Wesley Early, Alaska's Energy Desk - Kotzebue

Officials are still examining the substance in a lab to determine what it is, but DEC suspects it’s black tar or asphalt.

There are several communities in close proximity to new fires.

The ruling comes more than a decade after the Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation group, first petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the walrus as endangered or threatened.

A collaboration between scientists from both countries is providing a clearer picture of the species, which remain subsistence staples to Arctic communities. 

While most of the cause has been attributed to a warming Arctic climate, a new study from the University of Alaska Fairbanks has found evidence that warming waters outside of the Arctic are impacting sea ice as well.

Several Alaska energy researchers will be featured in a national conference this week of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission. 

The land along the road’s route near the highway and the village of Evansville is owned by Doyon, the state’s largest private landowner. The agreement is not a right of way and does not guarantee long-term access to the area by AIDEA or the road project. 

The private access Ambler Road would run roughly 211 miles from the Dalton Highway to the Ambler Mining District in the Northwest Arctic Borough. The funding from the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, or AIDEA, was matched by Ambler Metals, the company that hopes to use the road to access mineral deposits in the Ambler Mining District.

The federal government is extending the public comment period for proposed critical habitat for ringed and bearded seals.

As local, regional and state officials worked to solve the issue, the community of roughly 800 people was without running water and had to conserve power, relying on back-up generators while power was slowly restored.