“We’ve lost half of these Pacific gray whales in just a decade. It couldn’t be clearer that the population needs protections, but we’re just getting silence from the Trump administration as the crisis unfolds,” - Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center for Biological Diversity, part of a group preparing to sue for protections
A gray whale carcass washed up on a beach north of Ocean Shores, Washington, It was one of the 187 gray whales that, as of late August, have been found dead this year along West Coast shorelines from Mexico to Alaska. Environmentalists are seeking a return of Endangered Species Act protections for the population, and they cited recent years' die-offs as a major part of the justification. (Photo by Hal Bernton)
By Yereth Rosen
Amid a decade of die-offs and a sharp decline in the population of gray whales that swim along the Pacific coast of North America, three environmental groups are preparing to sue the Trump administration over its failure to bring back Endangered Species Act protections for the animals.
Glenda Douglas of Shungnak, in the Northwest Arctic Borough, shared this photo on social media of a gasoline purchase she made on Friday, Aug. 21, 2026. (Glenda Douglas photo)
By James Brooks
It’s not a typo. The price of a gallon of gasoline in the northwest Alaska village of Shungnak was $26.82 on Friday, local residents and regional officials said, likely giving the community the dubious honor of having the most expensive gasoline in the United States.
“It is very much real,” said Glenda Douglas, who manages the store in Shungnak and posted a picture of the price on Facebook.
Cook Inlet near Clam Gulch is seen on Oct. 23, 2025. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
By Yereth Rosen
State and industry officials and the U.S. Coast Guard were responding on Tuesday to an unexplained oil spill roughly 60 miles southwest of Anchorage in Southcentral Alaska’s Cook Inlet.
The spill, which produced a long oil sheen on the water near the Trading Bay area on the western side of the inlet, was first spotted by a pilot on Monday. His report prompted a multiagency response.
Tongass National Forest (Photo by U.S. Forest Service)
COMMENTARY
By Mariah Meek and Travis Belote
Pause for a moment and listen. What do you hear? Chances are, somewhere in the background, is the ever-present hum of a road.
More than 4.2 million miles of public roads crisscross the lower 48 states – enough to reach the Moon and back almost nine times. This vast network of roads spiderwebs its way across the contiguous U.S., leaving only about 5% as an inventoried roadless area or wilderness.
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