The Explorers 2009: Alaska Peninsula and North Aleutian basin 11/15/2009
The North Aleutian basin, also known as the Bristol Bay basin, extends more than 200 miles along the north side of the Alaska Peninsula and out into the southern Bering Sea shelf. The southeastern por...

New report addresses changing Arctic 05/31/2009
Commonwealth North report recommends U.S. actions to reflect increasing international interest and opportunity in the Arctic region
Commonwealth North, a private organization which provides information about Alaska public policy issues, has published a report called "Why the Arctic Matters," in which experts on the Arctic have put...

Elton named to Alaska slot at Interior 03/08/2009
An Alaskan is going to Washington, D.C., in a key role - for the state - in the administration of President Barak Obama. Sen. Kim Elton, D-Juneau, has been named director of Alaska affairs for the De...

Think again on OCS plan 02/15/2009
Salazar extends the public review period for the draft 5-year leasing program
Less than a month ago the outgoing Bush administration threw down an energy gauntlet to the incoming Obama administration by announcing a proposed new outer continental shelf oil and gas leasing progr...

MMS releases draft OCS lease sale plan 01/25/2009
End-of-administration announcement also included final EIS for Cape Wind Energy project and start of PEIS for Atlantic exploration
In a swansong announcement for the Bush administration, the U.S. Minerals Management Service announced a series of energy-related actions on Jan. 16. The package of actions included the publication of...

Bush issues new Arctic policy for U.S. 01/18/2009
On Jan. 9 President Bush signed a directive establishing a new U.S. policy for the Arctic region. The policy is intended to address national security needs; protect the Arctic environment; ensure sust...

Candidates differ on energy issues 10/05/2008
McCain, Obama both vow to end U.S. dependence on foreign oil, but strategies they propose to achieve goal show marked contrast
While economic issues have dominated the presidential campaign in recent weeks, the high cost of energy and the country's reliance on foreign oil also emerged as a subject of debate. Republican candi...

Congress passes ocean mapping measure 10/05/2008
On Sept. 29 the U.S. House of Representatives passed the re-authorization and amendment of the Hydrographic Services Improvement Act, which authorizes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrati...

DOI starts on new OCS leasing program 08/03/2008
The 2010 to 2015 leasing program can apply to the whole U.S. OCS but leasing in some areas would require congressional approval
Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced July 30 that the U.S. Department of the Interior is starting the development of a new five-year oil and gas leasing program for the U.S. outer conti...

Stevens indicted, vows to fight charges 08/03/2008
The indictment of Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens on charges that he lied about accepting gifts from an oilfield service contractor only adds to his party's already bleak electoral prospects in Nov...

Murkowski wants treaty ratified 07/27/2008
U.S. needs to become a party to the international law of the sea treaty to stake Arctic offshore land claims, the senator says
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has weighed in on the debate about U.S. ratification of the international Convention on the Law of the Sea treaty."I believe it is very important for the United...

House Republicans block use-it-or-lose-it bill for leaseholders on federal land 07/06/2008
House Republicans blocked Democrats June 26 from requiring oil and gas companies to drill on the millions of acres of government land and water on which they already own federal leases. Seeking to co...

Wood Mac report says climate bill makes gas uneconomic 06/08/2008
Proposed legislation in the U.S. Congress aimed at reducing greenhouse gases would make more than one third of all domestic natural gas projects uneconomic, according to a new report from the research...

Kempthorne lists polar bear as threatened 05/18/2008
Interior secretary accepts scientific studies on loss of sea ice as threat to polar bears; says Endangered Species Act inflexible
Citing "the best available science" and the inflexibility of the Endangered Species Act, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne said May 14 that he has accepted the recommendation of the U.S. Fish...

Thomson gas cycling gets lots of study 04/06/2008
In affidavit, Craig Haymes, Exxon's Alaska manager, reviews history of working interest owners' work on condensate production
Unit operator ExxonMobil has told the state that the Point Thomson 23rd proposed plan of development is different than previous PODs because it takes the field to production. It also comes out of a lo...

Commerce secretary revives ANWR talk 04/06/2008
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez spoke before business leaders in Fairbanks March 23, saying that drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge could help bring down the record-high price...

Venezuela looks to impose new tax on oil 03/30/2008
Venezuela will soon impose a new tax on oil companies aimed at recouping a larger share of their rising profits, President Hugo Chavez said March 24. The new levy will be a tax on "unexpected earning...

NOAA names Balsiger NMFS acting director 03/02/2008
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has appointed James Balsiger as NOAA acting assistant administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service. Balsiger will direct federal scientis...

Bush budget boosts well remediation 02/24/2008
Additional $11.2 million would fund two future NPR-A sites; BLM working at Teshekpuk Lake legacy well this winter
President Bush's budget proposal for fiscal year 2009 includes an $11.2 million increase to the North Slope well remediation program run by the Bureau of Land Management. The program is responsibl...

CBM producer protests new drilling fee 01/13/2008
A Wyoming coalbed methane producer says a new requirement to pay $4,000 in administrative costs for every oil or gas well drilled on public land will prompt companies like his to focus more on drillin...

New BLM application fee goes into effect 01/06/2008
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management said Jan. 2 that it is implementing a new $4,000 processing fee for each new oil and gas drilling permit application, known as an application for permit to drill or...

THE EXPLORERS 2007: ConocoPhillips drops 300,000 acres 11/18/2007
Major and its independent partners focused on appraising previously announced NPR-A discoveries
ConocoPhillips Alaska's exploration program reached into far western NPR-A last winter, 2006-07. In 2007-08 the company plans to drill closer in, with proposed exploration wells - the program had not...

Aging Icebreakers slow U.S. in Arctic 09/30/2007
When Coast Guard Adm. Thad W. Allen imagines a melting Arctic, it's not a pretty sight: Cruise ships collide with icebergs. Oil tankers and ore ships run aground. Foreign fishermen sneak into American...

Mark Myers on USGS, scientific challenges 09/23/2007
U.S. Geological Survey Director Mark Myers, an AAPG member who was nominated by President Bush and confirmed by the Senate in 2006, heads up an entity that has more than 10,000 scientists, technicians...

FTC finds no 2006 gasoline price fixing 09/09/2007
Market forces, not price gouging, caused the cost of gasoline to rise during the spring and summer of 2006, according to a report sent to President Bush Aug. 30 by federal antitrust regulators. The re...