Economy & Environment
New legislation could clear up confusion surrounding e-bikes in Alaska
Alaska legislators are considering a bill that would set basic rules for how electric bikes may be used in the state. Despite e-bikes becoming more popular in Alaska, legislators have struggled to define what constitutes an electric bike. House Bill 8 seeks to change that by adding a clear legal definition of what an e-bike […]
Kodiak lawmakers outline fishery-related accomplishments and ambitions
A bill that passed the Alaska Legislature last year has already started to benefit the fishing industry, and more fishing-specific bills are in the works this year, state lawmakers representing Kodiak said on Friday at an industry conference. Alaska Senate President Gary Stevens, a Republican leading a bipartisan majority, told the audience at ComFish Alaska […]
Regulators end week like they started — tamping down fears, rescuing a bank
Financial regulators, policymakers, and bank executives spent the week trying to abate fears that a banking crisis will spread across the U.S. financial system. On Friday, President Joe Biden released a statement calling on Congress to take action to make it easier for regulators to hold senior bank executives accountable for their mismanagement. “It should […]
Wildfire experts forecast higher-than-normal fire danger in Southwest Alaska
Southwest Alaska has a higher-than-normal risk of wildfires this spring, according to a preseason fire forecast published by state and federal experts. The annual early-season forecast shows normal fire danger across most of the state, except in Southwest Alaska, where less snow has fallen than normal. Winter snowfall totals are strongly correlated with fire danger […]
Peltola, Murkowski warn that fixing fish crisis will be time-consuming and complex
The disastrous collapses of Alaska salmon and crab fisheries, some happening at the same time, will require a long time and a variety of tools to address, the state’s senior U.S. senator and sole U.S. House member said in a panel discussion at an annual fishing industry conference in Kodiak. To Rep. Mary Peltola, who […]
3 reasons the Willow Arctic oil drilling project was approved
For more than six decades, Alaska’s North Slope has been a focus of intense controversy over oil development and wilderness protection, with no end in sight. Willow field, a 600-million-barrel, US$8 billion oil project recently approved by the Biden administration – to the outrage of environmental and climate activists – is the latest chapter in […]
State development corporation plans to give road – and possible costs – to Alaska government
Alaska’s state-owned development corporation is planning to give away a 4.5-mile North Slope road instead of paying a cash dividend to the state treasury, an act that could sap millions from projects elsewhere in the state and may force the state to shoulder the cost of road maintenance. Under the proposal, the Alaska Industrial Development […]
Pentagon to halt use of firefighting foam that contains PFAS as cleanup costs mount
WASHINGTON — Battered by years of criticism from U.S. lawmakers and environmental advocates, the Department of Defense will stop purchasing PFAS-containing firefighting foam later this year and phase it out entirely in 2024. The replacement for Aqueous Film Forming Foam has yet to be determined, and advocates are frustrated it’s taken so long to halt […]
Threatened listing proposed for sunflower sea star after population devastated by wasting disease
One of the world’s largest sea stars is on track to receive Endangered Species Act protections. Federal regulators announced on Wednesday that they are proposing a threatened listing for the sunflower sea star, a creature that has been killed off in much of its Pacific habitat by disease. While the effect of a listing on […]
Right whales vs. commercial fishing: no ‘easy solution’ for NOAA, says Raimondo
Once hunted to near-extinction, the greatest threats to the endangered North Atlantic right whale now are accidental encounters with humans. Federal efforts to protect the whale species, which spends most of the year off the coast of New England, from collisions with ships and entanglements in fishing gear — incidents that represent the two leading […]
Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse differs from our last financial crisis
After the largest U.S. bank failure in more than a decade, regional bank stocks plunged on Monday as the federal government — with the 2007-2008 financial crisis still a fresh memory for many — rushed to reassure Americans that the U.S. banking system was stable. President Joe Biden told Americans that the risks taken on […]
Willow development expected to be a money-loser for the Alaska treasury in early years
A giant oil development project just greenlighted by the Biden administration and celebrated by Alaska state leaders is expected to cost the state treasury more than it would raise in the early years. The Willow project, estimated to hold 600 million barrels of recoverable oil, would spur a cumulative loss of more than $1 billion […]