"A small but dangerous parasite, the winter tick, is spreading north and west as winters become shorter and now is knocking at Alaska's border. The winter tick, which has already devastated moose populations in New England and the upper Midwest, has been confirmed in Canada's Yukon Territory and in the Northwest Territories, where it's infecting elk, mule deer and some moose."
"Emissions from thawing permafrost are now outpacing the uptake of carbon dioxide during the growing season, a new study suggests".
"The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a challenge to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to designate 187,000 square miles of Alaska’s coast and waters a critical habitat for the threatened polar bear."
"President Trump signed an executive order [Friday] that reverses a ban on drilling in much of the Arctic and ensures a legal fight over an obscure provision of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act."
"Alaska’s two Republican senators have introduced a bill that would repeal Obama administration restrictions on off-shore drilling and allow for oil production in the Arctic Ocean."
"The owner of a pipeline leaking natural gas into Alaska's Cook Inlet is dealing with another potential gas leak on a different line. It is the third such incident this year for Hilcorp Alaska in an area that has been declared a "critical habitat" for endangered beluga whales."
"For decades, Alaska has struggled to get running water and sewer systems to its rural communities. An estimated 3,000 households — or about 10,000 people — still lack both. Now, that job may be getting harder, as climate change exacerbates old problems and creates new ones."
President Trump signed a Congressional override of a Fish & Wildlife Service rule prohibiting Alaska from killing predators to support moose and caribou populations on federal wildlife refuges.
"The Senate voted Tuesday to abolish a rule restricting specific hunting practices on national wildlife refuges in Alaska — including trapping, baiting and aerial shooting — on the grounds that state officials should be able to set the terms for wildlife conservation on public land within their own borders.
"As the underwater methane leak in Cook Inlet, Alaska continues well into its third month, even basic environmental monitoring has been impossible because of ice cover. The ice also prevents any repair to the pipeline or response to the leak."
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