zz Alaska's Energy Desk

Hilcorp snapped up more than 100,000 acres in Cook Inlet for additional oil and gas development at federal and state lease sales held Wednesday. Listen now

Alaskans will celebrate the summer solstice at 8:24 tonight. The solstice is the point when the sun’s rays reach their highest latitude of the year. And also the moment when the days start getting shorter. Listen now

An Alaskan has been appointed to help manage fisheries nationwide. Listen now

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is reshuffling several senior government positions, and it could affect Arctic policies in Alaska. Listen now

There aren't many volcanoes like Bogoslof. But with an improved monitoring network, scientists are relishing every last eruption. Listen now

The North Slope community of Deadhorse is an unusual place. Its No. 1 purpose is to serve the oil field its next to: Prudhoe Bay. There are no houses, there's no downtown and no parks; just a series of industrial lots and gravel roads in the middle of the tundra. But Deadhorse does have a store. And the man who runs it is retiring this month, after 42 years. Listen now

"We’re responsible for these lands," Central Council President Richard Peterson said. Listen now

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.

Abraham Ellis is with the Sandia National Labs in New Mexico. “We are interested in those technologies to figure out ways to improve the energy resilience for cities,” he said. “For defense applications, and things like that, that really need to keep on going with electricity supply, even if the normal grid fails for whatever reason.”

The study says wild red salmon are affected more by adult hatchery-raised pink salmon that compete with reds or eat them when they're small. And the research also says herring declines are more related to increased fresh water from melting glaciers, rather than oil inundation after the spill.

Wildfire season is off to a slow start in Alaska. But that could change very quickly. That’s because predicting how severe a wildfire season will be in the state is so tricky. Alaska’s Energy Desk is checking in with climatologist Brian Brettschneider each week as part of the segment, Ask a Climatologist. Brettschneider says over the entire season, which runs through the end of July, no wildfire forecast is useful for Alaska.

Caelus Energy, the company behind what could be Alaska's biggest oil discovery since the 1960s, will not be drilling a well to confirm the find this winter, as originally planned.

The state is proposing a $380,000 fine for Alaska Native corporation Ahtna, Inc., for safety violations at a gas well near Glennallen. Listen now

It’s the third straight year that state employees have been faced with the prospect of temporarily losing their jobs. Listen now

On Wednesday, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke ordered new studies on the oil and gas potential of federal land on the North Slope, including in the coastal plain of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Listen now

May weather can't tell us much about what the rest of the summer will hold in Southcentral Alaska. Listen now

New research could help wildlife managers better protect declining Steller sea lion populations. The study looks at why sea lions zero in on specific hunting hotspots. Listen now

A decades-old debate is gaining traction over the stability of Sitka’s herring population. Listen now

If you imagine a chart, 'peak summer' is the top of the annual temperature curve or the warmest part of the year. In Interior Alaska, that peak happens much earlier than most of the rest of the country. Listen now

After new federal plans were set in motion last year, old growth logging in Alaska’s national forests is on its way out. Still, the feds have to make some timber sales available in the Tongass. Listen now