“The project will proceed forward without the state investment, but we wanted to give the state that opportunity should it elect to, eyes wide open.” - Frank Richards, president of the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., on the option to invest in the proposed Alaska natural gas pipeline project.
A bumper sticker on a car parked in Midtown Anchorage on June 29, 2026, expresses support for the Glenfarne-Alaska Gasline Development Corp. plan for natural gas pipeline tax concessions. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
By James Brooks
A few months from now, if developers of the proposed trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline move forward with the project, they will ask Alaskans for something between a few hundred million and a billion and a half dollars.
The request is optional, but if the state doesn’t chip in, Alaska’s 25% ownership of the pipeline will dwindle to a smaller fraction, and any profits will similarly shrink.
The Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks is seen on Sept. 18, 2022. The National Science Foundation announced the establishment of a new critical minerals program to be led by and located at the UAF facility. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
By Yereth Rosen
The National Science Foundation has selected the University of Alaska Fairbanks to be the site of a new critical minerals research program, making it one of 12 new technology innovation centers across the nation that received federal funding.
The new Critical Minerals Accelerator Engine in Alaska will receive $15 million in funding for two years and up to $160 million over 10 years, the university said on Tuesday.
Seth Friend, 12, stands near a pond in Kwigillingok in June 2026. (Katie Baldwin Basile For Anchorage Press)
By Jess Zhong, The Margin
This story was produced by The Margin with support from the Anchorage Press and co-published by KYUK.
Suicides among youth who evacuated Alaska Native villages after Typhoon Halong raise concerns around trauma responses to the climate disaster.
An ice wedge is exposed in an eroding permafrost bluff at Utqiagvik, seen on Aug. 4, 2022. Mud flowing downhill is the product of ice melt within the soil. Utqiagvik, the nation’s northernmost community, bears some of Alaska’s most serious risks of permafrost-thaw damage to infrastructure, according to a new study. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
COMMENTARY
By The Conversation
Permafrost usually hits the news as a hazard; a planetary risk. When this ice-rich ground thaws, it damages roads and building foundations. It drains lakes and tips trees into drunken forests. It releases greenhouse gases that have been locked in carbon-rich soils for thousands of years, amplifying warming, driving further thaw.
These are serious concerns, and we spend a good deal of time studying their causes. But another consequence of permafrost thaw receives far less attention: As the climate warms, we are losing our frozen heritage.
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Commentary: Alaska LNG developers’ secrecy deserves scrutiny, not public subsidies | Sean McDermott, Elaine Schroeder and Doug Woodby
Alaska governor vetoes new limits on political donations | James Brooks
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