Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation

EPA drafts rules on whether used work gloves count as hazardous waste

Are the leather gloves worn all day on Alaska's oil fields hazardous waste once they're tossed? EPA has drafted rules on that, its regional chief said.

by Bill AlaskaNews3d ago2 min read

Alaska would keep letting floating processors leave fish waste on the seafloor

Alaska would keep letting floating processors leave up to an acre of fish waste on the seafloor at each spot. The EPA has said no other state allows it.

by Walter AlaskaNews4d ago2 min read

State proposes approving revised cleanup plan for old Hiland Mountain prison range

State plans to approve a revised cleanup of Hiland Mountain prison's old shooting range, removing 1,150 cubic yards of tainted soil. Comments are due Dec. 4.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read

Mountain Village's boil water notice nears a year as the state seeks engineers for upgrades

Mountain Village has been under a boil water notice for nearly a year because of low pressure. The state now wants engineers to design new pumps and mains.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read

State proposes new wastewater mixing zones for Pacific Seafood's Kodiak plants

State regulators propose new wastewater dilution zones for Pacific Seafood's two Kodiak plants in Near Island Channel. Public comment runs through Dec. 2.

by Alaska News1w ago2 min read

State drafts renewal of Westward Seafoods' wastewater permit for Captains Bay plant

DEC drafted a permit that would let Westward Seafoods keep discharging screened wastewater into Captains Bay. The company reviews it first, then the public.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read

Anchorage water utility pulls a well after PFAS tests exceed a proposed standard

AWWU pulled an Anchorage Bowl well after tests found "forever chemicals" above a proposed standard. Most city water comes from Eklutna, where tests found none.

by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago1 min read

State approves APA's plan for two winter exploration wells near Badami

The state approved APA's plan for two winter exploration wells near Badami, reached by 58 miles of ice road. APA has also agreed to buy Badami's operator.

by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read

DEC repeals rules for sanitation grants lawmakers stopped funding in 2017

Alaska DEC repealed the rules for a community sanitation grant program lawmakers stopped funding in 2017. The cut counts toward its rule-reduction goal.

by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min readFrom Oct 21

Alaska DEC proposes letting some construction start before air permits are issued

Alaska DEC proposed letting companies start building industrial sites before air permits are issued, aimed at short North Slope construction seasons. Public comments are due Dec. 11.

by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read

Anchorage drops landfill injection well plan and turns to an evaporator for leachate

Anchorage's landfill trucks about 118,000 gallons of leachate a day to the sewer. Plan B for a 2028 state deadline: evaporate some of it with landfill gas.

by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago3 min read

State moves to finalize Juneau sewage plant permit despite years out of compliance

Juneau's downtown sewage plant was out of federal compliance in 12 of 13 quarters. The state is about to renew its Gastineau Channel permit anyway.

by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read

Four Southeast towns face 2030 deadline to disinfect sewage, with costs up to $14 million

Sitka, Haines, Skagway and Wrangell must start disinfecting the sewage they pipe into Southeast waters by 2030. Cost estimates run as high as $14 million.

by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago3 min read

Petro Marine seeks state water quality sign-off to rebuild its Ketchikan fuel dock

Ketchikan's only fuel supplier, by its own account, wants to rebuild its aging Tongass Narrows dock. First it needs DEC to sign off on water quality.

by Walter AlaskaNews4w ago2 min readFrom Oct 7

Alaska has $27 million to get PFAS and other contaminants out of drinking water

Alaska has $27 million in federal money to get PFAS out of drinking water. Most of the projects lined up for it are about a different problem: manganese.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

DEC plans to cut 20% of its discretionary rules by year's end under Dunleavy order

DEC plans to trim about 2,600 of its roughly 13,000 discretionary rules by year's end, including laser standards for a program it says it doesn't have.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Alaska repeals its 1971 laser safety rules, which still listed asbestos as a beam stop

Alaska is scrapping its 1971 laser safety rules, including one that lists asbestos as a beam stop. Nobody sent in a comment. They're gone Nov. 8.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min readFrom Oct 7

Corps seeks state water quality OK for $402 million Homer harbor to end five-deep rafting

Homer's boats tie up as many as five deep. The Corps wants a $402 million fix, Homer would owe about $170 million, and the math says 77 cents back per dollar.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min readFrom Sep 24

State estimates $1.2 million to keep cleaning up Typhoon Halong fuel spills

Alaska's environmental agency estimates it needs about $1.2 million to keep cleaning up fuel spills in Western Alaska communities hit by Typhoon Halong.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

State takes comments through Oct. 29 on water quality review of AIDEA's West Susitna road

The state is taking comments through Oct. 29 on whether AIDEA's 78.5-mile West Susitna road meets water quality rules. The Corps' own window closes Tuesday.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Houston approves plastics recycler's permit as state reviews groundwater contamination at site

Houston approved a plastics recycler at a gravel pit where the owner's own consultant found petroleum in the groundwater. The state is still looking into it.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Hilcorp seeks to fill Beluga wetlands for gas storage pad under emergency review

Hilcorp seeks emergency permit to fill 2.35 acres of Beluga wetlands for a natural gas storage pad, with public comment open through early November.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Cordova tests burn pile camera as violations could risk its permit

Cordova is testing a security camera at its burn pile after state regulators warned that continued violations of burning rules could shut down the facility.

by Alaska News1mo ago1 min read

Fire crews to burn debris piles on Interior Army training lands through Oct. 31

U.S. Wildland Fire Service and Army Garrison Alaska will burn woody debris piles on Interior training lands from Oct. 6 through Oct. 31, with smoke visible from Fort Wainwright and nearby roads.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

EPA ties rise in health-based water violations to missed service-line inventories

EPA records list 67 Alaska water systems with health-based violations for a missed service-line inventory, a filing EPA groups with contamination.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

State gets new federal grant to oversee monitoring at Amchitka nuclear test site

The state has a new federal grant to keep watch over Amchitka, where the U.S. set off its biggest underground nuclear test. So far, it's $41,000 for five years.

by Alaska News1mo ago2 min read

State lifts Kaktovik do-not-drink water order

Kaktovik residents can drink their tap water again. The state lifted its do-not-drink order Saturday after three weeks of antifreeze-chemical contamination.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

FDA to pay Alaska $540,768 for state food safety inspections

The FDA will pay Alaska's food inspectors $540,768 for another year of checking restaurants and fish plants, the same week Murkowski asked it to keep doing so.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Kotzebue water system exceeds federal lead action level after two of 10 homes test high

Two of 10 Kotzebue homes tested above the federal lead action level. The city is testing more homes and says to run taps until cold before drinking.

by Alaska News1mo ago2 min read

FAA hires Calista-owned firm for next round of decades-old Cold Bay fuel cleanup

The FAA has been cleaning up leaked fuel at its Cold Bay station since the '90s. A Calista-owned Anchorage firm just got $471,000 for the next chapter.

by Alaska News1mo ago3 min read

Palmer's plan to test whether its two main wells can produce more clears state review

Palmer's plan to study and possibly expand Wells 4 and 5, which supply 90 percent of the city's water, cleared state environmental review. The city has requested a $1.5 million state loan for it.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Kenai Assembly asks state to ban cloud seeding, on consent agenda

A company seeded clouds over the Kenai Peninsula and the borough learned about it from a press release. Nobody has the authority to require otherwise.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read

Kaktovik's do-not-drink notice stays until sharper lab results arrive

Kaktovik's do-not-drink order is still in place. The North Tank starts refilling Friday, and new samples with finer detection limits are at the lab.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Follows: Kaktovik flushes millions of gallons of glycol-tainted water after plant mistake

State moves to permit an antimony ore crusher near Port MacKenzie

The state tentatively approved an air permit for an antimony ore crusher near Port MacKenzie, without publishing any estimate of what it would put into the air.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Draft permit would let Fairbanks discharge 11.2 million gallons a day into the Tanana

Fairbanks could keep discharging up to 11.2 million gallons of treated sewage a day into the Tanana River under a draft state permit.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Sitka takes household hazardous waste free for two days next month, but not lithium-ion batteries

Sitka opens free household hazardous waste collection Saturday and Sunday at the Wastewater Treatment Plant, accepting oils, paints, antifreeze, and batteries except lithium-ion types.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Juneau's wastewater permit would be renewed despite a record of violations

Juneau's permit to discharge treated wastewater into Gastineau Channel would be renewed, though the plant has broken its limits in 12 of the last 13 quarters.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Red Dog's port has carried a top-tier air violation for years with no penalty

The port shipping Red Dog's ore has carried a top-tier EPA air-pollution violation for dust for nearly six years, with no formal state enforcement.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago3 min read

Doyon says the Rig 26 tundra cleanup is in its final phase

Doyon says cleanup where its Rig 26 toppled near Nuiqsut has reached its final phase, though the state hasn't independently confirmed the company's account.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

PFAS found in three Anchorage Bowl wells, one pulled from service

Anchorage Water & Wastewater Utility found PFAS in three groundwater wells, pulled one from service, and is seeking $4 million in emergency contracts for water system work.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read