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A polar bear in Alaska's Beaufort Sea. World Wildlife Fund

Trump Administration Approves Exploratory Drilling in Arctic Ocean

The Trump administration on Wednesday approved a plan submitted by Eni US to drill for oil in the Arctic Ocean, setting the stage for a devastating oil spill in one of the most biologically rich areas in America's Arctic.

The company, a U.S. subsidiary of the Italian oil and gas giant, has sat on its leases in the Beaufort Sea since acquiring them more than a decade ago. The leases would have expired at the end of this year if Eni did not act on them. The Trump administration provided the public only 21 days to review and comment on the exploration plan and only 10 days to comment on scoping for an environmental assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act.

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Alaska's Bristol Bay Watershed. Ben Knight

Trump's EPA Just Revived Controversial Pebble Mine

By Taryn Kiekow Heimer

If the Trump administration's strategy is to put a foreign mining company first—and America's greatest wild salmon fishery dead last—then sadly it's succeeding.

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Collapsed permafrost block of coastal tundra on Alaska's Arctic Coast. USGS

CO2 Emissions Soar as Alaska Heats Up

The Alaskan tundra is releasing an increasingly large amount of CO2 due to a warmer climate, new research shows.

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690,000 Contiguous Acres in Alaska May Soon Be Open to Fracking

By Steve Horn

Hydraulic fracturing's horizontal drilling technique has enabled industry to tap otherwise difficult-to-access oil and gas in shale basins throughout the U.S. and increasingly throughout the world. And now fracking, as it's known, could soon arrive at a new frontier: Alaska.

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Alaska Senators Introduce Bill to Expand Offshore Oil Drilling in Arctic Ocean and Cook Inlet

Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, both Republicans from Alaska, have introduced legislation to expand oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean and Cook Inlet, putting fragile ecosystems and endangered wildlife at risk.

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BP Global

BP Arctic Oil Well Still Leaking, Too Unstable to Shut Down

BP and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials spent the holiday weekend trying to repair a leaking oil well on Alaska's North Slope. Officials said the well is too unstable to shut down because of frigid temps in the high Arctic, but have released the pressure on one of the main leaks.

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Trans-Alaska Pipeline, northern Brooks Range, Alaska. Photo credit: U.S.Geological Survey / Flickr

Fracking Comes to the Alaskan Arctic

By Scott L. Montgomery

Arctic lands and waters hold irresistible allure for global oil companies. Despite opposition from environmental groups and President Obama's 2016 ban on drilling in federal Arctic waters, exploration in Alaska has revealed massive new volumes of oil.

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Beluga whale pod. Photo credit: Laura Morse/ NOAA

340 Beluga Whales Threatened by Another Pipeline Leak in Alaska's Cook Inlet

Hilcorp Alaska reported Saturday an oil leak from a pipeline in Alaska's Cook Inlet. The oil spilled from the offshore pipeline south of Tyonek is in a critical habitat for the gravely endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales, whose numbers have dwindled to 340 individuals. This leak is unrelated to the gas leak from another one of its pipelines that has been ongoing since December.

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Senate Approves Legislation to Kill Wolves, Bears in Alaska Wildlife Refuges

The U.S. Senate used the Congressional Review Act Tuesday to strip away regulatory safeguards implemented by the Obama administration in 2016 to protect wolves, bears and other predators on national wildlife refuges in Alaska. In a strict, party-line vote, Senate Republicans approved today's measure, which will allow the unsportsmanlike killing of wolves and their pups in their dens and the gunning down of bears at bait stations.

"This isn't hunting—it's slaughter," said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "Killing wolves and bears in this cruel, unsportsmanlike fashion is outrageous, especially in national wildlife refuges that belong to all Americans. Repealing these protections also undermines the critical role predators play in healthy ecosystems."

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