Briefs

Opponents of the Pebble Mine line up to enter an April 16, 2019 hearing in Anchorage. The debate has raged for several years over the huge copper and gold mine proposed for the Bristol Bay region. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

EPA proposal to bar Pebble should be just a first step in protecting Bristol Bay, activists say

BY: - June 2, 2022

The Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to bar the controversial Pebble Mine from the Bristol Bay watershed, announced on May 26, may seem like déjà vu. But the new plan differs in some significant ways from the Obama administration’s 2014 proposal to invoke the rarely used Section 404(c) provision of the Clean Water Act to prevent […]

Red fox kits stand in the tall grass on St. Matthew Island in July of 2019. Alaska has recorded its first fox infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza, and the wildlife veterinarian with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game says that young foxes and other young scavenging mammals are liley to be more susceptible to infections. (Photo by Rachel Richardson/USGS Alaska Science Center)

Red fox is first documented Alaska mammal infected with current strain of avian influenza

BY: - June 1, 2022

A dead red fox on the Aleutian Island of Unalaska was found to be infected with the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus that has spread around the world and into populations of domestic poultry and wild birds. The fox was the first Alaska mammal found infected with the current influenza strain. The infection was confirmed […]

Fishing boats are gathered in the community of King Salmon in 2004. (Photo from the Alaska Division of Community and Regional Affairs)

Alaska Peninsula oil lease sale continues long streak without bids

BY: - May 30, 2022

For the eighth consecutive year, oil companies have passed up an opportunity to acquire oil exploration rights on state lands in the Alaska Peninsula. No bids were received in an annual lease sale held by the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas that offered 5 million acres on the peninsula, which extends from the southwestern […]

In-person voting begins for Alaska’s special primary election for U.S. House

BY: - May 30, 2022

Voting opened Friday at almost 170 locations statewide for the special primary election to temporarily replace Congressman Don Young, who died in March after 49 years in office. Forty-eight candidates are on the ballot for the special primary. The four who receive the most votes will advance to a special general election on Aug. 16. […]

A nine-story office building showing Juneau's courthouse

Special prosecutor charges former Alaska attorney general nominee with sexual abuse of a minor

BY: - May 27, 2022

A special prosecutor on Friday charged former Alaska Attorney General-designee Ed Sniffen with three counts of third-degree sexual abuse of a minor. Third-degree sexual abuse of a minor is a Class C felony punishable by two to 12 years in prison. The charges were not initially available to the public, but Deputy Attorney General Cori […]

announcement was made at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference in Anchorage. Curtis Thayer, executive director of the Alaska Energy Authority, is at the far left; Gov. Mike Dunleavy is at the far right. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Utilities in Alaska’s Railbelt announce $200 million transmission upgrade project

BY: - May 25, 2022

Utilities in Alaska’s most heavily populated core announced on Wednesday that they are investing more than $200 million to upgrade transmission lines, a program that officials said can help prepare for a shift to increased use of renewable energy. The utilities serve customers in a 700-mile grid that extends from Fairbanks in the north to […]

A map showing the course of the proposed road

State-owned Alaska corporation advances plans for road through the Mat-Su

BY: - May 25, 2022

The state-owned Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority has requested permission from the federal government to build a 100-mile road into the mountainous western Matanuska-Susitna Borough. On Tuesday, AIDEA officials said by email that they had filed a permit request under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. […]

An anti-Pebble sticker is displayed in 2010 on a pole at the harbor in Cordova, Alaska. The fight over the proposed mine, which would be located upstream of salmon-rich Bristol Bay, has been waged since the early 2000s. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

EPA moves to prevent Pebble mine development in Bristol Bay watershed

BY: - May 25, 2022

The Biden administration has officially revived an Obama-era plan that would put the Bristol Bay watershed off-limits to the proposed Pebble Mine or any similar project. The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced its intention to invoke a rarely used provision of the Clean Water Act to prevent the issuance of any wetlands-fill permit for […]

Gov. Mike Dunleavy, at a May 24 ceremony held at the Alaska Sustatinable Energy Conference, holds up a bill he just signed to encourage development of nuclear microreactors. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Governor signs bill intended to encourage nuclear microreactors in Alaska

BY: - May 25, 2022

Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Tuesday signed a bill aimed at easing the construction of small nuclear reactors, using a signing ceremony on the first day of the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference to highlight what he characterized as a promising technology to power remote parts of the state. Microreactors are compact nuclear reactors that can generate […]

Container ships are lined up at the Port of Alaska in Anchorage on Oct. 11, 2020. The port and Sandia National Laboratories are teaming up to evaluate Cook Inlet renewable energy resources to potentially fuel a planned microgrid. (Photo by Erik Hill/Port of Alaska)

With new agreement, Port of Alaska and Sandia lab to evaluate renewable energy for microgrid

BY: - May 24, 2022

A partnership between the state’s biggest port and one of the nation’s top engineering labs seeks to establish a large microgrid to ensure a dependable supply of electricity. The Port of Alaska, located in Anchorage, and Sandia National Laboratories, a major U.S. Department of Energy contractor, have signed a “historic” memorandum of understanding to move […]

The ConocoPhillips Alaska headquarters, seen here on April 8, 2020, looms over downtown Anchorage. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

ConocoPhillips starts production at new Alpine satellite field

BY: - May 21, 2022

ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. announced Friday that it has started oil production at its Fiord West Kuparuk reservoir, a satellite of its Alpine field. The start of oil flow followed the drilling of a well that ConocoPhillips said set an extended-reach record. The well was drilled about a month ago by Doyon 26, the largest mobile […]

Alaska Legislature votes to preserve savings accounts for education, ferry system

BY: - May 19, 2022

Hours before the end of the Alaska Legislature’s regular session, the state Senate voted 14-4 to approve a bill that will keep the state’s Higher Education Investment Fund and two ferry-system-related savings accounts from being automatically drained at the end of the fiscal year. The bill had already passed the state House. The investment fund […]