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Views: The spill, 20 years later
Fairbanks Daily News Miner
07/01/2009
It has been just more than 20 years since oil spilled from the Exxon Valdez and soiled the biology and economy of Prince William Sound, ruined lives, and forever tainted the image of what is now the world’s largest company. Now, the end of the legal chapter of this story is near.
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Exxon agrees to pay spill penalty interest
Anchorage Daily News
06/30/2009
Exxon Mobil Corp. said Monday it won't appeal nearly $500 million in interest that a court recently ordered it to pay to Alaska fishermen, business owners and others harmed by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
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Exxon to pay $500 million in interest to spill victims
Seattle Times
06/30/2009
Exxon Mobil said Monday it won't appeal nearly $500 million in interest a court recently ordered it to pay to Alaska fishermen, business owners and others harmed by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
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Court allows Juneau gold mine to dump waste in lake
Anchorage Daily News
06/23/2009
The U.S. Supreme Court's Monday decision allowing a gold mine near Juneau to discharge its waste into a fish-bearing lake could be the final word in the long-running dispute.
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Alaska's salmon scarce as ocean currents shift
Anchorage Daily News
06/21/2009
After a second straight year of weak king salmon returns around the rim of the Gulf of Alaska, state fisheries biologists believe they know where things went wrong: "In the ocean" more than a dozen said when interviewed this week. The how and what of went wrong there, however, leaves them scratching their heads.
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Bristol Palin and other teen moms: New trendsetters?
Christian Science Monitor
06/18/2009
Bristol Palin, America's most famous teen mom, may be part of a trend. After years of improved teen contraceptive use and declines in teen pregnancy and births, the numbers may be reversing among certain groups of teens, according to a joint study from Columbia University and the Guttmacher Institute.
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Climate change report devotes chapter to Alaska
Fairbanks Daily News Miner
06/18/2009
Alaska merits a chapter in a new White House report on climate change, which says temperatures in the state have climbed at twice the rate of the rest of the nation over the last half-century.
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Early walrus count results alarming
Anchorage Daily News
06/18/2009
A partial federal assessment of Pacific walrus estimates their minimum population at just 15,164 but says the count likely missed a number of animals. A 1990 aerial survey estimated the population at 201,039 in the same region.
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State rural adviser addresses expensive energy for AK
Fairbanks Daily News Miner
06/17/2009
Until Alaska finds some serious solutions to the high costs of energy, rural communities will continue to suffer, said John Moller, rural adviser for Gov. Sarah Palin.
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Is native health care a federal failure?
Fairbanks Daily News Miner
06/16/2009
On some reservations, the oft-quoted refrain is, "don't get sick after June," when the federal dollars run out. It's a sick joke, and a sad one because it is sometimes true. Officials said they have about half of what they need to operate, and patients know they must be dying or about to lose a limb to get serious care.
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Court rules Exxon owes a billion in damages, interest
Anchorage Daily News
06/16/2009
Exxon Mobil Corp. was ordered Monday to pay roughly $1 billion to Alaska Natives, fishermen, business owners and others harmed by the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound.
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Tax on oil tankers declared unconstitutional
Seattle Times
06/16/2009
The city of Valdez, Alaska, will have to return millions it has collected in taxes since it began in 2000 assessing a tax on oil tankers that on Monday was found to be unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court.
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Exxon ordered to pay $507.5 million to victims of spill
Seattle Times
06/16/2009
Exxon Mobil has been ordered to pay $507.5 million in punitive damages to Alaska natives, fishermen, business owners and others harmed by the massive 1989 oil spill off Alaska.
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Senate committee kills directional oil drilling in ANWR
Anchorage Daily News
06/09/2009
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday shot down Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski's effort to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to directional drilling. The amendment to an energy bill failed 10-13 to persuade the panel that drilling could be done from outside the refuge to tap oil reserves within its boundaries.
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Anchorage gay-rights proposal redone
Juneau Empire
06/08/2009
A proposed Anchorage law banning discrimination against gays, lesbians and bisexuals has been rewritten to specify it wouldn't apply to small, home-operated businesses or to owner-occupied four-plexes or duplexes.
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Helping Alaskan villages relocate
Anchorage Daily News
06/04/2009
The federal government could be doing more to help relocate Alaska Native communities whose vulnerability to erosion and flooding has only worsened with global warming, concludes a report from the Government Accountability Office.
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Energy committee focusing on renewable power
Alaska Public Radio Network
06/03/2009
The Senate Energy Committee is working its way through a massive draft energy bill that focuses heavily on renewable power. Tomorrow the committee will gather to "mark-up" or debate and amend the legislation. Their focus will be a national renewable electricity standard.
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Company taking next steps on Alaska wind farm
Alaska Public Radio Network
06/01/2009
A private company is taking another step in development of a wind farm near Delta Junction. Fairbanks based Alaska Environmental Power began the project last year with the installation of a 100 kilowatt turbine. Managing partner Mike Craft says a second much larger unit will go up this summer.
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Scientists set 2020 goal for aiding ailing Pacific
Contra Costa Times
05/28/2009
An international consortium is calling for action against threats to the Pacific Ocean that they say endangers environmental and human well-being in countries rich and poor.
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Easy riders: Recumbent bikes gain speed
Anchorage Daily News
05/26/2009
If you think you're seeing more recumbent cyclists on the bike paths, you may not be mistaken. Though they remain a tiny fraction of bikes sold in the US, anecdotal evidence suggests that they are increasingly becoming an option for baby boomers, mostly men, who want the speed of a high-performance bike without the back-wrenching side effects of their Lance Armstrong fantasy life.
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Palin vetoes stimulus energy funds
Anchorage Daily News
05/21/2009
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced today she is vetoing the state Legislature's decision to accept $28.6 million in federal economic stimulus money for energy relief. The money could have been used for weatherization and renewable energy projects, but Palin argued that taking the federal funding would require the state to entice local communities to adopt building codes.
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Invasive European green crab is showing up in Alaska
Alaska Public Radio Network
05/20/2009
Volunteers around the state are once again monitoring Alaska waters for European green crab. The invasive species has established itself on the east and west coasts and is steadily making its way north.
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Blue whales returning to former Alaska waters
Seattle Times
05/18/2009
Blue whales are returning to Alaska in search of food and could be re-establishing an old migration route several decades after they were nearly wiped out by commercial whalers, scientists say. The endangered whales, possibly the largest animals ever to live on Earth, have yet to recover from the worldwide slaughter that eliminated 99 percent of their number, according to the American Cetacean Society.
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Feds agree to deadline for review of walrus protections
Fairbanks Daily News Miner
05/18/2009
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to make an initial determination within four months on whether the Pacific walrus merits additional protections under the Endangered Species Act.
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As Alaska glaciers melt, it's the land that's rising
New York Times
05/17/2009
In Juneau, as almost nowhere else in the world, as the glaciers melt due to climate change, the land is rising, causing the sea to retreat.
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