Alaska

Several key steps toward drilling in Alaska’s Arctic refuge are due before year’s end • Alaska Beacon

Published

1 year ago

October 25, 2024

Several key steps toward drilling in Alaska’s Arctic refuge are due before year’s end • Alaska Beacon

It is the season of ANWR.

On Wednesday, the board of directors for the state-owned Alaska Industrial Development and Export authority approved spending $20 million to pursue legal claims and oil leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a stretch of potentially oil-rich North Slope land that has been protected from development for decades.

As soon as Friday, a federal judge in Anchorage is expected to rule whether the Biden administration’s decision to cancel oil leases in the refuge is legal.

On Nov. 5, Americans will decide between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump for president. Trump has repeatedly vowed to pursue drilling in the refuge, while Harris is expected to continue the Biden administration’s opposition.

And in December, the federal government faces a congressionally imposed deadline to hold a second oil lease sale covering land within the refuge.

“I think the next two months are important for the short term, and what type of resource opportunities may be under consideration, as companies make long-term plans and future plans,” said Kara Moriarty, president and CEO of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association.

A long time coming

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge sits between Prudhoe Bay’s oil fields and the Canadian border. Its coastal plain has long been eyed for oil potential, but the 1980 law that created the refuge states that no exploratory drilling or development can take place without congressional action.

The state of Alaska, through its congressional delegation, repeatedly tried to pass legislation opening the refuge to drilling, but it didn’t find success until 2017, when the delegation — led by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, inserted critical language into a tax bill.

“I’m actually very proud of what we were able to do and how we were able to draft that,” Murkowski said in an interview this week.

That language requires the federal government to hold at least two lease sales covering land on the coastal plain. One sale has already taken place, and a second is legally required.

Oil development could generate billions of dollars in economic activity, creating jobs and revenue for the state treasury.

For that reason, drilling in ANWR continues to be a top priority of the state’s elected officials, with Democrats, Republicans and independents all voting to endorse the pursuit.

The North Slope’s local government also supports the effort, as do many people living in and near the refuge. Oil revenue and oil jobs make up a key part of the North Slope’s economy.

Voice of Arctic Iñupiat, a nonprofit formed in 2015 and representing local residents, has repeatedly supported leases in ANWR.

“It’s important from a sovereignty perspective,” Murkowski said, explaining that local residents should be able to make the decision on the issue. “It’s important to the state of Alaska from a resource perspective, and the state’s determination. It is part of the promise to us by our federal government that these lands that were set aside up there were to be reserved for oil and gas development.”

She said that even though the world is shifting away from fossil fuel energy, it still needs oil for other things.

“Why would we not wish to be able to access this resource that is needed, in a place that has the highest environmental standards and safety safeguards, with attention not only towards the environment, but to the worker and and create a base of strength, economic strength for our own country?”

But drilling poses environmental risks — to polar bears, caribou, birds and other wildlife — and environmental groups nationwide have made opposition to ANWR drilling one of their top issues.

The Gwich’in Steering Committee, which represents some people living outside the refuge, has long opposed drilling there. Subsistence hunting of caribou is a central part of Gwich’in culture.

“I think we’re all looking — from conservation organizations to the Gwich’in people and chiefs — everyone is looking for a way to find permanent, long-term protections for the refuge, so there will never be development in there,” said Peter Winsor, the committee’s interim director.

Alaska pushes the issue forward

In the last months of the Trump administration, shortly before the first ANWR lease sale, some state officials became worried that environmental opposition would deter oil companies from participating in the sale.

Former Gov. Frank Murkowski — Lisa Murkowski’s father — was among those who suggested that the state itself should bid on the sale as a backstop.

The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, a state-owned corporation with directors appointed by the governor, stepped up, appropriating $20 million for bid preparation and bidding.

As it turned out, the AIDEA backstop was critical — only one oil company submitted any bids, and AIDEA was one of only three bidders overall.

After the Biden administration assumed control of the federal government, it first suspended, then canceled the leases won by AIDEA.

The other two bidders willingly surrendered their leases, but AIDEA fought on, suing the federal government to challenge the suspension and the cancellation. The state of Alaska supports AIDEA’s positions, as do the North Slope Borough, Arctic Slope Regional Corp. and Kaktovik Inupiat Corp.

Opposing them are Indigenous people who live south of the refuge, outside the borough, as well as local and national environmental groups, Canadians who rely on caribou that live for part of the year in the refuge, and Canadian environmental groups.

“This is a critical time for the Arctic and Alaska. AIDEA’s push to develop the Refuge doesn’t make financial sense, and it goes against decades of community opposition. Community health on both sides of the Alaska-Canada border is at stake,” said Sean McDermott of the Northern Alaska Environmental Center, a group that opposes ANWR drilling.

Some opponents who live outside the refuge have asked to have the coastal plain protected as important for religious and cultural reasons.

That’s been opposed by North Slope residents, including the borough mayor, Josiah Patkotak.

“We will not allow our lands to be co-opted for purposes that serve neither our people nor our future,” he wrote in an opinion column about the issue.

That argument is continuing, and AIDEA’s board voted this week to prepare bids for the second lease sale, but a final go/no-go decision is likely in December, at the board’s next scheduled meeting.

Its support for ANWR drilling and various other projects in Alaska has turned AIDEA into a target for environmental and social campaigns that question the agency’s effectiveness.

“We’re definitely planning a larger campaign against AIDEA,” Winsor said.

Through ads, talking to Alaskans, and lobbying legislators, the goal is “basically try to work towards dismantling this whole colossus of a mistake that AIDEA is,” he said.

Critical court decision could come by Friday

Even as AIDEA and others prepare for the second lease sale, U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason is expected to release a key legal decision about the legality of the Biden administration’s suspension of the first sale’s results.

Attorneys representing AIDEA and the federal government have agreed that a decision by Friday is important because if the first lease sale is canceled, that land could be put up for lease again during the second sale.

If Gleason’s ruling doesn’t cancel the first sale, it could clear the way for AIDEA to begin seismic surveying and other preliminary work on its leases in the refuge.

To date, only a single exploratory well has been drilled in the refuge, and the results from that work weren’t promising, the New York Times said in 2019.

Seismic data could remove the veil of uncertainty, showing where — and how much — oil exists within the coastal plain. That could attract oil companies’ interest in the area.

But regardless of how Gleason rules and who wins the upcoming decision, an appeal to the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals — and possibly to the U.S. Supreme Court — is expected, and the legal issues likely will take years to resolve.

In the meantime, the march toward a second lease sale will continue.

Second sale, required by federal law

When the Biden administration suspended the first ANWR leases, it began a new environmental study, a first step toward the second lease sale required by the 2017 law.

Initially, the Interior Department said that supplemental study would be done at the start of 2024. It’s now been delayed twice, with officials now saying in legal documents that it won’t be done until the “fourth quarter” of the year.

As a result, the next two months are likely to be filled with a series of incremental steps: the final version of the environmental study, a 30-day waiting period, a final record of decision, then official notice of the sale and the sale itself.

The timelines for all of this put the federal government right up against the legal deadline for the second lease sale.

“My real fear is, they will, quote, follow the law, but they will have so fouled up this process toward the end, that they may technically be able to say they met the requirements of the law, but they’ve run out the clock,” Murkowski said.

“I’m not feeling optimistic about where we are despite the clear intent of the law. And that’s where I get so frustrated,” she said.

An Interior official told the Anchorage Daily News this week that it still intends to hold the second sale. Drilling proponents think the second sale will happen, but they expect rules that make development almost impossible.

“We’re not really putting a lot past them, but we think there will be a sale. The conditions of the sale, we’ll have to keep a real close eye on,” Ruaro told AIDEA’s board on Wednesday.

“We’re hoping that it’ll be as restrictive as possible,” said Winsor of the Gwich’in Steering Committee.

As in the first sale, there’s a key unanswered question: Amid the restrictions and uncertainty, who will bid?

AIDEA is almost certain to make offers, but it isn’t clear whether anyone else will agree to shoulder the economic, legal and political unknowns that accompany a successful bid.

One of the biggest uncertainties is likely to be resolved by the time of the sale — this year’s presidential election.

Presidential election’s consequences are big for ANWR

If Kamala Harris wins the presidential election next month, observers expect her to continue the Biden administration’s approach to ANWR.

“If Harris gets in there, I think we’ll be in position to do much more protection for the Arctic and work on things that we honestly need to work on, like tourism and the blue economy, and things that go away from not just oil and gas,” Winsor said. The “blue economy” is a term for the sustainable use of ocean resources.

Speaking to the AIDEA board on Wednesday, Ruaro said, “If it’s a continuation of the current administration, they oppose development in ANWR. They’ve made that very clear. … So that sets up a very, probably protracted litigation scenario.”

Donald Trump, conversely, has repeatedly said he wants to keep ANWR open for drilling. He’s made the issue one of the refrains of his campaign stump speech and reiterated his support this week in a phone call with Nick Begich, Alaska’s Republican candidate for U.S. House.

“We’re gonna tap the liquid gold that’s under there, and we’re gonna drill, baby, drill. We’re going to make Alaska rich and prosperous with jobs all over the place,” Trump said.

Even if Trump wins and presses ahead with ANWR leasing, a successful oil development would take years, if not decades, to begin production.

And that’s only after a lot of “ifs” are answered — if there’s oil to be drilled, if the cost of drilling is low enough to make it economically viable, if the legal issues can be resolved, if the state and federal governments stay supportive.

Given those uncertainties, will ANWR ever be developed?

“It is hard, but I can guarantee you that one way it will not ever be developed is if there are no leases that are made available,” Murkowski said.

“No,” said Windsor. “(Oil companies are) not interested, and there are no banks or insurance companies left that will finance or insure anything in the refuge. They think it’s too risky. They don’t want to have bad publicity.”

Moriarty said it’s too soon to tell. During the Obama administration, it seemed far-fetched that there would be oil development in the National Petroleum Reserve, but work continued and it eventually happened, she said.

“I don’t know that you want to take what we believe to be, at a minimum, 10 billion barrels of recoverable oil off the table for discussion indefinitely,” she said, citing a figure that’s close to the average estimate in federal studies.

“Do I think that ANWR is going to be developed overnight, when the companies are currently focused on state land and the Pikka project and the Willow project and things to the west? Probably not. But do we want to take the potential off the table indefinitely? I don’t think so.”

YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.

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Alaska

Record cold temperatures for Juneau with a change to Western Alaska

Published

3 hours ago

December 22, 2025

Press Room

Record cold temperatures for Juneau with a change to Western Alaska

ANCHORAGE, AK (Alaska’s News Source) – Overnight lows in Juneau have hit a two streak for breaking records!

Sunday tied the previous record lowest high temperature of 10 degrees set back in 1961, with clear skies and still abnormally cold temperatures to kick off Christmas week. Across the panhandle, clear and cold remains the trend but approaching Christmas Day, snow potential may return to close out the work week.

Download the free Alaska’s News Source Weather App.

In Western Alaska, Winter Storm Warnings are underway beginning as early as tonight for the Seward Peninsula. Between 5 to 10 inches of snow are forecasted across Norton Sound from Monday morning through midnight Monday as wind gusts build to 35 mph. In areas just slightly north, like Kotzebue, a Winter Storm Warning will remain in effect from Monday morning to Wednesday morning. Kotzebue and surrounding areas will brace for 6 to 12 inches of possible snow accumulation over the course of 3 mornings with gusts up to 40 miles per hour.

Southcentral could potentially see record low high temperatures for Monday as highs in Anchorage are forecasted in the negatives. Across the region, clear skies will stick around through Christmas with subsiding winds Monday morning.

Send us your weather photos and videos here!

Interior Alaska is next up on the ‘changing forecast’ list as a Winter Storm Watch will be in effect Tuesday afternoon through Thursday morning. With this storm watch, forecasted potential of 5 to 10 inches of snow will coat the North Star Borough. For those in Fairbanks, 1 to 3 inches of snow will likely fall Tuesday night into Wednesday, just in time for Christmas Eve! Until then, mostly sunny skies will dominate the Interior with things looking just a bit cloudier past the Brooks Range. The North Slope will stay mostly cloudy to start the work week with some morning snow likely for Wainwright.

The Aleutian Chain is another overcast region with mostly cloudy skies and light rain for this holiday week. Sustained winds will range from 15 to 20 miles per hour with gusts up to 35 mph in Cold Bay.

24/7 Alaska Weather: Get access to live radar, satellite, weather cameras, current conditions, and the latest weather forecast here. Also available through the Alaska’s News Source streaming app available on Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV.

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Alaska

Alaska is awash in oil but lies on an even more valuable resource — Switzerland has just started to produce it in a frenzy

Published

15 hours ago

December 21, 2025

Press Room

Alaska is awash in oil but lies on an even more valuable resource — Switzerland has just started to produce it in a frenzy

Alaska’s energy realm has been dominated by oil resources, but with the state awash in oil, Alaska is relying on another valuable resource. Buried beneath the layers of snow lies one of the most underestimated sources of clean power. Since Switzerland has set the tone of relying on solar power enhanced by snow itself, the country is offering some light on how snowy regions can depend on this valuable resource as well. With Alaska being filled with snow, the state could even become fossil fuel independent by relying on solar potential and its snow.

Swiss solar invention considering the strength of snow power

Switzerland has considered solar energy technology created for snow climates. Researchers as well as engineers have seen that solar panels in the Alps do benefit so much from the snow that their performance is improved. Shocking enough, solar panels perform well during the winter months when energy demand tends to be high.

The discovery of solar panels’ feat is because sunlight reflected off snow improves the radiation that reaches the panels. The best way this effect is reflected is through the AlpinSolar Project on the Muttsee Dam. The site can produce 3.3 GWh every year, which is rather similar to the energy generated by solar systems at low elevation levels. These alpine-based panels generate three times more electricity than installations in Switzerland’s lower regions, and this is mainly the case due to the snowy reflected layer.

It has been found that perhaps steep angles and panel spacing optimize sunlight absorption, as this placement enables snow to slide off panels easily whilst ensuring sunlight capture from reflective panels.

Alaska is looking at relying on the snow’s potential

According to research, the bifacial solar panels, which collect sunlight on both sides, can capture more reflected energy and show better solar output in comparison to traditional single-sided panels. This will be a great idea in Alaska, where snow cover exists for many months.

Tests conducted in Alaska were promising, and snow build-up on panels was effectively managed. Teams at the University of Alaska and Sandia National Laboratories created transparent ice- and snow-phobic coatings, where panels could shed snow and ice and improve solar energy production. In fact, energy production was improved by 85% during tests. While there is hope of solar success, the challenge seems far harder in Alaska in comparison to the Swiss Alps. With low sun angles being a reality in winter months, energy storage needs to be improved, should solar be a reliable clean energy source for Alaska.

Three lessons learnt from Switzerland that can be used in Alaska

Switzerland’s successes in alpine solar technology provide an incentive for Switzerland to tap into underrated clean energy sources, too. However, the lessons learnt in Switzerland can be used in Alaska as well:

Installation design matters considerably: Steep panel angles and higher frames enable snow shedding while ensuring better reflection of surfaces.
Adapted technologies, including bifacial panels and those with special coatings, optimize solar capture: In high latitude and snow conditions, such innovations tend to improve solar power capture.
The solar system must be integrated with storage and grid systems: This ensures that solar becomes a strategic investment in places, like Alaska, where winter darkness seems to be apparent all year long.

If Alaska keeps these core solar lessons in mind, the state can tap into this form of renewable energy.

Alaska will be able to tap into its renewable energy potential

Alaska needs to consider the snow as an asset in its solar mission, as opposed to seeing snow as a foe to the renewable energy agenda. Alaska, like Switzerland, can move forward with this renewable energy resource. While Switzerland has been relying on this resource for a while with favorable results, Alaska, too, can embrace the snow. Soon, the Alps will be covered with solar panels with amazing results.

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Alaska

There will be more nonstop flight options for Alaska travelers in 2026

Published

1 day ago

December 21, 2025

Press Room

There will be more nonstop flight options for Alaska travelers in 2026

Alaska Airlines passenger jets parked at Concourse C at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. (Bill Roth / ADN)

When it’s time to plan a trip, there are a couple of key considerations: How do you get there and how much does it cost?

Alaska travelers take it for granted that most big trips include a stop and a layover in Seattle. That’s certainly true for more international journeys, unless the trip includes a flight to Frankfurt on Condor’s nonstop from Anchorage.

But that mandatory Seattle stop is changing, even though there will be 27 nonstop flights each day this summer.

While ticket prices change on the fly, the process of blocking out where a plane will fly takes time and effort. There are many moving parts, including crew, ground handling and maintenance.

So the airlines have been working on new summertime flights since earlier this fall. And the lineup is pretty good. There’s also some welcome news on the airfare front.

Just a few days ago. Alaska Airlines announced plans to fly nonstop from Anchorage to three new destinations this summer: Boston, Spokane and Boise. Travelers prefer to fly nonstop. It’s faster and there are fewer opportunities to avoid missed connections, lost bags and other possible trip interruptions along the way.

The flights to Boston start on Saturday, June 13, 2026. There’s just one flight per week this year, which is one way Alaska Airlines tests out a route.

Alaska Air plans two flights per week (on Wednesdays and Saturdays) between Anchorage and both Boise and Spokane, starting on Wednesday, June 10.

Two other nonstop routes from Anchorage that had once-a-week service last summer now will get two flights per week: Anchorage-San Diego, starting May 16, and Anchorage-Sacramento, starting June 13.

Three Alaska Air destinations will get one flight per day, starting May 13: Anchorage-San Francisco, Anchorage-Denver and Fairbanks-Portland. That’s the same date that Alaska upgrades its Anchorage-Las Vegas from two flights a week to daily service, in response to Southwest Air’s nonstops starting May 15. The Anchorage-Los Angeles schedule also increases on that date (May 13) from one to two daily flights.

More nonstops come online on June 10: Anchorage-Minneapolis and Anchorage-New York/JFK. Also on that date, the Anchorage-Chicago schedule increases from one to two daily flights.

Alaska Airlines also offers daily nonstops to Phoenix and Honolulu. Between Anchorage and Portland, Alaska offers five daily flights during the summer.

Delta Air Lines is resuming several popular nonstop flights from Anchorage in May: Anchorage-Detroit (May 21), Anchorage-Salt Lake City (May 16) and Anchorage-Los Angeles (May 22).

Delta offers year-round nonstops from Anchorage-Seattle (3-6 daily flights), Fairbanks-Seattle (1-2 daily flights), Anchorage-Minneapolis (1-3 flights per day) and Anchorage-Atlanta (Saturdays only).

Delta’s Anchorage-Atlanta flights feature a wide-body Boeing 767 plane with lie-flat “Delta One” suites, one of just a few domestic routes. Delta resumes daily Anchorage-Atlanta flights on May 21.

American Airlines’ nonstop flight from Anchorage to Dallas operates through Jan. 6, 2026. Then there’s a two-month gap before the flight start up again on March 8.

On May 21, American Airlines resumes daily service on two routes: Anchorage-Chicago and Anchorage-Phoenix.

United Airlines flies from Anchorage to Denver each evening year-round. On May 21, United will start flying three times each day, in response to Southwest Air’s new nonstop which starts on May 15. On June 26, Denver adds a fourth daily Anchorage-Denver nonstop, just in case Southwest didn’t get the message.

May 21 also is the day United resumes its daily nonstops to Newark, Washington, D.C., and Houston.

On March 5, United resumes its nonstop flight from Anchorage to Chicago. On April 30, United adds a second flight for the summer.

Up in Fairbanks, United resumes daily flights to Chicago on April 30 and to Denver on May 21.

[Workouts at the airport? Some fliers can already smell the sweat.]

Other airlines planning nonstops to Anchorage include Sun Country, with one to two daily flights to Minneapolis starting May 16, WestJet with two weekly nonstops from Anchorage to Calgary and Southwest, with daily flights to both Denver and Phoenix. Condor Airlines plans three flights per week from Anchorage to Frankfurt starting May 16.

A big driver for the additional flights is the cruise industry, which is on track for a robust 2026 season. There are several new entrants in the cruise market, including MSC cruises, Virgin Voyages, Windstar Cruises and Azamara.

Still, airline watchers speculate there will be plenty of capacity in the interstate jet market, which means fares will be cheaper.

One example right now: Delta offers Basic Economy fares between Anchorage and Seattle for $196 round-trip. Travel between Jan. 12 and March 31. The upcharge to Main Cabin for advance seat assignment and mileage credit is $80 round-trip. Alaska Airlines quickly matched the Basic fare, but Alaska charges more for the upcharge to Main: $100 round-trip.

United Airlines is getting in on the discount fares, offers cheap rates to three Florida destinations from Anchorage: Tampa, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. All are available for $336 round-trip is Basic Economy. Remember, with United, you cannot even take a small carry-on aboard without getting charged extra. The upcharge to Main is $100 round-trip.

After Delta dropped the fare to Seattle, Alaska Airlines dropped its rates to Delta hubs in Salt Lake City, Atlanta and Detroit. But there’s a twist.

Between Anchorage and Atlanta, Alaska Air is offering Basic fares for as little as $343 round-trip. Fly between Jan. 21 and Feb. 14. But the upcharge to Main is crazy: $175 round-trip. The price from Anchorage to Detroit on Alaska Air is compelling: just $341 round-trip. But the upcharge to Main is a buzzkill: $198 round-trip.

The Basic rate on Alaska Air between Anchorage and Salt Lake is sweet: $264 round-trip. The upcharge to Main is sour: $169 round-trip.

[Smaller items don’t go in overhead bins. Flight attendants are cracking down.]

In fairness, Delta also is guilty of overcharging for the upcharge to Main.

Between Anchorage and Boston, Delta is offering Basic seats for $336 round-trip, traveling between Jan. 9-March 31. The upcharge to Main is $100 round-trip.

But it’s a different story with tickets to Washington, D.C. Delta dangles a great price for Basic: $344 round-trip. But then comes the sticker shock on the upcharge to Main: $180 round-trip.

There still are a couple of golden rules when it comes to shopping for airline tickets:

1. When airlines are mad at each other, the traveler wins.

2. The big print giveth and the fine print taketh away.

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