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Cottongrass wafts over the tundra in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Sept. 2, 2006. (Steve Hillebrand/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

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Arctic refuge oil exploration could begin as soon as this winter, court documents indicate

Alaska’s state-owned investment bank could get permission to start oil exploration work in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge…

Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson, D-Anchorage, speaks in the Alaska State Capitol on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

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Dunleavy administration is blocking billion-dollar audit of oil tax disputes, legislators say

Legislature close to passing bill mandating disclosure of executive-branch reports legislators request.

An Arctic “fogbow” is seen from the deck of the Coast Guard cutter Healy during the 2016 Hidden Ocean mission to the High Arctic area known as the Chukchi Borderland. The Healy cruise was part of a project carried out over several years to map the extended continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean beyond the nation’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. That extended area includes the Chukchi Borderland. (Photo provided by Caitlin Bailey/Global Foundation for Ocean Exploration)

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Trump administration plans for oil deep in Arctic Ocean, where US claim has yet to be recognized

President seeks to designate High Arctic offshore area beyond the 200-mile limit.

A polar bear is spotted on a multiyear ice floe in the Beaufort Sea on Aug. 13, 2023. The Trump administration is planning to designate a new “High Arctic” region off Alaska for offshore oil and gas leasing. (Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Scott Bice/U.S. Coast Guard)

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Trump administration plans offshore oil leasing in Alaska’s ‘High Arctic’

Multiyear program will include a reconfigured Arctic area where future lease sales will be held.

ConocoPhillips oil pipelines on the North Slope of Alaska on March 23, 2023. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times)

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Oil and gas execs denounce Trump’s ‘chaos’ and ‘uncertainty’ in first survey during his second term

Issues raised by southcentral U.S. operators have similarities, differences to Alaska’s, lawmakers say.

A Mendenhall Valley neighborhood is swamped by a record glacial outburst flood on on Aug. 6, 2024. (Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities photo)

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Profits from ‘fully’ extracting Alaska’s resources minus the cost of climate impacts: Who will gain/lose how much?

The results may not be high either way since experts say Trump’s goals are unlikely to happen anytime…

Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks about new Trump administration policies at a news conference Wednesday in his Anchorage office. Behind him are Attorney General Treg Taylor and Department of Natural Resources Commissioner John Boyle. Dunleavy and administration officials said President Trump’s reversals of Biden administration environmental policies will benefit Alaska. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

News

Gov. Dunleavy and administration officials applaud Trump’s Alaska policies

Executive orders will enable more drilling, mining and other resource development.

An aerial shows the footprint of the test well drilled in the mid-1980s on land owned by the Kaktovik Native village corporation within the 1002 area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Trump wants oil drilling in Alaska. A lease sale in ANWR just flopped.

No bidders for 400,000 acres offered; some Alaska officials said Biden actions ensured failure

Frank Richards, president of the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., speaks at a Jan. 6, 2025, news conference held in Anchorage by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Dunleavy is standing behind him. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

News

Unnamed energy company is negotiating takeover of proposed trans-Alaska gas pipeline

Top official for the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. said he expects a formal announcement soon.

A view of Shell’s deepwater oil platform Appomattox from an approaching helicopter, off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico, April 11, 2024. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times)

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Biden expected to permanently ban oil drilling in some federal waters

President Joe Biden is expected to permanently ban new oil and gas drilling in large sections of the…

A Shell station in Anchorage. (Nathaniel Herz/Northern Journal)

News

Shell abandons North Slope oil leases, raising questions about the industry’s future in Alaska

Experts say some of the state’s hard-to-tap oil prospects are becoming less attractive.

Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, speaks during a session of the U.S. House on Wednesday. (U.S. Congress Screenshot)

News

Peltola declines to vote for Arctic drilling bill she previously supported, citing fish policy

GOP campaign group targeting Alaska’s Democratic congresswoman says vote will be a campaign issue.

Caribou cross through Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve in their 2012 spring migration. A 211-mile industrial road that the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority wants to build would pass through Gates of the Arctic and other areas used by the Western Arctic Caribou Herd, one of the largest in North America. Supporters, including many Alaska political leaders, say the road would provide important economic benefits. Opponents say it would have unacceptable effects on the caribou. (Photo by Zak Richter/National Park Service)

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Alaska’s U.S. senators say pending decisions on Ambler road and NPR-A are illegal

Expected decisions by Biden administration oppose mining road, support more North Slope protections.

A caribou from the Central Arctic herd crosses a road within the Kuparuk oil field on the North Slope of Alaska in the summer of 2019, during the mosquito harassment period. (Photo by John Severson/U.S. Geological Survey)

News

Oil field road traffic disrupts North Slope caribou more than previously recognized

New study raises questions about further development in the animals’ habitat

Nuiqsut is seen in an undated photo. (Karen Kasmauski/Getty Images)

News

As ConocoPhillips’ Willow project advances, two local governments withdraw their criticism

As ConocoPhillips begins a major winter construction season for its planned Willow oil development, the governments of a…

An exploration rig operates in the winter of 2019 at ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc.’s Willow prospect. The company announced on Friday that it made its final investment decision in favor of developing the huge prospect. (Photo provided by ConocoPhillips)

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ConocoPhillips announces official go-ahead for Willow oil project

Nine months after the Biden administration approved it, ConocoPhillips Inc. announced it has officially sanctioned full development of…

The ConocoPhillips Alaska headquarters, seen here on April 8, 2020, looms over downtown Anchorage. An appeals court order denying environmentalists’ request for an emergency injunction allows the company to proceed with its ongoing winter construction at its massive Willow project on the North Slope. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

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Appeals court allows ConocoPhillips to keep building its Willow project

Construction is underway at the massive oil project even as the legal fight continues.

A ConocoPhillips oil rig operating during winter on Alaska’s North Slope is featured on the cover of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s report recommending approval of the Willow oil project. (U.S. Bureau of Land Management)

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Judge rejects calls to halt winter construction work on Willow oil project in Alaska during appeal

A federal judge in Alaska on Friday rejected requests from environmental groups to halt winter construction work for…

An exploration site at ConocoPhillips’ Willow prospect is seen from the air in the 2019 winter season. Willow is located in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. (Photo by Judy Patrick/provided by ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc.)

News

Environmental groups ask federal appeals court to halt Willow oil project

Two coalitions of environmental groups, having lost their case in an Alaska courthouse, are asking the 9th U.S.…

Demonstrators protest against the Biden administration’s approval of the Willow oil-drilling project before a scheduled speech by Biden at the Department of the Interior in Washington, March 21, 2023. A federal judge on Thursday upheld the Biden administration’s approval of the Willow oil-drilling project on Alaska’s remote North Slope, a massive project that had drawn the ire of environmentalists who accused the president of backpedaling on his pledge to combat climate change. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

News

Federal judge in Alaska upholds Biden administration’s approval of the massive oil-drilling project

A federal judge on Thursday upheld the Biden administration’s approval of the massive Willow oil-drilling project on Alaska’s…