Walrus deaths mystery: Was it trampling? Oct 2, 2009
Federal scientists take samples from dead walruses on the beach near Icy Cape on the Chukchi Sea in Alaska ... After the carcasses were spotted, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the North Slope Borough surveyed the entire Chukchi Sea coast from Barrow to Cape Sabine. (MSNBC -- Environment)
Our view: Red flag at Red Dog Sep 23, 2009
The violations stemmed from a standard seven-day inspection in 2006 that found Teck wrongly diluted wastewater with water from a freshwater reservoir, thus spoiling required samples, and also spilled treated water on the tundra at its port facility on the Chukchi Sea. Jim Kulas, manager of environmental and public affairs for the Red Dog Mine, said the dilution complaints stemmed from a misunderstanding over allowable procedures, and said the tundra spills were of treated water and did no harm. (Anchorage Daily News)
Regional news: Rabid wolf attacks hunter Sep 22, 2009
Carcasses of dead walruses spotted on Alaska coast ANCHORAGE, Alaska Up to 200 dead walruses have been spotted on the shore of Chukchi Sea on Alaska's northwest coast. Federal wildlife researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey on their way to a walrus tagging project spotted 100 to 200 of the animals' carcasses near Icy Cape about 140 miles southwest of Barrow. (ESPN -- Outdoors)
Understand the Arctic before exploiting it Sep 21, 2009
That same year, a Shell Oil seismic report estimated there were as many as 5,000 bowhead whales in an area of the Chukchi Sea, where the company hopes to begin offshore oil development. An endangered species, the total population of b 00004000 owhead whales in the Chukchi-Beaufort-Bering seas is only about 11,800. (Herald Online, SC -- Opinion)
Common ground for unusual rivals: eight-man football Sep 20, 2009
In Point Hope, they speak Inupiaq and dream of one day becoming successful whaling captains on the Chukchi Sea. Story tools. (Anchorage Daily News)
Scores of walrus carcasses spotted on coast Sep 18, 2009
Up to 200 dead walruses have been spotted on the shore of Chukchi Sea on Alaska's northwest co 00004000 ast ... Walrus cannot swim indefinitely and historically have used sea ice as a platform for diving in the Bering and Chukchi seas for clams and other food on the ocean floor ... Herds were in the tens of thousands at some locations on the Russian side of the Chukchi Sea. (Anchorage Daily News)
200 Dead Walruses Spotted in Northwestern Alaska Sep 18, 2009
Researchers spotted 100 to 200 carcasses near Icy Cape, which juts into the Chukchi Sea about 140 miles southwest of Barrow. For the second time in three years, thousands of walruses have congregated on Alaska's northwest coast as Arctic sea ice has receded beyond the shallow continental shelf, where the animals dive for clams and other benthic creatures. (Fox News)
Little known Alaska parks offer history, scenery, adventure Sep 15, 2009
"In a similar way, Serpentine Hot Springs at Bering Land Bridge has long been an important place for healing. It has a wonderful atmosphere. "At the Cape Krusenstern National Monument (along the Chukchi Sea north of the Arctic Circle), the beach ridges are extraordinary. This is a place with maybe 4,000 years of use. (Anchorage Daily News)
Walruses come ashore in Alaska's Arctic Sep 10, 2009
Chukchi Sea ice has retreated far to the north, beyond the productive waters of the continental shelf where the animals usually forage for food. Experts fear the walruses are expending much more energy foraging from shore -- traveling farther than they would if they could haul out on sea ice over food beds. (Anchorage Daily News)
Thousands of walrus haul out onshore as Arctic ice retreats Sep 10, 2009
Chad Jay, a U.S. Geological Survey walrus researcher, said Wednesday that about 3,500 walruses were near Icy Cape on the Chukchi Sea, some 140 miles southwest of Barrow ... Herds were in the tens of thousands at some locations on the Russian side of the Chukchi Sea, with an estimated 40,000 animals at Point Shmidt. (Anchorage Daily News)
Federal Agency Advances Walrus Listing Petition Sep 9, 2009
Females and their young traditionally use ice as a moving diving platform, riding it north like a conveyor belt as it recedes in spring and summer, first in the northern Bering Sea, then into the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast. Sea ice in the Chukchi Sea, shared with the Russian Far East, in 2007 and 2008 receded well beyond the outer continental shelf over water too deep for walruses to dive to reach clams. (W-USA News, DC)
Residents of tiny Canadian town stand at climate's front line Sep 9, 2009
On Alaska's Bering and Chukchi sea coasts, villages may have to be relocated. The U.S. Army and Marines are already helping the 350 people of one hamlet, Newtok, move to higher ground. (Anchorage Daily News)
Federal appeals court OKs 2007 Beaufort lease sale Aug 29, 2009
Shell also holds leases in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast, where a Washington, D.C., appeals court ruled in April that the MMS under the Bush administration did not properly study the environmental effect of expanding oil and gas drilling on the environment and marine life. That lawsuit was brought by three environmental groups and the village of Point Hope. (Anchorage Daily News)
Biologists hope to kill all of Rat Island's rats (9/21/08) Aug 24, 2009
Rat Island is one of the 2,400 islands in the sprawling refuge that stretches from Cape Lisburne on the Chukchi Sea to the tip of the Aleutian Islands in the west and Forrester Island in the southern Alaska Panhandle region in the east. Rats inhabit about a dozen large islands in the refuge as well as many smaller ones, feasting on seabirds and their eggs. (Anchorage Daily News)
Obama's task force comes to Alaska Aug 22, 2009
New lease sales are planned for the Chukchi Sea off the northwest coast, for example ... Her company hopes to explore for oil in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas next year. (Anchorage Daily News)
Giant Alaskan Blob Mystery Solved Jul 22, 2009
The strange biological blob drifting in the current in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northern coast. The strange biological blob drifting in the current in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northern coast ... No one in the area whether biologist, Inuit hunter or oil worker had ever seen anything like the strange stuff, which moved slowly through the Chukchi Sea last week between the towns of Barrow and Wainwright. (Fox News)
Regional news: The great blob of Alaska Jul 21, 2009
Arctic Mystery: Identifying the great blob of Alaska A group of hunters aboard a small boat out of the tiny Alaska village of Wainwright were the first to spot what would eventually be called "the blob." It was a dark, floating mass stretching for miles through the Chukchi Sea, a frigid and relatively shallow expanse of Arctic Ocean water between Alaska's northwest coast and the Russian Far East. The goo was fibrous, hairy. (ESPN -- Outdoors)
Black goo afloat off Alaska coast identified as algae Jul 20, 2009
ANCHORAGE - A sample of the giant black mystery blob that hunters discovered this month floating in the Chukchi Sea off the north coast of Alaska has been identified ... The mysterious black goo discovered in the Chukchi Sea has been identified as simple marine algae ... ANCHORAGE - A sample of the giant black mystery blob that hunters discovered this month floating in the Chukchi Sea off the north coast of Alaska has been identified. (Juneau Empire)
Arctic Mystery: Identifying the Great Blob of Alaska Jul 19, 2009
A group of hunters aboard a small boat out of the tiny Alaska village of Wainwright were the first to spot what would eventually be called "the blob." It was a dark, floating mass stretching for miles through the Chukchi Sea, a frigid and relatively shallow expanse of Arctic Ocean water between Alaska's northwest coast and the Russian Far East ... So far in Alaska, nothing suggests the Chukchi Sea blob is toxic, although the Coast Guard's Hasenauer said toxicity tests were planned. (Time.com)
Black goop identified as algae Jul 17, 2009
A sample of the giant black mystery blob that Wainwright hunters discovered this month floating in tthe Chukchi Sea has been identified ... That was the initial fear -- that an oil spill had appeared in the Chukchi Sea, or maybe the blob was oil bubbling up from a sunken vessel or underwater seam. (Anchorage Daily News)
Mystery goo floating off North Slope coast Jul 17, 2009
ANCHORAGE - Something big and strange is floating through the Chukchi Sea off the Alaska coast ... A floating goo-like substance found in the Chukchi Sea off the Alaska coast sits in a bucket Friday ... A floating goo-like substance found sits in the Chukchi Sea off the Alaska coast. (Juneau Empire)
Mysterious goo floating off the coast of Alaska Jul 16, 2009
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Something big and strange is floating through the Chukchi Sea off Alaska. Hunters from Wainwright first noticed the stuff early last week. (AZCentral -- News)
Arctic coast plays host to huge blob of goo floating in Chukchi Jul 15, 2009
Something big and strange is floating through the Chukchi Sea between Wainwright and Barrow. Story tools. (Anchorage Daily News)
Protecting Polar Bears With New Tracking Methods Jul 9, 2009
26, 2008) An aerial survey by government scientists in Alaska's Chukchi Sea this week found at least nine polar bears swimming in open water -- with one at least 60 miles from shore -- raising concern among. (Apr. (Science Daily)
Polar Bear Subpopulations in Decline Jul 7, 2009
While the group affirmed its support for the rights of aboriginal people to hunt polar bears in habitats that are stable, it said that bear populations in Baffin Bay (bordered by Greenland and Canada) and the Chukchi Sea (between the U.S. and Russia) may be suffering from a combination of overharvesting/illegal hunting and changes in habitat, such as loss of sea ice brought about by global warming. In such cases the PBSG recommended harvest quotas be made more sustainable. (CBS News)
Polar Bear And Walrus Populations In Trouble Jun 19, 2009
The Pacific walrus occurs in the Bering and Chukchi seas and is shared with Russia ... 26, 2008) An aerial survey by government scientists in Alaska's Chukchi Sea this week found at least nine polar bears swimming in open water -- with one at least 60 miles from shore -- raising concern among. (Science Daily)
Still Digging Up Exxon Valdez Oil, 20 Years Later Jun 4, 2009
" Scientists are still digging into the Sound's beaches, trying to get a better sense of how much oil might be left and whether it will be possible to finish the cleanup. And there are still other questions that need to be answered. The Sound's valuable commercial herring fishery collapsed completely a few years after the spill there are just 10,000 tons of the fish left today, down from a peak of 150,000 tons before the accident and researchers are trying to figure out what impact the oil might... (Time.com)
Seeing Chukchi May 30, 2009
Back in July, when IBD first interviewed the then-little-known governor, Palin emphasized developing Alaska's Chukchi Sea resources ... Situated over on the eastern end of the Chukchi Sea, they have global ambitions of dominating the energy trade and no qualms about muscling in on the U.S.. (Investors Business Daily)
Agency accepts deadline to review walrus status May 19, 2009
Females and their young traditionally use ice as a moving diving platform, riding it north like a conveyor belt as it recedes in spring and summer, first in the northern Bering Sea, then into the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast. Sea ice in the Chukchi Sea, shared with the Russian Far East, for the last two years receded well beyond the outer continental shelf over water too deep for walruses to dive to reach clams. (Anchorage Daily News)
Interior seeks clarification of offshore leasing ruling May 12, 2009
The court in April ruled that the department's Minerals Management Service failed to consider the effect on the environment and marine life before it began under the Bush administration in 2005 to expand an offshore oil and gas leasing program in the Beaufort, Bering and Chukchi seas ... Shell, Conoco Phillips and other oil companies last year paid more than $2 billion for leases in the Chukchi Sea off the northwest coast. (Anchorage Daily News)
Kotzebue faces vehicle registration for first time May 10, 2009
A hub for 11 Inupiat villages on the edge of the Chukchi Sea, Kotzebue sits on a three-mile spit surrounded by endless miles of blinding snow and ice in the winter. Visitors travel from nearby villages in noisy air taxis or in the saddle of a snowmachine. (Anchorage Daily News)
Alaska Newsreader: Truck-surfing raven captured on video May 9, 2009
U.S. and Russian biologists just wrapped up more than a month of field work on polar bears in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast. Those bears haven't been carefully studied in more than a decade, and scientists want to learn how the population is being affected by climate change. (Anchorage Daily News)
Tale of 1988 whale rescue in Barrow is headed for Hollywood May 8, 2009
POINT LAY LANDS FIRST WHALE IN 70 YEARS : A small community on the Chukchi Sea coast is celebrating a big catch. The Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission lifted a restriction on Point Lay in 2008 to allow the village to catch one whale each year. (Anchorage Daily News)
Alaska’s OCS Resources Critical to Successful Energy Policy May 7, 2009
Keeping Alaska s OCS lease sales, exploration, and development programs on schedule, especially in the Beaufort Sea and Chukchi Sea, is critically important to this effort. The resource numbers and the amount of energy needed in the next several decades speak for themselves. (Human Events Online)
Shell Oil withdraws Beaufort drilling plan May 7, 2009
The company spent more than $2 billion last year for leases in federal waters of the Chukchi Sea. Pete Slaiby, Shell Alaska general manager, said in a statement Wednesday that over the last three years, the company has acquired and analyzed additional seismic data and its objectives have become more focused. (Anchorage Daily News)
Court nixes Bush oil exploration effort Apr 18, 2009
A three-judge panel in Washington found that the Bush-era Interior Department failed to consider the effect on the environment and marine life before it began the process in August 2005 to expand an oil and gas leasing program in the Beaufort, Bering, and Chukchi seas ... The lawsuit was brought by three environmental groups that want to protect the ecosystem and the Native Village of Point Hope, Alaska, a tribe that lives off the wildlife on the Chukchi Sea coast. (Athens Banner-Herald)
Public Trust Doctrine Could Aid Management Of U.S. Ocean Waters Apr 14, 2009
7 million acres of the pristine Chukchi Sea to oil and gas activities on January 2. This. (Science Daily)
Interior secretary to visit Alaska Apr 13, 2009
Ken Salazar, the new U.S. Interior Secretary, plans to visit Alaska on Monday and Tuesday to gather opinions about the federal government's proposed oil and gas lease sales in the Beaufort Sea, Chukchi Sea and the Bristol Bay region ... Salazar wants Alaskans to weigh in on a proposed national leasing program spanning the next five years, including nine Alaska lease sales in four locations: lower Cook Inlet; federal waters outside Bristol Bay; and the Beaufort and Chukchi seas ... Chukchi Sea... (Anchorage Daily News)
Drilling the Arctic for Energy: Does tapping Alaskan oil to increase energy independence come at our peril? Mar 25, 2009
Since the bans ended, leasing has begun anew off the coast of Alaska, with some three million acres (one million hectares) in the Chukchi Sea now let ... I don't think it is widely appreciated that the Bering Sea and the Chukchi Sea are among the most biologically productive seas in the world ... The U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) estimates there are 22 billion barrels of recoverable reserves in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. (Scientific American)
Exxon Valdez, 20 years later Mar 24, 2009
The Bush administration had even more ambitious plans for other waters in the Arctic opening 40 million acres in the Chukchi Sea and 33 million acres in the Beaufort Sea for possible development. It sold one lease, now under court challenge, covering 2. (International Herald Tribune -- Ed/Op)
8 people charged in caribou slaughter Mar 19, 2009
Point Hope is a Chukchi Sea community of about 700 people 330 miles southwest of Barrow. Share this page. (Juneau Empire)
Whales turn tables on watchers in Baja Mar 15, 2009
Female gray whales travel from the Chukchi Sea in the Arctic 7,000 miles down the California coast to Bahia Magdalena in winter to give birth or to get pregnant. Males follow to help in the latter process. (Helena Independent Record)
Interior secretary has wind power on agenda Mar 10, 2009
Review objections to oil and gas leasing in Alaskas Bristol Bay and the Chukchi Sea, where environmentalists argue that the threat to fisheries and polar bears has not been adequately examined, and off Virginia, where the governor has raised concerns. Take another look at a Bush administration regulation allowing loaded firearms in national parks. (MSNBC -- Environment)
Alaska drilling ruling vacated, future uncertain Mar 10, 2009
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - An appeals court has vacated a decision that blocked Shell Oil's planned exploratory drilling program in the Beaufort Sea, but representatives of the company and the environmental and Native groups challenging the development said Monday they had no indication whether any change in policy would result. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a two-page order issued Friday, said it will replace its November 20 ruling with a new opinion. (Scientific American)
Court vacates Shell Alaska drilling decision Mar 9, 2009
The company postponed exploration for 2009 on leases it holds in the Beaufort Sea and the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast. Shell Exploration & Production Co., part of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, in 2005 spent more than $44 million for 84 offshore leases in the Beaufort Sea. (Anchorage Daily News)
Conoco Phillips eliminates 80 Alaska jobs Mar 5, 2009
4 billion, which included $506 million to lease exploration acreage in the remote Chukchi Sea, Lowman said. Conoco plans a "significant reduction" in efforts to develop heavy oil, a sticky form of crude that's highly abundant on the Slope but difficult to get out of the ground. (Anchorage Daily News)
Conoco scissors capital spending in Alaska Mar 2, 2009
Of the Alaska spending in 2008, $506 million went to winning bids at a February lease sale for Chukchi Sea acreage. The 2009 budget for Alaska is a 41 percent drop from total spending in the state in 2008, but an 8 percent reduction not counting the Chukchi Sea bids. (Anchorage Daily News)
Arctic team targets key ice data Mar 1, 2009
Professor Maslowski points to the heat brought from the Pacific through the Bering Strait and the Chukchi Sea. This, he says, is distributed northward by local currents and eddies from the Chukchi Shelf into the Beaufort Sea where it has played a significant role in the major retreat of summer sea-ice in the western Arctic. (BBC News -- Science)
Energy Policy: Crude Stimulus Feb 27, 2009
Add to this the potential from opening the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge's 10 billion-plus barrels of oil to potential development, and the 20 billion barrels or so in Alaska's Chukchi Sea, and there's an awful lot of easy stimulus to be had. We keep hearing that President Obama is a "pragmatist." Well, here's his chance to show it. (Investors Business Daily)
Letters to the editor (2/16/09) Feb 16, 2009
The Chukchi sea sits on top of oil and gas reserves, and is north of the Bering and Bristol Bay fishing grounds. Oil development in western seas does make my knees twitch; I remember the Exxon Valdez spill. (Anchorage Daily News)
Many Species Thrive In Both Arctic, Antarctic Feb 16, 2009
Documentation from the Chukchi Sea of range extensions to the north of at least three species in two cases by up to 500 km plus a growing number of snow crabs ... 26, 2008) An aerial survey by government scientists in Alaska's Chukchi Sea this week found at least nine polar bears swimming in open water -- with one at least 60 miles from shore -- raising concern among. (Science Daily)
Study finds little harm in Red Dog dust Feb 12, 2009
The trucks daily carry zinc and lead concentrate from the open-pit mine -- about 82 miles north of Kotzebue -- to a Chukchi Sea port for smelter shipments. The road passes through the Cape Krusenstern National Monument for about 20 miles. (Anchorage Daily News)
Interior Dept. delays leasing for offshore oil Feb 11, 2009
Salazar, however, has not abandoned a proposal for oil and gas leasing off Virginia, which is included in the current drilling plan scheduled to expire in 2012, nor has he indicated a desire to cancel leasing plans off Alaska including in the Chukchi Sea and Bristol Bay, where drilling leases are facing court challenges. Nevertheless, Salazar's announcement was hailed by environmentalists and some drilling opponents in Congress. (Boston Globe)
Our view: Thought control Feb 10, 2009
As president Mark Hamilton spoke to the committee, Fairclough bemoaned the fact that students and university staff who have come to see her opposed Chukchi Sea development, Pebble mine, Red Dog Mine and other resource development. "Help me here in understanding how I should advocate funding more for a group that really doesn't want to see development go forward," Fairclough said to Hamilton. (Anchorage Daily News)
