Environment

Court-ordered review models what a large Donlin Gold dam failure would do downstream

A court-ordered review modeled what a Donlin Gold dam failure would do downstream. The Corps calls any failure extremely unlikely; the worst cases are severe.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago4 min readFrom Sep 23

Eight of nine Alaska tribes get smaller military cleanup agreements in latest Defense Department round

Nine Alaska tribes signed new Defense Department agreements to clean up old military contamination. The money has shrunk every year since 2023.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo 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

EPA proposes $21,618 penalty over Red Dog Mine spill into Red Dog Creek

EPA proposed a $21,618 penalty against Teck Alaska Inc. for a May 2025 leak of process water into Red Dog Creek near Kotzebue after a pump failure at the mine.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Unalaska renewed the seafood waste line easement for another decade

If the seafood waste line under Unalaska's roads ever breaks, Westward Seafoods cleans it up. The city rents it the ground for $2,250 a year.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

EPA Rule Would Drop Discharge Permits for 65 Alaska Trawlers

EPA wants to delete six words from a rule. If it does, 65 Alaska factory trawlers lose the permit that keeps their fish waste away from sea lions.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min readFrom Sep 4

Federal environmental review begins for the Arctic copper mine near Kobuk

The Army Corps is starting its environmental review of the Arctic copper mine near Kobuk, with a final decision targeted for September 2028.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

Interior proposes dropping the Arctic relief rig rule and a whaling check

Interior's proposed Arctic drilling rule would drop the standby relief rig and a whaling-ground discharge check, with subsistence losses scored at zero.

by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago5 min read

Helicopter work at Erie Mine Bunkhouse brings noise to Kennicott Valley

Helicopter crews are clearing fallen rock at Erie Mine Bunkhouse this month. Kennicott Valley residents and pilots should expect added aircraft activity.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

Craig's council asked Washington to keep the Tongass roadless rule

A former Craig timber cutter says four decades of logging left less deer food on the forest floor, not more. His council agreed with him, 4-1.

by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

NOAA funds Alaska work on what stranded marine mammals ate

A stranded Alaska killer whale died of sepsis after swallowing three kinds of fishing hooks. NOAA is paying the state to keep examining these animals.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read

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 AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

A Tanana company will dig diesel out from under old BIA school sites

The government left diesel in the ground under old BIA schools in Western Alaska. It is paying a Tanana company $247,786 to dig some of it out.

by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read

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

Kaktovik is flushing glycol-tainted water after a plant error. The borough calls the level low-risk for adults; it topped every federal guideline.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Follows: Kaktovik under a do-not-drink notice after ethylene glycol found

Three Alaska National Guard wetland surveys go out to bid, with proposals due Sept. 21

Alaska Army National Guard is buying wetland surveys at three aviation facilities in Kotzebue, Bethel and Nome, budgeted at $45,000 to $50,000 each, with proposals due 2 p.m. Sept. 21.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo 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

NOAA is paying $735,000 for more cleanup at a site Alaska will not close

NOAA is paying $735,000 for another year of cleanup at a former weather office site, where the state has refused to close out one building yet.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read

Pile driving at a Juneau fuel dock could damage seals' hearing

Federal regulators estimate a Juneau fuel dock rebuild could expose marine mammals to pile driving noise 1,660 times, 852 of them at injuring levels.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 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

Ninety-two Alaska water systems are listed as serious violators

Ninety-two Alaska water systems are federal serious violators, close to three times the national rate. The state has not brought a formal action since 2020.

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

NOAA proposes letting Seward cruise dock pile driving run into 2027

NOAA proposed extending Seward's cruise dock construction permit through September 2027 to finish pile driving that disturbs marine mammals in Resurrection Bay.

by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Anchorage's wetlands plan describes a permit the city cannot issue

Anchorage's wetlands plan still assumes the city issues its own fill permits. It has not since 2021, and a patch goes to the Assembly Tuesday.

by Walter 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

Ketchikan tribe sues Forest Service over South Revilla logging near Ketchikan

Ketchikan Indian Community sued the Forest Service over logging that would cut 44% of winter deer habitat on Revillagigedo Island, threatening subsistence hunting.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago3 min read

Researchers get $812,016 to study Glacier Bay's iceberg seal habitat

Glacier Bay's harbor seals pup on icebergs. The glacier making those icebergs slowed 45 percent, and researchers got $812,016 to study what that means.

by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago2 min read

As the Chena's king salmon collapse, Fairbanks debates how wide a riverfront buffer to require

Fairbanks is rewriting its Chena riverfront plan, weighing how wide a streamside buffer to require — as the river's kings collapse and property owners watch.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Teller waits until 2027 for results of tank site testing on Grantley Harbor

Teller won't have results until 2027 from testing at a shoreline tank site where the community suspects petroleum leaked into soil near Grantley Harbor.

by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Fairbanks would keep its 11.2 million gallon Tanana discharge cap

Fairbanks' wastewater plant would keep its 11.2 million gallon daily discharge cap on the Tanana, unchanged since 2022. It currently uses less than half.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Hilcorp wants to dig a 95-acre gravel pit near the Putuligayuk River

Hilcorp wants to dig a 95-acre gravel pit near the Putuligayuk River on the North Slope. Two-thirds of it would be permanent. Comment closes Sept. 4.

by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Fairbanks draft river plan backs changing wastewater discharge so the Chena can freeze

A Fairbanks plan backs letting the Chena freeze through town again, undoing decades of warm power-plant water, though some residents worry about snowmachines.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

USDA proposes lifting roadless rule protections on Tongass and Chugach

USDA proposes ending the 2001 Roadless Rule on Alaska's Tongass and Chugach forests, opening 9.3 million acres to potential road building and logging under local forest plans. Comments due Sept. 21.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

NOAA is still testing groundwater in the Pribilofs, decades after it left

NOAA is paying $186,644 to keep sampling groundwater in the Pribilofs, cleanup left over from 116 years of federal control of the fur seal harvest.

by Alaska News2mo ago2 min read

Alaska's cruise ship wastewater permit expired in 2019 and is still in force

Twenty-eight cruise ships discharged treated wastewater in Alaska last season under a 2014 permit that expired in 2019. Nine discharges were unauthorized.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Petersburg ships most of its trash to Washington; its unlined landfill is up for renewal

Petersburg's household trash gets barged to Washington state. What stays behind goes into an unlined landfill where groundwater monitoring was waived.

by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read

EPA proposes $5,859 UniSea settlement over Dutch Harbor stormwater

EPA says UniSea's Dutch Harbor plant went years with a stale pollution plan and unpermitted flows toward Iliuliuk Harbor. The proposed penalty is $5,859

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

The state gave Red Dog another decade of eased water limits as the mine looks to run longer

Alaska extended Red Dog's wastewater permit 10 years, to 2036, past the mine's own expected ore life, citing thawing permafrost with no available remedy.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

An FAA cleanup contract for Gustavus, most of it at Metlakatla

A small new FAA contract targets Gustavus, where PFAS 'forever chemicals' from firefighting foam have kept residents on hauled-in water since 2018.

by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago1 min read