Alaska
Alaska military bases fall short on climate readiness, federal report says
5 U.S. navy bases in Alaska — and one in Greenland — failed to arrange for local weather change like they had been presupposed to. That’s in accordance with federal inspectors from the Division of Protection’s oversight company. A report launched this month mentioned that the majority base leaders had been unaware even of the necessities anticipated of them to arrange for local weather change. The report additionally mentioned that’s as a result of navy leaders on the sub-Arctic bases didn’t have sufficient coaching, funding, or steering from the Protection Division to meet them.
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Clear Area Pressure Station, Eielson Air Pressure Base, Fort Wainwright and Fort Greely, and an Arctic base in Greenland had been cited within the report.
These bases are particularly susceptible to local weather impacts like flooding and wildfires. Pictures launched with the report present flooding and broken infrastructure at Alaska navy installations, although the main points are labeled. Particulars on particular dangers to Alaska bases are censored within the public model of the report.
Alaska’s sub-Arctic navy bases are strategically essential due to the chance of assault from international locations like Russia and China and new transport alternatives as Arctic sea ice melts.
Federal protection studies establish local weather change as a possible menace. The Division of Protection referred to as the consequences of local weather change a nationwide safety challenge. Excessive climate value the nation lots of of billions of {dollars} in damages over the past 5 years.
Alaska
Sierra Club among plaintiffs in lawsuit against feds over Alaska LNG project
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – For the second time in as many weeks, a government entity has been sued for its role in greenlighting the Alaska LNG project.
One week after eight Alaskan youth filed a lawsuit against the State of Alaska over its support of the natural gas pipeline, the Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity have followed suit with a lawsuit of their own.
On Thursday, the two environmental groups announced they sued the federal government over not providing thorough opinions of the pipeline’s threats against Alaska’s polar bears, Cook Inlet beluga whales and North Pacific right whales.
“The agencies responsible for assessing the impacts on whales, polar bears, and other species neglected to take proper care in evaluating the full scope of harm Alaska LNG will cause,” Sierra Club Alaska Chapter Director Andrea Feinger said in a statement.
“We’ve only got one shot to protect the climate and critical ecosystems that these endangered animals rely upon. The federal government must take an honest look at the real outcomes of expanded gas extraction and transport across the landscape and waterways of Alaska.”
In a news release on Thursday, the nonprofits called out the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service for not following the Endangered Species Act.
“I’m outraged by how thoroughly federal agencies ignored the many ways this LNG project is likely to harm endangered whales and polar bears,” Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “Our climate can’t take more fossil fuel extraction and neither can these desperately imperiled animals.”
The lawsuit was filed in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, with the hopes the legal system would deem the government’s wildlife assessments as faulty.
Copyright 2024 KTUU. All rights reserved.
Alaska
Environmental groups file new challenge to yet-unbuilt Alaska LNG export project • Alaska Beacon
Two environmental groups filed a new legal challenge to the Biden administration’s approval of a yet-to-be-built project that would send the Alaska North Slope’s vast reserves of natural gas to markets.
In a petition filed with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club argued that federal agencies failed to properly consider harms that the massive natural gas project would cause to Endangered Species Act-listed animals living in the affected marine areas: polar bears, Cook Inlet beluga whales and Eastern North Pacific right whales.
The petition was filed against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service, along with the agencies’ parent departments, the Department of the Interior and Department of Commerce.
The Biden administration last year renewed an approval of exports from the project, which has been pursued in various forms since the 1970s but never built. The current plan is being promoted by the state-owned Alaska Gasline Development Corp. It proposes a 42-inch-diameter pipeline running about 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope to tidewater at Cook Inlet, where a new facility would convert the product to liquefied natural gas and load it onto tanker vessels for export to Asian markets.
The Biden administration’s most recent approval, which follows numerous other permits and approvals over the years, was based on flawed biological reviews, the environmental groups argued.
“The rubber-stamp approval of the Alaska LNG project was reckless in many ways,” Sierra Club Alaska Chapter Director Andrea Feniger said in a statement. “The project will be devastating to vulnerable wildlife already struggling to face the catastrophic impacts of climate change. The agencies responsible for assessing the impacts on whales, polar bears, and other species neglected to take proper care in evaluating the full scope of harm Alaska LNG will cause.”
The lawsuit comes about a week after a different case was filed that challenges the project. On May 22, a group of young Alaskans sued the state to block the project because of its anticipated carbon emissions and impact to climate change. That case was filed in Alaska Superior Court in Anchorage.
The cases are unrelated and the timing of the two is coincidental, said Kristen Monsell, senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity. However, “it just goes to show how damaging this project would be in a variety of different ways,” she said by email.
The environmental groups’ legal claim was filed directly in the appeals court, bypassing lower courts, in accordance with the Natural Gas Act, Monsell said.
Under the act’s judicial review provision, challenges to permits for LNG projects other than those issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission are to be filed directly in appeals courts in which projects are located, she said.
A previous lawsuit challenging the export approval was filed last August by the same environmental groups in a different court. That challenge, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia against the U.S. Department of Energy, alleged that federal approval decisions overlooked both climate and nonclimate environmental impacts of the yet-unbuilt LNG project. That lawsuit remains pending; the most recent action was a series of briefs filed by opposing parties earlier this month.
A spokesperson for the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., responding to the latest legal challenge, said numerous reviews have already found the project to be worthwhile.
“Alaska LNG has withstood intensive environmental scrutiny by two successive administrations because of its obvious and abundant benefits, which include reducing global emissions by up to 2.3 billion tons, strengthening allied energy security, and finally ending longstanding air quality problems plaguing Interior Alaska villages and communities,” corporation spokesperson Tim Fitzpatrick said by email.
The Alaska North Slope has about 35 trillion cubic feet of known natural gas reserves, with more than that believed to exist in different areas of the region, including both conventional sources that would be produced through normal drilling technology and unconventional sources that would require more advanced techology, according to the U.S. Geological Survey estimates.
While oil has flowed from the North Slope since 1977, the natural gas that exists in the same fields has been stranded without a market and without any means of delivery to a market. The natural gas that is pumped up with oil in the North Slope fields is mostly reinjected into the ground to help push up more oil.
State, federal and industry officials have for decades pursued plans for pipelines to send that natural gas to markets – including a plan that was endorsed by then-President Jimmy Carter in the 1970s – but none has proved economically feasible.
The Alaska Gasline Development Corp. estimates its plan would cost $39 billion.
The Alaska Legislature, in its operating budget passed earlier this month, appropriated money to continue the state-owned corporation’s operations through the fiscal year starting on July 1.
Legislators allocated about $2.5 million in general-purpose state money to the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., less than the $4.5 million the corporation had requested at the start of the session. The corporation can also spend up to $3.1 million from a special gasline-specific account, under the operating budget.
Earlier in the session, some lawmakers expressed skepticism about continued state funding of the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. and its efforts.
Reporter James Brooks contributed to this article.
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Alaska
Celebrating International Flight Attendant Day at Alaska Airlines – Alaska Airlines News
Photos by Joe Nicholson, Alaska Airlines | Video by Ken Boyer, Alaska Airlines
Today, we join the global aviation community in celebrating International Flight Attendant Day! At Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, we are incredibly proud of our dedicated flight attendants who ensure every journey is safe, comfortable and enjoyable.
On this special day, we extend our heartfelt thank you to our flight attendants. Their expertise and warmth not only elevate our service but also strengthen our connections across the globe.
This year, we recognized the outstanding careers of several distinguished flight attendants by naming them “Alaska Legends” and “Horizon Pathfinders.” These top honors celebrate those with illustrious careers who have consistently aspired to greater heights, prioritized others, and exemplified the very best in all of us.
Tilli Buchanan
Flight Attendant, SEA
Alaska Airlines Legend ’24
“I absolutely love people, getting to travel and see the world, meet new people. Every day is a new adventure,” said Tilli Buchanan, flight attendant, SEA, who became a flight attendant at 40 years old. “Everyone’s journey is different. All you have to do is have a desire and dream big and bright.”
Chris Cardenas
Flight Attendant, LAX
Alaska Airlines Legend ’24
“I enjoy my job and try to have fun,” said Chris Cardenas, flight attendant, LAX. “Interacting with people, the different walks of life that come on that plane every day—people losing someone, somebody’s going to a wedding, you’re taking people to see a family member they haven’t seen in 30 years—that’s one thing they teach you when you become flight attendants: ‘always think about what that person’s going through that day.’ You never know what they’re going through but you can find out and at least make the experience a little bit easier.”
Rita Daniels
Flight Attendant, LAX
Alaska Airlines Legend ’24
“I’ve enjoyed this whole journey,” said Rita Daniels, flight attendant, LAX. “I love seeing children who obviously have an interest in becoming a pilot or a flight attendant–passing out the wings is my favorite. More than 20 years later, here I am, and still loving it!”
Dankeith “Keith” Chadd
Flight Attendant, SEA
Alaska Airlines Legend ’24
“I enjoy most working in the Main Cabin. My people are the people who aren’t comfortable traveling, my people who are on the discounted ticket. I like those people. I have something to offer them because I am one of those people,” said Keith Chadd, flight attendant, SEA. “I know why they hired me, I know why they hired you, it’s because you are a hero. It’s because you will never leave me behind.”
Sylvia Newbill
Flight Attendant, PDX
Alaska Airlines Legend ’24
“I’ve always loved being a flight attendant from the time I started,” said Sylvia Newbill, flight attendant, PDX. “I got hired with Alaska in 1991, Alaska’s people are the secret sauce.”
Tanya Santana
Flight Attendant, SEA
Alaska Airlines Legend ’24
“When your peers recognize you as a legend, that’s the highest honor, it goes right in there with the guest telling me that that was one of the best flights. I am so grateful I followed my dream,” said Tanya Santana, flight attendant, SEA.
Peter Oxentenko
Flight Attendant Instructor, PDX
Horizon Air Pathfinder ’23
“We make connections with people in 45 minutes or less,” said Peter Oxentenko, flight attendant instructor, PDX. “Everybody that works here—they’re still the reason I’m here for 19 years. They know what they’re doing and they care about one another.”
Jennifer Levcun
Flight Attendant, PAE
Horizon Air Pathfinder ’23
“I enjoy people, have a passion for travel, and I wanted an adventure,” said Jennifer Levcun, flight attendant, PAE. “It’s my hometown (Seattle), I knew that they were a safe airline and thought ‘this is a perfect fit for my life and family.’ I was thrilled when I got hired.”
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