Arctic

President Obama pushed back against what some see as the irony of him expanding oil exploration while talking up climate change.

President Barack Obama’s visit to Alaska this week, aimed at highlighting his push to fight climate change, comes just two weeks after his administration approved drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean.

Renewable energy, climate change and port development were all highlighted at the U.S. Arctic Research Commission’s second day in Nome, but it was a special announcement about the president’s upcoming visit to Alaska that got the room buzzing.

Details are finally shaking out about Obama’s Alaska visit. The White House says the president will announce new policy initiatives while he’s here.

Alaska and the future of Arctic policy are seeing increased international attention as the U.S. holds the chairmanship for the Arctic Council and foreign ministers prepare to meet in Anchorage later this month — joined by President Obama, who’s planning a visit to Kotzebue and Dillingham.

The company has until late September to complete this summer’s exploratory drilling.

The White House released a video Thursday morning to explain why he will be the first sitting president to visit Alaska’s Arctic.

The arrival of the Fennica after a month’s delay means the company could get to drill for oil beneath the Chukchi Sea this summer.

The commandant says he’s had a peek at bills pending in Congress that detail how his service will fare in its campaign to modernize.

Shell began drilling the top of a well in the Chukchi Sea last week, but it does not have federal permission from the U.S. Interior Department to drill into oil-bearing rocks unless the Fennica is on site.