North Slope region news
Uh-ohh. More than 200 Brooks Range watersheds have turned orange in a decade as thawing permafrost releases iron and metals — rusting rivers that villages drink from and fish.
by Maggie AlaskaNews5d ago2 min readAI
A company wants to burn North Slope gas on-site to run AI computing near Deadhorse — turning 50 years of stranded gas into power, if the financing, customers and gas contract ever show up.
by Walter AlaskaNews5d ago2 min readAI
Chukchi Sea ice extent stood well above the 1991-2020 median as of Saturday, the third consecutive late June with that pattern, per ACCAP data — with high-concentration ice still hugging the Alaska coast north of Wainwright and the Beaufort Sea nearly ice-locked.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2w ago2 min readAI
A routine permit lets Alyeska pull gravel from the Sag floodplain for pipeline upkeep — but not what the private pipeline giant pays the public for it. A senator's been asking.
by Walter AlaskaNews4d ago2 min readAI
Alaska's North Slope just had its coolest June since 2018 — even as the wider Arctic logged its warmest since 1950. Same month, opposite stories.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
Quintillion wants 30,000 yards of Dalton Highway gravel to build a land backup for the Arctic's only fiber line — the one sea ice has cut twice, knocking whole communities offline.
by Maggie AlaskaNews5d ago1 min readAI
NSB approved a five-year, $62.5 million contract Tuesday with UIC Municipal Services to operate water and sewer systems in seven villages til 2032
by Alaska News1mo ago1 min readAI
Freezing rain and lower-30s temperatures threaten Kaktovik and Point Thomson through Wednesday night, a mid-July hazard the National Weather Service warned Tuesday.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4d ago1 min readAI
Starlink says it hit 10 Gbps in Utqiagvik — but that's the firehose into town, not what reaches your house. A rooftop dish still gets about 200 Mbps.
by Melinda Communities.News1w ago1 min readAI
UIC just crossed $1 billion in revenue. Almost no Alaska Native village corporation gets there.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Two old fuel tank farms left petroleum in the ground in Koyuk, part of a statewide legacy of thousands of contaminated sites. A federal grant will assess how bad it is.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2w ago2 min readAI
Nalukataq celebrations honoring bowhead whale hunts move across five northern Alaska communities from mid-June through early July, distributing whale meat and muktuk to mark the tradition.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min readAI
North Slope Borough Assembly approved a $3 million five-year contract with Axon Enterprise to upgrade police worn body cameras and tasers.
by Tim Smith1mo ago2 min readAI
Deadhorse Airport paving is set for mid-July as crews work through the Arctic construction season to fix aging pavement and drainage that support North Slope oil and gas operations.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
NWS Fairbanks has kept the Northern Seward Peninsula, Upper Kobuk Valleys, and Lower Koyukuk Valley under a Fire Weather Watch through Wednesday evening, while a separate Red Flag Warning for the Upper Koyukuk Valley runs until midnight July 9. Forecasters flagged uncertainty about how far north thunderstorms could push.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago2 min readAI
Grants included $2m for Wildlife programs, nearly $1m for home leveling in Nuiqsut, etc.
by Alaska News1mo ago1 min readAI
Alaska DNR offered a 50-year lease to STAK Energy for a massive data center on the North Slope that would use natural gas to power 1 to 3 gigawatts of computing, with public comments due June 15.
by Alaska News1mo ago2 min readAI
HB 381 replaces municipal property taxes on the Alaska LNG project with a new volumetric tax. • Phase 1 revenue splits favor pipeline communities while Phase 2 directs 48 percent to the Kenai Peninsula Borough. • The state expects the project to generate 26 billion dollars over 30 years. • Tax changes expire if construction misses a December 31 2034 deadline.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago3 min readAI
Stack Energy plans $20 billion data center south of Prudhoe Bay with 10,000 construction jobs starting 2026. • Off-grid facility uses local natural gas, targets operations by late 2028. • Waste heat could power large-scale Alaska greenhouses. • Company pays state taxes and partners with Alaska Native groups on workforce training.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago3 min readAI
ConocoPhillips wants to lay gravel for two small Kuparuk expansions — the kind of routine, acre-at-a-time growth critics say is exactly how the North Slope's footprint quietly spreads.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
An Anchorage dealer wants a five-year permit to test-drive amphibious Swamp Rider vehicles across the North Slope — on tundra that's both their ideal terrain and state-protected ground.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
A North Slope pipeline company wants to more than double its gas-shipping rates — and since Alaska takes a cut of that gas's value, the hike could dent state revenue too. Comment by July 21.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1w ago1 min readAI
Alaska Board of Game is proposing hunting and trapping restrictions in Game Management Units 23 and 24 if the 211-mile Ambler Road is built across the Brooks Range. Public hearings are July 22-23 in Fairbanks.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
A Fairbanks guide wants the state's OK to run commercial trips on the Alatna — a Wild and Scenic river so remote the only way in is by floatplane.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago2 min readAI
Sagavanirktok River near bankfull on North Slope threatens Dalton Highway washouts between mileposts 310 and 340 through Thursday afternoon, with ice-blocked culverts posing particular risk to the primary road serving oil fields and communities.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
The North Slope mayor used a Founders' Day message to demand the region get a real voice in federal and state decisions about its land — a bid for leverage it doesn't formally hold.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min readAI
North Slope Borough Mayor Patkotak and Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Micciche negotiated property tax terms for the Alaska LNG project as the House Finance Committee delayed its amendment deadline to allow talks to continue.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago4 min readAI
Fifty-four years ago, Iñupiat leaders founded the North Slope Borough to tax the oil built on their land and govern their own homeland — an anniversary the mayor marked this week.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2w ago2 min readAI
Hopson 1 crew struck Utqiaġvik's first bowhead whale of spring 2026 season Saturday, marking an important catch for the Alaska Native community after a late start.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Iḷisaġvik College in Utqiaġvik has purchased land to build a permanent campus, marking the first concrete step toward construction for Alaska's only tribal college after years of planning.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
About 60% of Alaska is federal land, so Trump's NEPA permitting overhaul hits harder here. The complaint that reviews are too slow is bipartisan; how far to cut is the fight.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2w ago2 min readAI
Rep. Nick Begich cited a record $163 million Alaska oil lease sale as evidence that federal policy certainty drives energy investment, and called for faster permitting to unlock Alaska's oil, gas, and geothermal resources for national security.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
A dull fuel-lease notice at Utqiaġvik's airport hides a good story: the company keeping the northernmost airport supplied is an original ASRC business, built to serve the Iñupiat.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2w ago2 min readAI
A federal plan to simplify mineral royalties could shortchange states, tribes, and Native owners, as an audit finds the agency isn't collecting what it's owed.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2w ago1 min readAI
Alyeschem broke ground May 15 on Alaska's first Arctic petrochemical plant at Prudhoe Bay, converting natural gas into methanol with AIDEA's $70 million financing and operations expected by late 2027.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
A person died Saturday following an officer-involved shooting in Utqiaġvik, with Alaska State Troopers now investigating the incident.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Federal regulators claim exclusive authority over Alaska's proposed North Slope gas pipeline, blocking state oversight of ratepayer costs. • The project's split into in-state and export phases may give Alaska regulators a limited role if federal jurisdiction is revisited. • Lead developer Glenfarne is targeting a final investment decision this year and first gas by 2029.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min readAI
Police in Utqiaġvik shot and killed 46-year-old Gordon Killbear Jr. on May 23 after he emerged from a barricaded room with a knife during a domestic violence call.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Kuparuk Pipeline seeks permits to boost North Slope oil capacity 76 percent, from 360,000 to 634,000 barrels per day, to handle new fields including the Pikka project. Public comment deadline is June 26.
by Alaska News1mo ago1 min readAI
Alaska's oil regulator told lawmakers that only Prudhoe Bay and Point Thomson fields have approval to supply gas to the Alaska LNG project, which aims to start deliveries in 2029.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
