A federal judge has shot down a rule that allowed Hilcorp to perform oil and gas exploration activities in Cook Inlet, citing potential negative impacts to the Inlet's beluga whale population.
Environmental groups are concerned that under the proposed changes, private groups and individuals would no longer be granted instream flow reservations to protect salmon habitats.
The action will give the council freedom to fund restoration projects outside of the boundaries that were set in 1994, as part of an ecosystem-wide approach.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy will intercede in response to a failed Clean Water Act permit application submitted by the Pebble Partnership, according to a statement from his office sent out Friday evening.
Crowley Fuels of Alaska has agreed to pay a little over $1.3 million in penalties after the Environmental Protection Agency said the company violated national environmental standards and failed to report data for five years for several locations in Alaska.
The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council is accepting public comment on four draft resolutions, including one to expand the spill area from its original boundaries to an ecosystem-based boundary to facilitate restoration and conservation.
As the Pebble Partnership hunts for a new CEO, opponents of the mine maintain a change in leadership does little to alleviate problems with the project and company.
After last month’s record of decision outlining the federal government’s plan to auction oil and gas leases in approximately 1.5 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, indigenous people, who depend on the caribou whose calving grounds the development would disturb, are getting support from the United Nations.
Before the Army Corps can authorize a permit allowing the Pebble Partnership to discharge dredged or fill material into streams or wetlands, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation must grant a certification that the project will not violate existing water quality laws.
The Final EIS is not a decision on whether the Pebble Partnership will receive the permits it needs to move forward with the mine, but rather it is a scientific document the Army Corps and U.S. Coast Guard will use to make permitting decisions.
By JAMEY KEATEN and FRANK JORDANS Associated Press
The world could see annual global temperatures break a key threshold for the first time in the coming five years, the U.N. weather agency said Thursday.
The U.S. Department of the Interior says it is reopening trails in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge after they were damaged in the 2019 Swan Lake Fire.
Entanglements with fishing gear and other objects in the ocean can pose life threatening risks to whales and dangerous situations for the trained responders called upon to disentangle them.
Fishermen in Southeast Alaska could see their season cut short if a federal judge issues an injunction requested by a Washington environmental group to protect the food supply of a subpopulation of orcas.
Despite the fact many Alaskans remember summers with cold, drizzly days, the plants in your garden still need to be watered...even when it rains. Our garden experts say plants dry out quickly in Alaska.
The pup, found on May 3 by the Haines Animal Rescue Kennel near the ferry terminal in Haines, is believed to have been born prematurely, and is the smallest harbor seal pup the Alaska SeaLife Center rescue program has taken in to date.
More than 30,000 gallons of an oil and water mix have been recovered from the Valdez Marine Terminal according to a statement from Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.
A judge on Friday halted a group's pursuit of Bristol Bay protections, but the joint plaintiff maintains the fishery is threatened by the development of Pebble Mine.
The National Weather Service's Alaska-Pacific River Forecast Center released its site-specific Spring breakup outlook Tuesday, forecasting not only a statewide breakup several days earlier than normal, but also a higher risk of ice-jam flooding across much of the state.
State regulators are scaling back enforcement of air and water quality protections until at least June and are asking regulated entities to self-report violations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than three million pounds of trash was dumped into the City and Borough of Juneau's landfill during the summer 2019 tourism season alone, and city officials are limited in the remedies they have available to address the growing problem.
Biologists trying to piece together the puzzle of why the Cook Inlet beluga whale population continues to decline despite recovery efforts now have more information they hope will lead to answers.
A small group of scuba divers gathered at Dive Alaska Monday to figure out what path lies ahead in the effort to clean up Smitty's Cove, a top-notch diving site in the middle of Whittier.
The mineral company has identified several projects which would be carried out in order to lessen the impacts in the Bristol Bay area; however, many groups remain firmly opposed to the mine.
A group of 16 Democratic Senators, including two presidential candidates, sent a letter to 11 major U.S. banks, asking them to stop financing oil and gas drilling and exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Channel 2's Maria Downey speaks with Executive Director of the Alaska Forum on the Environment, Kurt Eilo about their mission and this year's key panel discussions.
The petition calls for the National Park Service to not allow Carnival Cruise Ships from operating in Glacier Bay until a third party monitoring system is put in place to make sure they don't pollute the water.
Currently, biologists know very little about the ages and age distribution of the Cook Inlet beluga population because the current method of dating belugas requires analyzing its teeth, which can only be collected after an animal dies
Three days after NOAA Fisheries released its latest abundance estimate showing a decline in the endangered Cook Inlet beluga, two environmental groups have filed a notice of intent to sue the federal agency over its decision to authorize Hilcorp to conduct activities that would impact marine mammals.
According to NOAA Fisheries, the endangered Cook Inlet beluga whale population is estimated to both be smaller and declining more quickly than previously thought.
Despite requests from agencies including the EPA, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers releases the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Pebble Mine, the document will not include an analysis of the impacts of a tailings dam failure.
