Rachel Waldholz, Alaska’s Energy Desk

In a ceremony Thursday morning the U.S. will formally hand over chairmanship of the Council to Finland, but the hand-off comes at a moment when U.S. Arctic policy is up in the air.

In the years that followed the Exxon Valdez oil spill, some wildlife populations bounced back quickly, while others may never recover. Now, nearly three decades later, scientists are starting to understand why.

By the end of the century, researchers predict climate change could displace millions of people across the country. As policymakers start to grapple with that reality, there’s a specific phrase making the rounds: “managed retreat.”

State regulators say they don’t yet know how serious the incident is, or what amount of oil or gas has been released. BP says there have been no injuries.

The oil and gas company Hilcorp says a dive team managed to install a clamp on its pipeline late Thursday night, after a week of work and 12 dives.

The company also now says it believes an oil sheen spotted near one of its platforms did not come from a pipeline leak, as originally thought.