Alaska's Energy Desk

Every summer, biologists visit Alaska to count Steller sea lions. The western stock of the population has been in decline for nearly 40 years — hitting a low in 2002. The count helps determine whether sea lions stay on the endangered species list, which puts costly restrictions on the commercial fishing fleet.

The Alaska Sealife Center has managed to reduce its carbon footprint and cut its annual utility bills in half. The secret: In 2008, the aquarium used state and federal grants to install a seawater heat pump system.

Last year, Anchorage’s inflation rate went up half a percent, the lowest recorded increase in 27 years.

The last decade saw a remarkable run-up in oil and gas employment as high oil prices led to record numbers of energy industry jobs in Alaska. That meant young people had an easier time getting started in oil and gas. Hannah Vuppula was lucky enough to land an engineering job last year at an Anchorage firm that works on the Trans Alaska Pipeline.

Alaska has lost more than 2,000 jobs in the oil and gas industry since last year, as the state faces its first real recession in nearly three decades. Tom Walsh is a founding partner of Petrotechnical Resources Alaska, an oil and gas consulting firm.

“At first blush it does appear the federal government is creating additional cumbersome regulations that will make it more challenging to entice companies back to the Arctic when oil prices rebound,” said an Alaska Oil and Gas Association representative.