The Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas are home to a variety of marine mammals, including bearded seals and ringed seals. Though both species are in relative abundance, long-term projections forecast a threat to the once abundant sea ice that the seals live on. As a result, the species were listed as threatened in 2012 under the Endangered Species Act.

The state won 10-year oil leases for nine pieces of land by submitting the minimum offer: $25 an acre. But drilling for oil in the refuge is expensive, and it faces an aggressive opposition campaign.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s denied a permit for the proposed mine back in November. 

The road would stretch 211 miles from the Dalton Highway to the Ambler Mining District east of Kotzebue and would cross Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve.

The nation’s sole heavy icebreaker arrived in the Aleutian Islands this week for the first time since 2013.

One of the Trump administration’s biggest energy initiatives suffered a stunning setback Wednesday, as a decades-long push to drill for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ended with a lease sale that attracted just three bidders — one of which was the state of Alaska itself.

The sale, scheduled for Wednesday, would be a controversial milestone in a 40-year battle over whether to drill for oil in a part of the refuge called the coastal plain. So, how did we get here after such a long debate? And, what will happen next? 

A federal judge in Anchorage says she could rule as soon as Tuesday on a request by environmental groups to block the Trump administration from carrying out the first-ever lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

With the first-ever oil lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge just two days away, a federal judge in Anchorage will consider a request Monday to stop the Trump administration from issuing the oil leases.

It’s a controversial move, and a way for the state to secure drilling rights in the coastal plain in case no one else bids on the leases.