North Slope

Deputy Natural Resources Commissioner Marty Rutherford told the House Finance Committee the change reflects slow negotiations with the state’s three pipeline partners, as well as the low price of gas.

House members are questioning the depth of analysis of Walker’s proposed oil and gas tax proposals.

Changes are coming to state plans for a liquefied natural gas pipeline, but the governor and the state’s three pipeline partners aren’t ready to say what those changes will be.

For 40 years, Alaska’s North Slope oil production has taken place on a stretch of state land sandwiched between two major federal reserves: to the east is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. To the west, the much larger National Petroleum Reserve Alaska — which, despite its name, never produced any oil until this fall. ConocoPhillips hopes…

For the first time, scientists have documented the prevalence of two biotoxins in Alaska’s marine mammal population above the Arctic Circle.

The facts of what happened aren’t clear yet. The body is on its way to Anchorage for autopsy, and state investigators were Barrow-bound.

Senate Minority Leader Berta Gardner, an Anchorage Democrat, said her caucus members were disappointed.

An oceanographer on the study told investigators she had “never worked on an SEIS with such a short timeline in her 26-year career.” A fish biologist “stated that she believed the timeline was ‘so crushed’ that the quality of the SEIS was significantly compromised.”

For years scientists have documented changes in Alaska’s vegetation caused by a warmer climate. Researchers are now seeing animals establish new habitats on the North Slope in response to the altered landscape.

ConocoPhillips announced Wednesday that it will move ahead with construction of a $900 million project in the North Slope’s National Petroleum Reserve.