Alaska
Environmental groups mount legal challenge to Alaska natural gas export approval – Alaska Beacon
Two environmental groups on Friday asked a federal appeals court to overturn the Biden administration’s approval of exports from Alaska’s yet-unbuilt project that would ship natural gas from the North Slope.
The Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity filed a petition with the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia that seeks to reverse the Department of Energy approval granted in April to the massive project that would send liquefied North Slope natural gas to Asian markets.
The environmental groups argue that the massive project would unleash too much atmospheric carbon, exacerbating climate change.
“The federal government should not be approving this project at this point in the climate crisis,” said Erin Colón, senior staff attorney for Earthjustice, which is representing the Center for Biological Diversity in the case.
The project is being pursued by the state-owned Alaska Gasline Development Corp. The most recent estimated cost is $38.7 billion. It would require a new pipeline running 807 miles from Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope to a tidewater site at Cook Inlet in Nikiski in Southcentral Alaska, where it would be liquefied and loaded onto tankers for ocean shipments.
The AGDC proposal is the current state-endorsed plan for a pipeline that would transport the North Slope’s vast known but currently stranded natural gas resources to the global market. The state and various industry players tried over the past half century to develop some kind of pipeline system to transport that natural gas, which exists at Prudhoe Bay and other oil fields. No plan has so far proved to be justified in terms of profitability.
Spokespeople for the Department of Energy were not available Friday to comment on the environmental groups’ legal challenge.
An AGDC representative, however, said the groups’ criticisms about climate impacts were misguided.
“Alaska LNG will reduce carbon emissions by up to 2.3 billion tons during its 30-year authorization and provide compelling benefits to Alaskans and our global climate. Alaska LNG successfully completed rigorous environmental review across two successive administrations with strong bipartisan backing and, with more than 6,000 pages of federal regulatory analysis, is the most thoroughly examined energy infrastructure project in U.S. history,” Tim Fitzpatrick, head of external affairs, said in an emailed statement.
The three-page petition filed on Friday, considered a new lawsuit, is a precursor to more detailed arguments on the legal merits of the approval, Colón said. Under the federal Natural Gas Act, challenges to permits for projects like this are filed directly in federal appeals courts, starting with such petitions, she said.
A previous legal challenge filed by the Sierra Club in 2020, which also cited climate-change concerns, resulted in a pause by the Department of Energy announced in 2021. The department conducted a supplemental environmental impact statement that considered the climate-change issues. That new environmental analysis was completed in early 2023 and triggered the export-permit approval.
Many experts, including those in Alaska and in Asia, consider the prospects for the Alaska LNG project to be dim.
Nonetheless, Colón said, the environmental groups believe their legal action is necessary.
“There will be no later opportunity to challenge the federal permits,” she said, citing permits that have been issued to the AGDC project.
“They have also secured a number of subsidies and subsidy-like measures that make it more and more likely that the project would be built,” she said, cited as an example the project’s access to up to $26 billion in loan guarantees, a provision within the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. “If you subsidize something enough, it will pencil out.”
The LNG export proposal being pursued by the AGDC is just one in a series of North Slope gas pipeline plans that have been floated over the decades.
State, federal and industry officials in the past envisioned an overland pipeline that would carry North Slope natural gas through part of Canada to the U.S. Midwest. Other past plans involved LNG exports from the Prince William Sound port Valdez, site of the marine terminal for the existing trans-Alaska oil pipeline that has been shipping North Slope crude since 1977.
A more recent alternative vision for shipping North Slope natural gas involves LNG plants just offshore from Prudhoe Bay and deliveries in the Arctic and deliveries by icebreaking tankers. That marine-shipment concept is being pursued by an Anchorage-based Qilak LNG. Qilak LNG is promoting its project as a competitor to the Yamal project in Russia, which is served by a fleet of icebreaking LNG tankers.
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Alaska
Flight attendant sacked for twerking on the job: ‘What’s wrong with a little twerk before work’
They deemed the stunt not-safe-for-twerk.
An Alaska Airlines flight attendant who was sacked for twerking on camera has created a GoFundMe to support her while she seeks a new berth.
The crewmember, named Nelle Diala, had filmed the viral booty-shaking TikTok video on the plane while waiting two hours for the captain to arrive, A View From the Wing reported.
She captioned the clip, which also blew up on Instagram, “ghetto bih till i D-I-E, don’t let the uniform fool you.”
Diala was reportedly doing a victory dance to celebrate the end of her new hire probationary period.
Unfortunately, her jubilation was short-lived as Alaska Airlines nipped her employment in the bum just six months into her contract.
The fanny-wagging flight attendant feels that she didn’t do anything wrong.
Diala has since reposted the twerking clip with the new caption: “Can’t even be yourself anymore, without the world being so sensitive. What’s wrong with a little twerk before work, people act like they never did that before.”
The new footage was hashtagged #discriminationisreal.
The disgraced stewardess even set up a GoFundMe page to help support the so-called “wrongfully fired” flight attendant until she can land a new flight attendant gig.
“I never thought a single moment would cost me everything,” wrote the ex-crewmember. “Losing my job was devastating.”
She claimed that the gig had allowed her to meet new people and see the world, among other perks.
While air hostessing was ostensibly a “dream job,” Diala admitted that she used the income to help fund her “blossoming lingerie and dessert businesses,” which she runs under the Instagram handles @cakezncake (which doesn’t appear to have any content?) and @figure8.lingerie.
As of Wednesday morning, the crowdfunding campaign has raised just $182 of its $12,000 goal.
Diala was ripped online for twerking on the job as well as her subsequent GoFundMe efforts.
“You don’t respect the uniform, you don’t respect your job then,” declared one critic on the popular aviation-focused Instagram page The Crew Lounge. “Terms and Conditions apply.”
“‘Support for wrongly fired flight attendant??’” mocked another. “Her GoFund title says it all. She still thinks she was wrongly fired. Girl you weren’t wrongly fired. Go apply for a new job and probably stop twerking in your uniform.”
“The fact that you don’t respect your job is one thing but doing it while in uniform and at work speaks volumes,” scoffed a third. “You’re the brand ambassador and it’s not a good look.”
Alaska
As Alaska sees a spike in Flu cases — another virus is on the rise in the U.S.
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTUU) – Alaska has recently seen a rise in both influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, better known as RSV. Amidst the spike in both illnesses, norovirus has also been on the rise in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says it’s highly contagious and hand sanitizers don’t work well against it.
Current data for Alaska shows 449 influenza cases and 262 RSV cases for the week of Jan. 4. Influenza predominantly impacts the Kenai area, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, and the Northwest regions of the state. RSV is also seeing significant activity in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and Anchorage.
Both are respiratory viruses that are treatable, but norovirus — which behaves like the stomach flu according to the CDC — is seeing a surge at the national level. It “causes acute gastroenteritis, an inflammation of the stomach or intestines,” as stated on the CDC webpage.
This virus is spread through close contact with infected people and surfaces, particularly food.
“Basically any place that people aggregate in close quarters, they’re going to be especially at risk,” said Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent.
Preventing infection is possible but does require diligence. Just using hand sanitizer “does not work well against norovirus,” according to the CDC. Instead, the CDC advises washing your hands with soap and hot water for at least 20 seconds. When preparing food or cleaning fabrics — the virus “can survive temperatures as high as 145°F,” as stated by the CDC.
According to Dr. Gupta, its proteins make it difficult to kill, leaving many cleaning methods ineffective. To ensure a given product can kill the virus, he advises checking the label to see if it claims it can kill norovirus. Gupta said you can also make your own “by mixing bleach with water, 3/4 of a cup of bleach per gallon of water.”
For fabrics, it’s best to clean with water temperatures set to hot or steam cleaning at 175°F for five minutes.
As for foods, it’s best to throw out any items that might have norovirus. As a protective measure, it’s best to cook oysters and shellfish to a temperature greater than 145°F.
Based on Alaska Department of Health data, reported COVID-19 cases are significantly lower than this time last year.
See a spelling or grammatical error? Report it to web@ktuu.com
Copyright 2025 KTVF. All rights reserved.
Alaska
Sky Watch Alaska: planets align plus the aurora forecast
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – This is a great time of year to do some star gazing. If you have clear skies in your part of Alaska, take the time to check out the night — and morning — sky.
After sunset, look toward the southwest. Saturn and Venus are snuggled up together (of course, they are more than 800 million miles apart) in the evening sky. They set at about 9:40 p.m. in Southcentral.
Before 9:40 p.m., you can see four planets with the naked eye — Saturn, Venus, Jupiter and Mars. Jupiter and Mars stick around through the morning. Mars is very close to the moon right now.
The Aurora forecast is fairly weak for the next few weeks. That’s not to say there won’t be the occasional burst but overall, solar activity is expected to be fairly low until the beginning of February.
If you get great pictures of the planets, the sky, or the aurora, don’t forget to send them to Alaska’s News Source.
See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com
Copyright 2025 KTUU. All rights reserved.
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