Elizabeth Harball, Alaska's Energy Desk

Jason Brune’s appointment is controversial because he worked as the public affairs and government relations manager for mining company Anglo American when it backed the proposed Pebble Mine.

In a recent order, the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission says BP “has no evidence that permafrost subsidence will not result in sudden catastrophic failure” at some of the company’s Prudhoe Bay wells.

Along with five environmental groups, the Native Village of Nuiqsut is challenging the Bureau of Land Management’s approval of ConocoPhillips’ exploratory drilling program this winter in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

In a letter sent Tuesday, the governor informed Hollis French he is “immediately” being removed from his position as chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

The report supports some, but not all, of the governor’s charges against the chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, former Democratic state Sen. Hollis French.

Throughout the hearing, an organized group of opponents from communities across the state provided much of the public testimony against development in the refuge, holding up bandannas and signs that said: “Defend the Sacred: Protect the Arctic.”