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Week of Jul 20
EPA suspends Arctic clean-diesel rules amid Middle East supply crunch
A Middle East fuel crunch reached the North Slope, and EPA suspended clean-diesel rules there through Aug. 2 — putting more soot over Iñupiat communities and Arctic snow.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min readFrom 
Oil is beating the forecast, and it still won't cover a dividend
Oil is running $11 a barrel above what the state budgeted. Sounds like a windfall — it wouldn't cover a single $1,000 dividend.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Gale winds, 8-foot seas off Utqiagvik through Thursday
Gale winds and 8-foot seas off Utqiagvik make Chukchi waters dangerous for small boats through Thursday evening, with rough water returning Sunday.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Nine years of one-year permits in the waters where the North Slope hunts
Federal regulators are weighing a ninth straight one-year permit letting Navy research disturb whales and seals in the Beaufort and Chukchi — the waters where North Slope communities hunt.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Hilcorp seeks 50 megawatts of new power at Milne Point
Hilcorp wants about 50 megawatts of new turbine power at Milne Point — three big turbines and 185,000 gallons of fuel. Comments close 30 days from July 18.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
DEC issues proposed final APDES permit for Hilcorp's Prudhoe Bay discharge
DEC issued a proposed permit allowing Hilcorp to discharge 12.4 million gallons of treated seawater daily into Stefansson Sound near Nuiqsut, reviving an authorization that expired in late 2022.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Week of Jul 13
Seven straight months below normal: what drove Alaska's chilly first half of 2026
Alaska's seven-month cold streak through June 2026 was its longest since the mid-1970s, but climate analysis shows it reflects short-term weather variability, not a reversal of long-term warming.
by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago2 min read
Utqiaġvik gets a new credit union branch, the northernmost in the world
Global Credit Union opened the world's northernmost branch in Utqiaġvik on July 9, offering home and vehicle loans to residents who previously had limited in-person banking options.
by Melinda Communities.Newsadded 3mo ago2 min read
More from North Slope
North Slope bearded seal hunters asked to save jaws for 2026 study
North Slope Borough is asking bearded seal hunters to save jaws and heads from their catch this year for a state study on seal population genetics.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Alaska Senate passes HB 381 oil and gas tax bill 11-8, with dissenters signaling more work ahead
Alaska Senate passed HB 381, the main bill enabling AK LNG, 11-8 Thursday, but dissenters flagged unresolved questions about a new income tax on oil and gas pass-through entities.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
North Slope Borough approves $5M water and sewer increase after Point Lay freeze-up
North Slope Borough approved a $5 million increase to its water and sewer contract Monday after a village-wide freeze-up in Point Lay that has lasted since December 2025.
by Lucas Brown3mo ago2 min read
North Slope Borough to seek $300K for second underwater rescue drone after Nuvuk response exposed gaps
North Slope Borough mayor seeks $300,000 for a second underwater rescue drone after a recent response left a volunteer behind due to equipment weight limits.
by Lucas Brown3mo ago2 min read
Alaska LNG tax bill advances to floor on split conference committee votes
Alaska's Legislature advanced a revised LNG tax bill that replaces municipal property taxes with a state volumetric tax, redirecting an estimated $500 million in annual local revenue by 2033.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Freezing rain possible at Kaktovik and Point Thomson through Wednesday night
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 AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Frier vs. Chase: a rematch for Alaska's northernmost House seat
Alaska's biggest, coldest House district is a 2024 rematch: Rep. Robyn Frier vs. Kotzebue Mayor Saima Chase, both running hard on public safety.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
A gravel permit for the pipeline, and a question about what Alyeska pays
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 AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Coming up
North Slope Borough Mayor Community Report
Tikigaq School, Point Hope
Meeting
Pikka-Quokka 3D Seismic Survey Project Mobilization
Kivgiq 2027 Logo Design Submission Deadline
Public notice
Beaufort Sea Areawide 2026W, North Slope Areawide 2026W, and North Slope Foothills Areawide 2026 Competitive Oil and Gas Lease Sales - Bidding Results Released
Public notice
North Slope Foothills Areawide 2026 Oil and Gas Lease Sale: Bid Results Released
Public notice
About North Slope
The North Slope, governed as the North Slope Borough and also called the Arctic Slope, is the region of Arctic Alaska that stretches from the Brooks Range to the Beaufort Sea. Its communities include Utqiagvik, Kaktovik, Nuiqsut, Wainwright and Atqasuk, Inupiaq villages where subsistence hunting of caribou, muskox and whales is part of life.
The region holds the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay and the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, and the price of its crude shapes the state budget. Recurring questions concern oil and gas lease sales, drilling permits, developments such as the Willow project, and federal rules that weigh development against subsistence hunting and wildlife such as polar bears.
Deadhorse, with its airport and oilfield camps, serves the industry, and the Dalton Highway and the trans-Alaska pipeline run south from the oil fields toward Interior Alaska. Seasonal snow roads connect villages that have no road link.
More from North Slope
Alaska's first big AI data center clears a hurdle on the North Slope
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 AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Why an Arctic fiber company needs 30,000 yards of Dalton gravel
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 AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
More than 200 Alaska watersheds have turned orange
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 AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Week of Jul 6
On the North Slope, the oil field grows a few thousand cubic yards at a time
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 AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
A company wants to test amphibious rigs on the North Slope tundra
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 AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
What Fairbanks wants from Juneau — and why it costs more up north
Fairbanks is finalizing its legislative wish list: cheaper piped gas, more school funding, and pensions back — a bill of grievances for a region that pays more for everything.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
The state made a plea deal, then broke it. A court just said no.
A Point Hope man gets resentenced after a fill-in prosecutor argued for the max instead of honoring his plea deal — the appeals court ruled the state is bound by its own bargains.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Oliktok Pipeline seeks 160% rate hike on North Slope gas segments
Oliktok Pipeline is seeking to nearly triple gas transportation rates on three North Slope segments, with new rates set to take effect Aug. 1, 2026, pending Regulatory Commission of Alaska approval.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min readFrom 
Starlink claims 10 Gbps in Utqiagvik, but maybe... not so much
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.News4mo ago1 min read
Justice Department concedes Biden-era Arctic Refuge leasing program violated the law
The Justice Department conceded Alaska was right that the 2024 Arctic Refuge leasing program violated federal law by capping development below what Congress allowed.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
A tale of two Junes at the top of the world
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 AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Rural Alaska contract workers lost a federal wage floor; the state stepped in
Rural Alaska's federal contract workers lost their $17.75 floor last year. What's saving their paychecks now? Alaska's own $14 minimum wage.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago1 min read
Deadhorse Airport paving set for mid-July after holiday pause
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 AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Federal settlement sends $180 million to Port of Alaska modernization
Federal settlement sends $180 million to the Port of Alaska's $2.7 billion modernization program, reducing pressure for tariff increases that could raise fuel and grocery prices statewide.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
A pipeline wants to more than double its rates, and Alaska has a stake
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 4mo ago1 min read
Red Flag Warnings cover five western Alaska regions Tuesday as lightning threat may push to North Slope
Red Flag Warnings cover five western Alaska regions Tuesday as dry conditions and lightning threaten new wildfires, with storms possibly reaching the North Slope Wednesday.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Week of Jun 29
Barents Sea hits record low ice while Beaufort stays locked, splitting Arctic in two
Barents Sea hit record low ice in June while Alaska's Beaufort Sea stayed locked, shifting when North Slope communities can hunt and travel.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago3 min read
HB 381 exempts Alaska LNG project property from municipal taxes, replaces with volumetric splits
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 AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
Alaska gas pipeline tax bill sets $40M milestone test for boroughs, schools, and rural heating fund
Alaska's gas pipeline tax bill unlocks billions for boroughs and schools only if the developer pays $40 million and meets construction deadlines through 2037.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
North Slope mayor: 'Nothing about us without us'
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 AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Chukchi Sea ice runs above median for third straight late June
Sea ice off Wainwright sits thick and late for the third straight June, delaying walrus and whale hunts in an Iñupiat community where ice sets the hunt's terms.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min readFrom 
54 years of the North Slope Borough
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 AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Rough water off Alaska's Arctic and Northwest coasts, easing by Sunday
Small craft advisories are up for Alaska's Arctic and Northwest coasts through Friday — winds near 25 knots, seas to 7 feet — before things calm down by Sunday.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
On the roadless North Slope, the villages' winter road is made of snow
On the roadless North Slope, a snow trail is how cut-off villages get winter fuel. A Native-owned company builds it — across fragile tundra and caribou country.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
