An access road runs between the community of Kobuk and the Bornite camp in the Ambler Mining District, on July 24, 2021. The area has been explored for its mineral potential since the 1950s, and contains a number of significant copper, zinc, lead, gold, silver and cobalt deposits. (Loren Holmes / ADN)
President Donald Trump has signed bills nullifying Biden-era environmental protections in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and in Northwest Alaska in an effort to promote oil and mining activity.
The actions were a win for Alaska’s congressional delegation, which sponsored the measures to open opportunities for drilling in the refuge and development of the 200-mile road through wilderness to reach the Ambler mineral district.
The actions are part of Trump’s effort to aggressively develop U.S. oil, gas and minerals with Alaska often in the limelight.
Potential drilling in the refuge and the road to minerals are two of the standout issues in the long-running saga over resource development in Alaska, with Republican administrations seeking to open the areas to industry and Democratic administrations fighting against it.
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The signings were a loss for some Alaska Native tribal members and environmental groups that had protested the bills, calling them an unprecedented attack against land and wildlife protections that were developed following extensive public input.
An Alaska Native group from the North Slope region where the refuge is located, however, said it supported the passage of the bill that could lead to oil and gas development there.
One of the bills nullifies the 2024 oil and gas leasing program that put more than half of the Arctic refuge coastal plain off-limits to development. The former plan was in contrast to the Trump administration’s interest in opening the 1.5-million-acre area to potential leasing.
The federal government has long estimated that the area holds 7.7 billion barrels of “technically recoverable oil” on federal lands alone, slightly more than the oil consumed in the U.S. in 2024. The refuge is not far from oil infrastructure on state land, where interest from a key Alaska oil explorer has grown.
Two oil and gas lease sales in the refuge so far have generated miniscule interest. But the budget reconciliation bill that passed this summer requires four additional oil and gas lease sales under more development friendly, Trump-era rules.
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Voice of Arctic Iñupiat, a group of leaders from tribes and other North Slope entities, said in a statement that it supports the withdrawal of the 2024 rules for the refuge.
The group said cultural traditions and onshore oil and gas development can coexist, with taxes from development supporting wildlife research that support subsistence traditions.
“This deeply flawed policy was drafted without proper legal consultation with our North Slope Iñupiat tribes and Alaska Native Corporations,’ said Nagruk Harcharek, president of the group. “Yet, today’s development shows that Washington is finally listening to our voices when it comes to policies affecting our homelands.”
The second bill that Trump signed halts the resource management plan for the Central Yukon region. The plan covered 13.3 million acres, including acreage surrounding much of the Dalton Highway where the long road to the Ambler mineral district would start before heading west. The plan designated more than 3 million acres as critical environmental areas in an effort to protect caribou, salmon and tundra.
The bills relied on the Congressional Review Act, which gives Congress a chance to halt certain agency regulations while blocking similar plans from being developed in the future.
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U.S. Rep. Nick Begich and Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan attended the signing in the White House.
“We’ve known the road to American prosperity begins in Alaska; the rest of America now knows that as well,” Begich said in a post on social media platform X.
Alaska’s story is one of vast potential and opportunity. Equally as important, America is stronger when Alaska is empowered to lead in energy and resource development.
Begich introduced the measures. Murkowski and Sullivan sponsored companion legislation in the Senate.
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They were part of five bills Trump signed Thursday to undo resource protections plans for areas in Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming, using the Congressional Review Act.
Trump last week also signed a bill revoking Biden-era restrictions on oil and gas activity in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, another Arctic stretch of federal lands west of the refuge. That measure was also sponsored by the Alaska delegation.
The Wilderness Society said in a statement Thursday that the bills destabilize public lands management.
“Americans deserve public lands that protect clean air and water, support wildlife and preserve the freedom of future generations to explore,” said the group’s senior legal director, Alison Flint. “Instead, the president and Congress have muzzled voices in local communities and tossed aside science-based management plans that would deliver a balanced approach to managing our public lands.”
Alaska tribal members criticize end of Central Yukon plan
The Bering Sea-Interior Tribal Commission, consisting of 40 Alaska tribes, said in a statement Thursday that it condemns the termination of the Central Yukon management plan using the Congressional Review Act.
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The action dissolves more than a dozen years of federal and tribal collaboration, the group said.
The termination of the Central Yukon plan will hurt tribes that hunt caribou and other subsistence foods, the group said.
“On the heels of the seventh summer without our Yukon River salmon harvest, we are stunned at the idea our leaders would impose more uncertainty around the management of the lands that surround us,” said Mickey Stickman, former first chief of the Nulato tribal government. “The threat of losing our federal subsistence rights, and confusion over how habitat for caribou, moose, and salmon will be managed, is overwhelming.”
After the signing, federal management of the Central Yukon region will revert back to three separate old plans, removing clarity for tribes and developers and requiring the Bureau of Land Management to start again on a costly new plan, the group said.
“This decision erases years of consultation with Alaska Native governments and silences the communities that depend on these lands for food security, cultural survival, and economic stability,” said Ricko DeWilde, a tribal member from the village of Huslia, in a statement from the Defend the Brooks Range coalition. “We’re being forced to sell out our lands and way of life without the benefit of receiving anything in return.”
Alaska study sees mixed results on links between kelp farms and CO2 levels
Published 5:30 am Thursday, June 18, 2026
A study into the amount of CO2 absorbed at a pair of Alaska kelp farms is throwing some cold water on hopes that seaweed could be an answer to climate change.
Alaska kelp farms, which have been viewed as a potential boon for reducing local carbon-dioxide levels, have surprisingly murky effects on atmospheric CO2 removal, according to a new study.
A University of Alaska Fairbanks-led project measured the amount of CO2 that was emitted and absorbed at two kelp farms in the Gulf of Alaska during the 2023-2024 growing season. The outcome was mixed — one farm slightly reduced carbon dioxide in the local environment while the other added more to it.
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Marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) has been touted as a potential strategy to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, with the ocean serving as a sink for human-produced CO2.
The study, which was recently published in the journal Ocean Science, is the first to measure mCDR in Alaska waters. It focused on kelp farms, which can draw down CO2 through the process of photosynthesis.
“It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon that seaweed is going to change the world, but ultimately we want to be honest to the public,” said Amanda Kelley, an associate professor at UAF’s College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and a contributor to the study.
“Really, it’s very nuanced, and there are a lot of factors that affect kelp’s ability to do that.”
Josianne Haag, who led the project as a UAF doctoral student, installed sensors both inside and outside kelp farms in Windy Bay near Cordova and Kalsin Bay on Kodiak Island. From seeding to harvest, hourly data was collected on ocean chemistry, temperature, salinity and oxygen levels.
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The two sites had numerous differences, including the type of seaweed being planted, the timing of their growing seasons and the size of the farms. Also, Windy Bay’s tides are more extreme than Kalsin Bay’s.
The results were striking and varied. The farms flipped between absorbing and releasing carbon dioxide depending on the amount of sunlight and the time of day. Extreme low tides affected CO2 levels by flushing groundwater into the area, briefly raising carbon dioxide levels.
A film of marine fauna grew on some of the farm equipment in Kalsin Bay, leading to a burst of carbon dioxide production through their respiration.
Overall, the Windy Bay farm slightly reduced nearby atmospheric marine carbon dioxide levels while the Kalsin Bay farm boosted them. Measurements will continue at the farms for at least two more years, but the first season revealed that a kelp farm’s recipe for carbon intake and output is surprising and complex.
“It’s really not doing much in either direction,” Haag said. “The farms aren’t necessarily harming anything, but we shouldn’t be blowing out of proportion that they’re going to save us from climate change.”
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The study was part of the Mariculture Research and Restoration Consortium project, which is an ongoing effort to look at the impacts and benefits of mariculture in Alaska. Mar ReCon research is funded by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council.
By Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protectionon
At approximately 7:30 p.m. Wednesday evening, a fire was reported off Healy Spur Road. The Division of Forestry & Fire Protection, along with the Tri-Valley Volunteer Fire Department and Anderson Fire Department, responded to the Gagnon Coal Seam Fire (#206).
Estimated at 3 acres, the fire was burning in grass with approximately 50% of the perimeter actively burning. A five person Initial Attack squad, helicopter, and engine responded. Light rain was reported at the incident upon arrival.
There are no structures threatened, and there are no evacuations in place. This will be the last update on this incident, unless conditions change.
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This map shows the location of the Gagnon Coal Seam Fire (#206) located on the Healy Spur Road east of Usibelli on Wednesday, June 17, 2026. Click on the image to download a PDF type file to enlarge or print.
‹ DFFP is responding to the Bulchitna Fire in the Fish Lakes area of the Yentna River
Categories: Active Wildland Fire, Alaska DNR – Division of Forestry & Fire Protection (DFFP)
Tags: 2026 Alaska Fire Season, coal seam, DFFP Northern Region, Gagnon Coal Seam Fire
Anchorage police shot and killed a shoplifting suspect, who also allegedly shot two officers, during an attempted arrest at a Walmart on the city’s southside late Tuesday.
That’s according to Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case, who shared preliminary details of the incident in a press conference with news media Wednesday morning.
One officer remained hospitalized in stable condition Wednesday after the shoplifting suspect shot him in the lower body, Case said. Another officer was shot in the chest, but protective armor stopped the shots, the police chief said.
“We almost lost an officer last night, probably two, at what took place,” Case said. “This went from a simple misdemeanor arrest to a very violent act at the snap of a finger in close quarters.”
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Case described a chaotic struggle between the man – whose name police have not yet released – and three officers responding to a reported shoplifting at the Walmart store on the Old Seward Highway near Dimond Boulevard at about 10:25 p.m. Tuesday.
Walmart staff had stopped the man and brought him to a loss prevention office at the store, because they believed he had some stolen merchandise that was hidden on his person, Case said. The man was sitting in the office with Walmart employees when officers arrived, Case said.
In the small room, the officers were getting some basic information when the man tried to flee, Case said.
“The three officers and the suspect went down to the ground,” Case said. “During the struggle, the suspect fired rounds at one of the officers that hit him twice in the lower body. The suspect then fired some additional rounds that struck another officer in the chest. That round was stopped by a ballistic plate in his vest.”
Wesley Early
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Alaska Public Media
Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case discusses a police shooting with news media on June 17, 2026. The shooting occurred at a Walmart near Dimond Boulevard the night before.
Case said officers were unaware the man had a gun on him until he began firing.
The officer struck in the chest returned fire, killing the man, Case said.
“The officer that was struck in the lower body was immediately transported to a local hospital,” he said. “The other two officers that were in the room also sustained injuries, and they went to the hospital later and were cleared.”
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Case said the shooting was contained to the loss prevention office and did not spill out into the rest of the store.
Calls to Walmart went unanswered Wednesday morning. An Anchorage Reddit user who said they were at the store described employees rushing shoppers out after the shooting.
The store remained closed Wednesday as yellow tape blocked the entrance and investigators appeared to be inside analyzing the scene.
Under Anchorage Police Department policy, the names of the officers involved in the incident will be released after 72 hours. Case said the officers were part of the department’s Patrol Division.
This is the third fatal police shooting in Anchorage so far in 2026 and the fifth police shooting overall. Case said the city has seen “too much gun violence” in recent months and that the community needs to come together to address solutions.
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“The Anchorage Police Department is going to keep these conversations going even if these conversations lead to criticism on how we do and conduct our business,” Case said. “We are open for all the conversations, so that we can move forward as a community to see some of these numbers go down.”
