatologist segment, which areas of Alaska usually see the hottest temperatures in the summer. He says the warmest temperatures are almost always found in the Interior.
Managers restored caribou on the Nushagak Peninsula in the ’80s, now there’s so many, they’re harming the lichens
Lichens on the Nushagak Peninsula are a critical food source for the caribou that live there. But as the herd has thrived, exceeding management goals, they are depleting the complex composites.
New rules may help small energy projects sell to the grid
New rules could make it possible to develop more alternative energy in Alaska, by making it easier for independent projects to sell their power to the grid.
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A political consultant’s work was scrutinized amid Anchorage voter fraud allegations. Now he’s dead.
Charlie Chang worked with Anchorage Republican Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, whose district includes parts of the Muldoon neighborhood and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Listen now
Photos: China Trade Mission
Alaska's Energy Desk's Rashah McChesney is in China covering Governor Walker's Opportunity Alaska: China Trade & Investment Mission 2018.
Bill would make it easier to pass on information about contaminated sites in Alaska
From leaking pipelines and polluted aquifers, to broken septic tanks and abandoned military equipment, there are more than 2,200 open cases of contaminated sites in Alaska. A new bill that that is making its way through the state House, would require full disclosure of contamination on the deed of a property before it can be sold. Listen now
State moves to update its petroleum spill guidelines
Alaska’s petroleum-based economy means there are many opportunities for toxic petroleum-based spills. At least 80 percent of the contaminated sites that the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation deals with have petroleum products in them. Now, the Department is making moves to update the decades-old protocols it uses when petrochemicals leak into the soil and water. Listen Now