Alaska

Alaska oil project approval adds yet another climate concern

Published

2 years ago

March 14, 2023

Alaska oil project approval adds yet another climate concern

JUNEAU, Alaska — The Biden administration’s approval of an enormous oil improvement in northern Alaska commits the U.S. to one more decadeslong crude undertaking whilst scientists urgently warn that solely a halt to extra fossil gasoline emissions can stem local weather change.

ConocoPhillips’ Willow undertaking would produce 180,000 barrels of oil a day at its peak, and utilizing that crude would end in at the very least 263 million tons (239 million metric tons) of greenhouse fuel emissions over 30 years.

Demand for oil is not dropping because the planet heats, and a bitter political dispute over the undertaking, which was accepted Monday, has underscored the Democratic administration’s wrestle to stability financial pressures in opposition to pledges to curb fossil fuels. The proposal within the distant area north of the Arctic Circle additionally highlights the paradox dealing with the U.S. and different nations: The world’s transition to scrub vitality lags the realities of an economic system nonetheless largely pushed by oil consumption.

“In some unspecified time in the future, we have now to depart oil and fuel and coal within the floor. And for me, that some level is now — notably in a weak ecosystem just like the Arctic,” stated Rob Jackson, a local weather scientist at Stanford College.

For Alaska, the undertaking guarantees an financial enhance after oil manufacturing dropped sharply for the reason that late Nineteen Eighties, and political leaders from each events within the state united in assist of it. Oil has lengthy been the financial lifeblood of the still-young state, with revenues additionally serving to distant communities and villages on Alaska’s petroleum-rich North Slope spend money on native infrastructure.

However the state has additionally felt the impacts of the altering local weather: coastal erosion is threatening Indigenous villages, uncommon wildfires are popping up, sea ice is thinning and permafrost guarantees to launch carbon because it melts.

The Worldwide Vitality Company has stated new investments in oil and fuel drilling have to be halted if nations, together with the U.S., hope to achieve their 2050 objective of net-zero emissions, which means solely as a lot planet-warming fuel is launched into the environment as could be absorbed.

The vitality sector accounts for 90% of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide and three-quarters of the whole human-made greenhouse gases launched into the environment.

But world demand for crude is anticipated to proceed rising, in line with trade analysts and the U.S. Vitality Data Administration.

As an alternative of focusing on home provides of these fuels — together with tasks like Willow — vitality knowledgeable Jim Krane stated policymakers must concentrate on decreasing demand.

“For those who goal provide within the U.S. with none form of measures to convey demand down, refiners are simply going to tug their oil from abroad,” he stated.

Concentrating on provides additionally might have broader financial results since the price of transportation is among the drivers of inflation, Krane added.

Electrical automobiles supply a possible substitute for gasoline-powered vehicles and vans, however to this point they’ve barely dented fossil gasoline demand. By 2030, EV is anticipated to displace 2.7 million barrels of oil a day, in line with new findings from Enverus Intelligence Analysis, a knowledge evaluation agency centered on the vitality trade.

That’s lower than 3% of world oil consumption, which in 2030 is anticipated to be about the identical as present ranges — roughly 100 million barrels a day, stated Al Salazar, senior vice chairman of the analysis firm.

“Demand doesn’t go to zero in a blink-of-the-eye,” Salazar stated. “It takes time to show over the whole mild obligation automobile fleet.”

The Willow undertaking is within the Nationwide Petroleum Reserve-Alaska – a spot the place Republican U.S. senators have famous drilling must be anticipated. The Biden administration final 12 months reinstated an Obama-era administration plan for the petroleum reserve that restricted oil and fuel leasing to about 52% of federal lands within the space. That rolled again a Trump-era plan that known as for making obtainable for leasing about 82% of the federal lands.

The greenhouse gasses from Willow would equal emissions from about 1.7 million vehicles. That’s solely 0.1% of whole U.S. emissions. Inside Division officers for years have cited such comparatively small emissions on a world scale as justification for approvals of coal mines and oil fuel leases.

Jackson stated that perspective can’t proceed if the worst results of local weather change are to be prevented. The planet is “as removed from zero emissions as we have ever been” regardless of the emphasis on renewable vitality.

“It’s the identical as pondering, effectively, each new automobile we placed on the highway or coal plant we construct doesn’t matter as a result of there are hundreds of thousands of different vehicles and hundreds of different coal crops around the globe working,” he stated.

Previous to the Willow determination, the administration already had softened its opposition to grease and fuel that marked the early days of Biden’s presidency.

The Democrat initially suspended new oil and fuel lease gross sales, and the administration then fended off a authorized problem to that coverage from Republican state attorneys normal. However throughout negotiations over final 12 months’s local weather invoice, the administration agreed to tens of hundreds of thousands of acres of latest leasing to get the assist of Democratic holdout Sen. Joe Manchin, of West Virginia.

Provisions within the measure hyperlink oil and fuel leasing to renewable vitality improvement. Consequently, the administration plans to supply on the market later this month greater than 73 million acres of oil and fuel leases within the Gulf of Mexico. In Could and June, it’ll public sale 280,000 acres of onshore leases in Wyoming, New Mexico, Montana and different states.

Environmentalists say the Gulf sale might end in drilling that will extract greater than 1 billion barrels of oil and huge volumes of pure fuel over the following 50 years.

“This administration has pledged to supervise a historic transition to scrub vitality, however actions converse louder than phrases,” stated Earthjustice lawyer George Torgun, who represents environmental teams which have requested a federal court docket to cease the Gulf sale.

Kara Moriarty, president and CEO of the Alaska Oil and Gasoline Affiliation, stated the transition to extra renewable vitality sources is not going to be like flicking a swap. She predicted the oil and fuel trade will proceed for many years.

“We can have an trade 30 years from now,” she stated.

___

Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

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Alaska

Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport busy with holiday travelers

Published

6 hours ago

December 23, 2024

Press Room

Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport busy with holiday travelers

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) -Many of the people arriving to and departing from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport Sunday agreed that Anchorage’s main airport isn’t as tough to navigate as most right now.

On Dec. 22, three days out from both Hanukkah and Christmas, travelers at the airport were lined up, checking in, waiting for baggage, or going through security; all of those, demanding a wait. However, several travelers told Alaska’s News Source about their experiences and what they were expecting during their flights.

Matt Howard departed from Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina around 5 a.m. “It was the busiest I’ve ever seen it,” Howard said. He estimated he touched down in Anchorage around 6 p.m., adding Ted Stevens was much “less frantic” than the other airports he was at, but thought the evening time frame might have been a contributing factor.

Flying in from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, Kimberly Lamar said she visits her mother in Alaska at least once a year.

“It was pretty overwhelming, trying to get through from Atlanta,” she said. “Then I got to Seattle; it was hard to get through to the gates of Seattle. And finally, this is the easiest airport I’ve actually been in all day.”

Born and raised in Alaska, Gideon Mahoney was traveling to Colorado where he recently relocated. “I’m actually really surprised, right now it’s easy and we were a little late, so…” Mahoney said, glancing at the line for security.

Growing up in Alaska, Mahoney said flying into Denver International Airport can be overwhelming at times.

“We’re working on figuring out how to deal with that,” he said. “We’re getting it.”

As for travelers who haven’t left just yet, Lamar’s advice was aligned with a prepared statement from Alaska Airlines: both said arriving early is the key for holiday travels.

“If you’re flying, make sure you leave early because those lines are crucial,” Lamar said.

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Alaska

Hydroponics provide year-round growing for Alaska farmers

Published

14 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

Hydroponics provide year-round growing for Alaska farmers

On a recent December afternoon, Soldotna farmer Taylor Lewis preps for a day of harvesting crops. She walks to a tray filled with ripe lettuce and snips a head of it by the stem.

It’s just one of about 900 plants that Taylor and her mother-in-law Jayme Lewis will harvest and process this week – despite freezing temperatures and slushy snow outside. That’s because the duo works for Edgy Veggie, an indoor farm that grows produce year round.

“In the summer, a lot of our business drops off because folks are gardening at home. But in the winter, they’re not, because it costs money to heat your greenhouse,” Jayme said. “It costs a lot of money to heat your greenhouse.”

The company is a hydroponic farm, meaning they grow plants without soil. Hydroponic systems recycle and reuse nutrient-filled water, which minimizes waste. Specially made lighting and climate controlled conditions make it possible for Edgy Veggie to grow indoors during the winter months.

Climate controlled grow rooms like this one at Edgy Veggie in Soldotna make it possible to harvest greens and herbs year-round.

Around Thanksgiving, the company harvested 150 pounds of lettuce, enough to make about 800 salads. That took two days and was one of their biggest hauls of the year. Although not a typical harvest for the company, Jayme says she does see an uptick in business during the winter when Alaska’s produce is almost exclusively shipped up from the Lower 48.

“If you go to the grocery store and pick up a head of lettuce right now, by the time you get it home it will be wilted,” Jayme said. “That’s sad. Literally, that’s sad.”

Jayme says some local restaurants have sourced their vegetables from Edgy Veggie because they last longer and are fresher than grocery store produce.

Nestled between two train cars-turned-restaurants on the other side of town, Henry Krull walks inside his shipping container farm. He points to a wall that’s growing hundreds of bunches of butter lettuce.

Krull is the owner of fresh365, another Kenai Peninsula based hydroponic farm. Just like Edgy Veggie, the farm operates entirely indoors.

“The advantage of growing indoors, in a container like we have, is that we can control the environment,” Krull said. “We can grow no matter what’s going on outside. It can be 30 below outside, but it’s always 70 degrees or so inside.”

fresh365 also sees an uptick in direct-to-consumer sales in the winter. Otherwise, most of their sales go to other businesses, like local restaurants.

Lettuce sprouts, like these seen at Edgy Veggie in Soldotna, are placed in a specially designed watering system and grown without soil.

And while indoor farming means fresh, local produce year-round for Alaskans, it faces a number of challenges. Krull says growing in a hydroponic setting is much more expensive than traditional farming methods. So, to offset his farm’s energy costs, he installed solar panels, which were partially funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America Program, or REAP.

But, Krull says the property doesn’t get much sunlight in the winter.

“The sun is a very valuable commodity, it’s valuable for not only producing electricity, but it helps to lower the energy costs,” he said. “And the energy costs of the farm containers we have is actually very, very high, because we can’t take advantage of the sun.”

Edgy Veggie, on the other hand, doesn’t even have solar panels. Jayme says their energy costs are high year round.

“Electricity, especially, is outrageous,” she said. “I wish that the state had some sort of option with the electric companies to help support farming. We’re providing a service to the community, honestly. We’re trying to, but it might run us out of business.”

Other challenges to hydroponics include faulty pumps and timers, ventilation issues and water leaks. Like traditional farming, hydroponic farmers say it’s backbreaking work.

fresh365 owner Henry Krull says the hydroponic farm recently started growing mushrooms, like — fresh365 owner Henry Krull holds a box of lion’s mane. The hydroponic farm recently started growing mushrooms alongside its greens and herbs.

But, for farmers like Taylor Lewis, offering fresh and local produce year round is a labor of love.

“Being able to supply our community with anything fresh is great,” Taylor said. “What we have as options in the grocery store – it’s not cutting it.”

“These belong in every community,” Krull said. “We’ve been able to prove that as a business model, it works. You can make a profit doing it, you can provide a good service to your community, and I think we can really do good for our community by providing something that is not readily available on a year-round basis.”

According to the U.S Department of Agriculture, only 5% of food Alaskans consume is grown locally. The state also has very short growing seasons.

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