Arctic Alaska

2 Barrow children left in room open to 30-below cold

When police entered a Barrow apartment last week on a report of a child not breathing, they found a caregiver smelling of alcohol, two hypothermic and naked children, and a child's bedroom with the window open to the Arctic winter, according to court documents.

Agencies pledge science-based policy in Arctic development

The head of President Obama's working group on Alaska energy development says the federal government will bring a renewed effort to incorporating science in Arctic policy decisions.

Rural Alaska air travel subsidies survive budget cuts

Subsidies for rural Alaska air travel survived the cost cutting talk as Congress passed a four-year funding bill for the Federal Aviation Administration on Monday after years of dispute.

FAA bill speeds switch to GPS for airliners

Mother, boyfriend charged in death of Barrow child

The investigation of the beating death of a Barrow child and the battering of the child's baby sibling took another twist Monday when Anchorage police arrested the children's mother on a warrant from Barrow.

Shell still hopes to drill this summer in Arctic waters

It's the billion-dollar question in Alaska for 2012: Will this be the year Shell Oil begins large-scale offshore exploratory drilling in Arctic waters? Two months into 2012, the oil giant is beyond the lead time it said it needed to assemble the flotilla of support vessels that must accompany drill ships.

Shell's Arctic drilling plan gets major boost

Man charged with beating 2 children; both hospitalized

Two children from Barrow have been hospitalized after a man allegedly beat them.

Man charged in connection with Barrow shooting

North Slope Borough Police say a 20-year-old man has been arrested on attempted murder charges in connection with a shooting in Barrow that left two people injured.

Harsh Alaska winter leads to fuel shortages in some villages

Living in Alaska's outer reaches is challenging enough, given the isolation and weather extremes, but at least three remote communities also have experienced weather-related late deliveries of fuel crucial to their survival during an especially bitter winter.

Shell's Arctic drilling plan gets major boost

Royal Dutch Shell's quest to drill exploratory wells in Arctic waters has received a boost with the affirmation that its federal air permits for the Chukchi Sea were properly granted.

Sick Alaska seals will be tested for Japanese radiation

Tissue samples from Alaska's sickened ringed seals will be analyzed for evidence of radiation, but a scientist says he doubts there's a connection to the Japanese nuclear plant damaged by a tsunami last year.

Sick seals washing up onshore around the Arctic

2 get jail for killing musk oxen

Alaska State Troopers say two men received jail time for killing musk oxen near the North Slope community of Nuiqsut.

Russian ship heads to Alaska to deliver fuel to Nome

A Russian tanker slowed by ocean currents kept to its mission Tuesday of delivering petroleum products to iced-in Nome, even as international red tape thwarted the journey.

Judge rules BP's '09 North Slope spill an accident

A federal judge in Anchorage on Tuesday rejected an effort by prosecutors to hold BP criminally negligent for a 2009 pipeline rupture, one of a series of mishaps and disasters that have dogged the company over the past decade.

Woman dies at hotel; no foul play suspected

Police in Bethel are investigating the death of a second 30-year-old woman this month.

Deaths of Alaska ringed seals trigger federal investigation

Federal, state and local wildlife scientists don't know what's sickening and killing ringed seals off the coast of Alaska and Canada, but they will get more resources to find out. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced today it had declared the seal deaths an "unusual mortality event."

Mysterious disease takes toll on ringed seals in Alaska Arctic

Prosecutors say BP didn't learn from 2001 Slope oil spill

Prosecutors say BP failed to apply the lessons learned from a 2001 spill when a different pipeline froze and broke open in 2009, spilling thousands of gallons of crude oil.

LAST OF THREE PARTS

Shell to unveil icebreaker for Arctic Alaska offshore drilling

A longtime Shell contractor has nearly completed a massive, custom icebreaking ship for the company's drilling projects in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska. The icebreaker is part of a specialized fleet Shell hopes to deploy for exploration drilling next summer, if it can clear legal and regulatory hurdles.

Part 1: Shell gambles billions in Arctic Alaska push

Part 2: Oil spills and violence plague Shell operations in Nigeria

SECOND OF THREE PARTS

Oil spills and violence plague Shell operations in Nigeria

Environmentalists say decades of oil production have left the Niger Delta one of the most polluted regions in the world. Shell is Nigeria's biggest operator, with more than 50 years of oil production there, and it's a main target of activists' wrath.

Part 1: Shell gambles billions in Arctic Alaska push

FIRST OF THREE PARTS

Shell gambles billions in Arctic Alaska push

Armed with promising new seismic science, a sort of undersea sonogram of the earth's belly, Shell Oil company says its Burger location in the Chukchi Sea is a signature find. It's the spark for ramping up controversial efforts to drill off the northernmost coast of the U.S. in some of the most extreme conditions on Earth.

Ahmaogak contests election outcome

A former North Slope mayor who lost another bid for the office is contesting the results of the recent election, saying he has filed grounds for an investigation as ordered by the borough.