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Report portrays mixed picture of Alaska’s huge seafood industry
The Alaska seafood industry remains an economic juggernaut, but it is under strain from forces outside of the state’s control, according to a new report commissioned by the state’s seafood marketing agency. The report from the McKinley Research Group, titled The Economic Value of Alaska’s Seafood Industry, is the latest in a periodic series commissioned […]
New Alaska research projects focus on climate change, mercury and workforce development
Four new research projects selected for funding in a University of Alaska Anchorage program will address some of the most pressing problems facing the state: climate change, marine ecosystem health and losses in the labor force. The projects, each designed to run for two years, were winners in an annual competition that uses an endowment […]
Alaska projects win nearly $125 million in EPA’s national Solar for All grant competition
Alaska is getting an infusion of nearly $125 million to build and expand solar energy projects, part of a national Solar for All program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Pacific Northwest regional office announced on Tuesday. The funding is split between two projects, one of them a partnership between the Alaska Energy Authority and the […]
Relocation of eroding Alaska Native village seen as a test case for other threatened communities
The Yup’ik village of Newtok, perched precariously on thawing permafrost at the edge of the rapidly eroding Ninglick River, is the first Alaska community to begin a full-scale relocation made necessary by climate change. Still, the progress of moving to a new village site that is significantly outpacing relocation efforts at other vulnerable Alaska communities, […]
Biden administration rejection of Ambler road project both panned and celebrated in Alaska
Citing what they characterized as unacceptable risks to wildlife habitat, water quality and the Native communities that depend on natural resources, the Biden administration on Friday rejected the controversial plan to put a 211-mile industrial road through largely wild areas of the Brooks Range foothills. The decision came in a supplemental environmental impact statement released […]
Alaska’s U.S. senators say pending decisions on Ambler road and NPR-A are illegal
Alaska’s U.S. senators and representatives of resource-extraction industries accused the Biden administration on Thursday of breaking federal laws by rejecting a controversial plan to build a road through the Brooks Range foothills and making final rules that strengthen environmental protections on federal land on the western side of the North Slope. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, […]
Corps of Engineers upholds denial of permit for controversial Pebble mine in Alaska
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has dismissed an appeal filed by the Pebble Limited Partnership in its effort to obtain a key permit needed to build the controversial Pebble mine. The decision, released on Monday, lets stand a permit denial issued by the Corps in 2020. Rejection of the appeal is the latest setback […]
Trip to Utqiagvik gives visiting dignitaries closeup look at life in farthest-north Alaska
A day trip to Utqiagvik on Alaska’s North Slope capped an Anchorage conference last week that drew more than 1,000 participants representing communities ranging from tiny rural Alaska villages to diplomatic corps in European nations. The annual Arctic Encounter Symposium featured panel discussions about climate science, defense and security, fisheries, national security, environmental health and […]
Proposed Ambler road project cited as threat to Kobuk River in Arctic Alaska
Alaska’s Kobuk River, which flows out of the Brooks Range above the Arctic Circle, is among the most threatened rivers in the nation because of potential development of a 211-mile road that would open the region to commercial mining, according to an annual report released on Tuesday. American Rivers, a national environmental organization, ranked the […]
Conservation groups’ purchase preserves additional land in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest
A designated wilderness area in Southeast Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the largest U.S. national forest, is now a little bit bigger, thanks to a land purchase and transfer arranged by two conservation organizations. Five acres of land that was formerly privately owned has been added to the forest’s Kootznoowoo Wilderness area on Admiralty Island, one […]
Alaska delegation nominates longtime Native leader to be co-chair of the Denali Commission
Julie Kitka, the longtime president of the Alaska Federation of Natives, has been nominated by Alaska’s congressional delegation to be a new co-chair of the Denali Commission, which oversees a variety of federal programs in the state. AFN is the largest Alaska Native organization. Kitka was elected as its president in 1990, but she joined […]
In seismically active Alaska, plans for statewide residential building codes are on shaky ground
Sixty years after North America’s most powerful earthquake on record ripped through Alaska and 5 ½ years after a different earthquake caused costly damage to structures and roads in the Southcentral region, there are no statewide codes to protect homes against future seismic disasters. Two bills pending in the Alaska Legislature, Senate Bill 197 and […]