It has not been announced by the U.S. Court in a press release, but it shows up on the court’s website: Alaska’s U.S. District Court Judge Joshua Kindred has resigned, effective July 8.
Kindred was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2019 to serve as a judge for the District of Alaska. He is a graduate of University of Alaska Anchorage and Willamette University College of Law, graduating in 2005.
The move is sudden, unexplained, but came in a letter of resignation offered by Kindred, who is 47 years old.
Bethel, Alaska (KTUU) – The State of Alaska announced Friday that its West Coast Storm Operations will now transition from response to recovery efforts.
Several organizations, including Team Rubicon, will begin winding down their efforts.
Team Rubicon’s remaining volunteers will leave on Sunday after the organization spent four weeks in the region.
The veteran-led volunteer group spent several weeks coordinating donations and working on infrastructure repair and cleanup.
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“There’s obviously a huge need left, and so there’s a lot of local contractors and groups that are going to be able to continue work throughout. Unfortunately Team Rubicon just is not able to do that. And so what our goal is, was two parts. One, do as much good work as we could during the four weeks that we were here. And the second part is, make sure we’re establishing a really good network,” said Jason Taylor, Team Rubicon Incident Commander.
He said he hopes the their group is invited to come back to Western Alaska in the spring to continue doing recovery work.
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Alaska could see a boom in oil production next year, a sharp reversal for a state that has seen decades of declining production, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
EIA estimates in a forecast released this week that Alaska could see a 13 percent rise in production compared to 2025 — the largest annual increase for the state since the 1980s — thanks to two new projects on the North Slope.
ConocoPhillips’ Nuna project came online in December 2024 and is expected to produce 20,000 barrels a day at its peak. Pikka Phase 1, jointly owned by Santos and Repsol, is slated to start production in early 2026 and could reach peak production of 80,000 barrels a day later that year.
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The state last year averaged about 421,000 barrels a day in production, according to EIA, and could be roughly flat this year. The agency estimates that oil production could grow to 477,000 barrels a day next year. Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, cheered the forecast in a statement.
The trans-Alaska pipeline near Pump Station 1 in Prudhoe Bay. (Marc Lester / ADN file)
A federal pipeline agency has proposed a $243,800 fine against the operator of the 800-mile trans-Alaska pipeline, related to a small crude oil leak in a pipeline heating system north of Fairbanks.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration says the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. committed several “probable violations” related to the “overpressure event and leak” in the heating system on Nov. 13, 2024, the agency says in the Oct. 2 notice.
A second small leak was also discovered soon afterward as the heating system was under repair.
The agency’s proposed fine is its first for Alyeska Pipeline in at least a decade, agency records show.
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The heating system, built in 2020, cost more than $10 million to build, records show.
Since the leak, Alyeska Pipeline has not operated the heating system, except for testing or maintenance, because other alternatives are available, said Michelle Egan, a spokesperson with Alyeska Pipeline.
Less than a cup of oil leaked, she said.
There was no environmental impact or risk to the main pipeline because the heating system was isolated from it, she said.
“We would need to work with PHMSA if we decide that there’s some reason we do need to use the system,” she said.
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The 800-mile pipeline is critical infrastructure in Alaska, transporting the North Slope crude oil that underpins much of the state economy. The pipeline has transported 18 billion barrels of crude oil since starting in 1977.
The heating system, built at Mile 238 of the pipeline near Coldfoot, consists in part of lengthy, 8-inch pipe to divert some crude oil from the mainline. The oil is heated for reinjection back into the mainline.
The system was designed to help prevent winter icing.
The November leak occurred when a pressure relief valve froze and couldn’t operate, after it had been tested with water, the report says. The failure of the valve caused the system to exceed the maximum operating pressure.
The valve was insulated for outdoor service but lacked heat tape, the report says.
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Before the leak, the valve provided “overpressure” protection in the heating system 13 times. But Alyeska Pipeline only identified these recurring “abnormal” events during the investigation into the November leak, “long after many of these events occurred,” the report says.
The recurring events and absence of records indicated that “response, investigation, and correction of the operation of the safety device had not occurred” as required by federal law, the report says.
No high-pressure alarm was configured for the heating system, though pressure information “was available via controller screens and locally,” the report says.
The crude-oil weep from the flange set was not found until Nov. 25, 2024. The pipeline company determined on Nov. 26 that the “overpressure event” occurred, the federal agency says.
The pipeline company has until Dec. 17 to respond to the proposed penalty, Egan said.
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“We’re going through that as thoroughly as we can, and continuing to work with them to make sure that we’re in compliance,” she said.
The notice was signed by Dustin Hubbard, director of the western region for the Office of Pipeline Safety in Colorado.
The proposed fine comes on the heels of a separate proposed compliance order issued by the agency in April.
That order raises concerns about inspections for possible cracks in the main pipe.
Alyeska Pipeline is “still working with PHMSA on the issue of running a crack tool,” Egan said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.
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“Our system integrity engineers assess the conditions of the pipe routinely and believe our current methods provide sufficient analysis to detect and manage issues,” she said.
Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. is owned by affiliates of Alaska’s major oil producers.
Harvest Alaska, an affiliate of Hilcorp, is the largest owner at 49%, while ConocoPhillips Transportation Alaska and ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. own the rest.
