Energy & Mining

Results of a lease auction test the idea that royalty reductions could attract new investment in natural gas development.

Grist reporter Lois Parshley says the saga of the Manh Choh Mine dates back decades, and includes disagreements over who owns the land around Tetlin.

The federal grant will fund a project to run a 50-mile undersea cable through Cook Inlet, to better connect Railbelt utilities and improve access to renewable sources.

The massive Willow oil project on Alaska’s North Slope can move forward, a federal judge in Anchorage ruled Thursday.

The draft lays out some broad intentions to bring more renewable energy to the state. It also calls for the controversial Alaska LNG pipeline.

The project includes a high-voltage submarine cable between the Kenai Peninsula and Anchorage and multiple battery energy storage systems. 

“I think that we’ve never come out and said we are in opposition to the mine,” Tribal Council President Kimberley Strong said. “I am afraid of this hard rock acid mine and what it will do to us.” 

The project, located about 145 miles northeast of Bethel, would be one of the biggest open-pit gold mines in the world.

While opinions in the nearby Alaska Native villages of Brevig Mission and Teller are mixed, there are significant pockets of opposition, particularly among the area’s tribal leaders.

The program collected and recycled over 145,000 pounds of lead-acid batteries from 45 communities last year.