Category Archives: Alaska

Biden to cancel oil and gas leases in Alaska issued by Trump administration

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Seven oil and gas leases canceled by interior department, which said sale during final days of Trump administration were flawed

The US interior department has canceled seven oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic national wildlife refuge that were part of a sale held in the waning days of the Trump administration, arguing the sale was legally flawed.

The interior secretary, Deb Haaland, said with her decision to cancel the remaining leases “no one will have rights to drill for oil in one of the most sensitive landscapes on earth”. However, a 2017 law mandates another lease sale by late 2024. Administration officials said they intend to comply with the law.

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US dispatches warships after China and Russia send naval patrol near Alaska

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Combined naval patrol appeared to be largest such flotilla to approach US territory and ‘highly provocative’, expert says

The US dispatched four navy warships as well as a reconnaissance airplane after multiple Chinese and Russian military vessels carried out a joint naval patrol near Alaska last week.

The combined naval patrol, which the Wall Street Journal first reported, appeared to be the largest such flotilla to approach US territory, according to experts that spoke to the outlet.

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Flying Wild Alaska star pilot Jim Tweto dies in plane crash

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Bush pilot’s Cessna 180 crashed on Friday near Shaktoolik, Alaska, killing Tweto and his passenger

The bush pilot Jim Tweto, well known as the star of the early 2010s documentary series Flying Wild Alaska on Discovery, died in a plane crash on Friday.

The crash which killed Tweto, 68, and passenger occurred about 35 miles north-east of Shaktoolik, Alaska.

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US army grounds all aviation units for training after fatal helicopter crashes

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Suspension comes after 12 soldiers die within a month in two crashes in Alaska and Kentucky

The US army has grounded aviation units for training after 12 soldiers died in helicopter crashes in Alaska and Kentucky in the last month.

The suspension was effective immediately, with units being grounded until they complete the training, the army spokesperson Lt Col Terence Kelley said.

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Rough life: lost dog returned home after epic 150-mile Alaskan sea-ice journey

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Nanuq, a one-year-old Australian shepherd, disappeared from a family trip and went on an adventure across the Bering Sea

A one-year-old Australian shepherd took an epic trek across 150 miles (241km) of frozen Bering Sea ice that included being bitten by a seal or polar bear before he was safely returned to his home in Alaska.

Mandy Iworrigan, Nanuq’s owner who lives in Gambell, Alaska, and her family were visiting Savoonga, another St Lawrence Island community in the Bering strait, last month when Nanuq disappeared with their other family dog, Starlight, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

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Biden denies reports that Alaska oil drilling project has been approved

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Signing off on the Willow plan would place the president’s political career in conflict with climate-minded Democrats

The Biden administration has denied reports that it has authorized a key oil drilling project on Alaska’s north slope, a highly contentious project that environmentalists argue would damage a pristine wilderness and gut White House commitments to combat climate crisis.

Late Friday, Bloomberg was first to report citing anonymous sources that senior Biden advisers had signed off on the project and formal approval would be made public by the Interior Department next week.

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Schumer says Chinese ‘humiliated’ after three flying objects shot down

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‘Chinese were caught lying',’ says Senate majority leader as US and Canadian military scramble to recover pieces

US and Canadian military are continuing to search by sea and land amid hostile weather conditions in a scramble to recover portions of three flying objects shot down over North American airspace in the past week.

The Democratic majority leader of the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, told ABC’s This Week on Sunday that he had been briefed by the White House and that officials were now convinced that all three of the flying objects brought down by air-to-air missiles this week were balloons. He put the finger of blame firmly on China.

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Mystery surrounds what exactly was object US jet shot down over Alaska

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High-altitude object the size of a small car was downed on Friday but its owner and purpose have yet to be identified

Questions remain after the US government shot down two high-altitude objects, one near Deadhorse, Alaska along the north-eastern Alaskan coast and a second near Yukon, Canada, that have yet to be identified.

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau tweeted Saturday afternoon that he ordered the takedown of an unidentified object in Canadian airspace out

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Unidentified object shot down over Alaska by US military, White House says

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Spokesman John Kirby says object, the size of a small car, was ordered by President Biden to be downed

• Chinese ‘spy balloon’ wakes up world to new era of war on edge of space

A US fighter jet has shot down an unidentified high-altitude object over Alaska that was the size of a small car but the nature, purpose or origin of the object remains unclear.

US officials said the targeted aircraft brought down on Friday was considerably smaller than the Chinese balloon downed last Saturday over the Atlantic, and carefully avoided characterising it as a balloon, drone or plane, giving nothing away about the description of the object other than its rough size, its altitude and its direction of travel.

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Outrage as US government advances $8bn Alaska oil drilling plan

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Interior department report recommends scaled-back version of ConocoPhillips’ Willow project despite Biden campaign pledge

The Biden administration has advanced a $8bn drilling project on Alaska’s north slope. The ConocoPhillips Willow project, which would be one of the largest oil and gas developments on federal territory, has drawn fierce opposition from environmentalists, who say its approval runs counter to the president’s ambitious climate goals.

An environmental assessment released by the interior department on Wednesday recommends a scaled-back version of the project ConocoPhillips originally proposed, and would produce about 600m barrels of oil over 30 years, with a peak of 180,000 barrels of crude oil a day.

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Mary Peltola, first Alaska Native in Congress, wins bid to retain seat

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Peltola made history to become the first woman to represent the state when she won a special election in August

Mary Peltola, a Democrat and the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress, has won her bid to retain the state’s sole seat in the House of Representatives.

Peltola made history when she won a special election this summer to replace the Republican Don Young after his death. She is also the first woman to represent Alaska in Congress since it became a state in 1959.

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Alaska firefighters rescue baby moose trapped in home

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The 500lb one-year-old moose fell through a basement window and became trapped, requiring six people to help get him out

Firefighters in Alaska got an unusual request for assistance last Sunday, from Alaska wildlife troopers.

“They were looking for some help getting a moose out of a basement,” said Capt Josh Thompson of Central Emergency Services on the Kenai Peninsula.

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Alaska cancels snow crab season over population decline

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Causes being researched but likely included increased predation and stresses from warmer water

Alaska officials have cancelled the upcoming snow crab season, due to population decline across the Bering Sea.

The fall Bristol Bay red king crab harvest will not happen. The winter harvest of smaller snow crab has also been cancelled for the first time.

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Weather tracker: storms batter Alaska, Caribbean and Japan

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Hurricane causes blackout across Puerto Rico while typhoon forces 8m to flee homes in Japan

It has been very active across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in recent days with more than five storms officially named.

Hurricane Fiona in the Caribbean was the first storm of the tropical Atlantic season to strengthen into a major hurricane. Fiona made landfall on Sunday across south-western Puerto Rico, where it dumped 762mm (30in) of rain with sustained gusts of 115mph.

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Alaskans continue to grapple with fallout from typhoon-related flooding

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Rising waters brought power outages, damage and concerns over surviving the winter as downpours also affected California

Floodwaters in Alaska are receding after the remnants of a powerful typhoon pummeled the state’s western coastline. But residents are continuing to grapple with power outages, water damage and concerns about how to survive the coming winter.

This weekend, a low-pressure system spinning out from Alaska made its way down the coast to northern California, bringing rare September rain to the region. The downpours aided efforts to contain the 19 sq mile (49 sq km) Mosquito fire in the Sierra Nevada foothills, but raised new concerns.

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Severe storm headed for Alaska could bring devastating levels of flooding

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In what could be the worst storm in five decades, residents are warned to take action against rising waters that may not recede for hours

Alaska is bracing for what forecasters believe could be its worst storm in decades, as the remnants of a typhoon bring hurricane-force winds and towering waves crashing toward its shores.

The remnants of Typhoon Merbok, now swirling over the Bering Sea, are predicted to deliver devastating levels of flooding and damaging wind gusts beginning Friday night and lasting through the weekend..

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Sarah Palin loses Alaska special election to Democrat Mary Peltola

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Peltola’s victory in the state’s first ranked choice voting election makes her the first Alaska Native to serve in the House

The Democrat Mary Peltola has won the special election for Alaska’s only US House seat, besting a field that included the Republican Sarah Palin, who was seeking a political comeback in the state where she was once governor.

Peltola, who is Yup’ik and turned 49 on Wednesday, will become the first Alaska Native to serve in the House and the first woman to hold the seat. She will serve the remaining months of the late Republican US Representative Don Young’s term. Young held the seat for 49 years before his death in March.

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Liz Cheney looks set to lose Congress seat to Trump-backed rival

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Polls show congresswoman trailing far behind conservative lawyer Harriet Hageman in Wyoming’s Republican primary

Widely praised for her defence of democracy during the January 6 committee hearings, Liz Cheney looks set to lose her seat in Congress on Tuesday to a rival backed by former US president Donald Trump.

Opinion polls show Cheney trailing far behind conservative lawyer Harriet Hageman – who has echoed Trump’s false claims of widespread voter fraud – in a Republican primary election to decide Wyoming’s lone member in the House of Representatives.

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Alaska family’s blind golden retriever found after being lost for three weeks

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Construction crew found elderly Lulu in bushes after thinking she was a bear

An Alaska family had given up hope of finding their blind, elderly golden retriever who wandered away from their home three weeks ago, but a construction crew found Lulu in salmonberry bushes after initially confusing her for a bear.

Lulu was barely alive after being found Tuesday, but she is being nursed back to health and is back home with her family, the Daily Sitka Sentinel reported.

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Four bears killed at Alaska park reserved for homeless people

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Bears were stealing food from tents at campground in Anchorage that provides shelter but is also bear country

Alaska wildlife officials have killed four black bears in a campground recently reserved for people in Anchorage who are homeless after the city’s largest shelter was closed.

Employees from the Alaska department of fish and game on Tuesday killed a sow and her two cubs and another adult bear that was acting separately, stealing food from tents inside Centennial Park, which is managed by the city, officials said.

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