State Of Alaska News

The US Coast Guard is continuing to assess a fire reported on the 410-foot general cargo vessel Genius Star XI off Dutch Harbor, Alaska.The vessel is carrying lithium-ion batteries, and the fire started on Christmas Day in cargo hold No. 1. The crew released carbon dioxide into the hold and sealed it over concerns of an explosion.The Coast Guard then diverted the vessel to Dutch Harbor while an HC-130 airplane from Air Station Kodiak and Coast Guard Cutter Alex Haley (WMEC-39) were dispatched to assist.The Coast Guard confirmed there are no injuries to the 19 crewmembers.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) on Thursday announced grants totaling $220.2 million from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to modernize the nation’s ferry systems. The program focuses in part on expanding ferry service in rural communities, helping communities acquire modern ferry boats (including electric boats that reduce carbon pollution), and upgrading shore infrastructure to support high-quality, low-emission ferry service.“For many communities around the U.S.…

Like many ports, the Alaskan Port of Homer faces aging infrastructure and capital needs well beyond the local funding capacity. The port is a key link in the supply chain for 47 remote, rural, disadvantaged or Alaska Native communities served by Homer, making proposed port infrastructure upgrades critical for shipping statewide as well as for the local community.Enter the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This unprecedented…

Federal, tribal, state and local officials joined NOAA leadership to cut the ribbon on the agency’s newly renovated port facility in Ketchikan, Alaska. The celebration was held to dedicate the facility and recognize the important partnerships in the area.The facility will provide vessel support for NOAA research ships. The facility will also support NOAA Ship Fairweather, which is homeported in Ketchikan.“Having a home base for NOAA to operate from in Alaska is integral to our science…

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday rejected a lawsuit filed by environmental groups challenging federal approvals needed to construct a $39 billion project that would move natural gas from Alaska’s North Slope across the state.A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's review of plans for the state-run Alaska Gasline Development Corp's project satisfied the National Environmental Policy Act requirements to take a hard look at environmental impacts of major proposals…

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has announced $384.4 million in federal funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for expanding and improving the nation’s ferry service in communities across the country, as well as accelerate the transition to zero emission transportation.In total, FTA is awarding 23 grants across 11 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Grants will fund projects including replacement of old vessels, expand fleets, and build new terminals and docks.

Russian nuclear-powered submarines fired cruise missiles in the Arctic on Friday as part of military drills designed to test Moscow's readiness for a possible conflict in its icy northern waters, the defense ministry said.The drills, named Umka-2022, took place in the Chukchi Sea, an eastern stretch of the Arctic Ocean that separates Russia from the U.S. state of Alaska.Russia sees its vast Arctic territory as a vital strategic interest and has been building up its military capabilities in the region for years…

Canada will allow cruise ships back into its waters starting in November as the COVID-19 pandemic fades, but they must fully comply with public health requirements that have yet to be finalized, Ottawa said on Thursday.Earlier this year, Canada extended a ban on cruise ships until February 2022, citing the need to protect public health. Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said in a statement that the restriction would now be lifted on Nov. 1, 2021."We will welcome cruise ships - an important part of our tourism sector - back in Canadian waters for the 2022 season…

The U.S.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday confirmed bans on offshore oil leasing in most federal Arctic waters and in the Atlantic after the Trump Administration tried to open them up to development.The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said President Joe Biden's reinstatement of Obama-era protections makes moot the previous administration's attempts to allow oil development there.The Trump administration pressed for oil-and-gas development throughout the United States as the nation's crude production surged to a record 13 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2019.

The U.S. state of Alaska is so far distant from the worst medical ravages of the coronavirus pandemic, but its economy is in critical condition. Alaska is especially vulnerable because it depends on oil, tourism and fisheries – basic industries that are reeling from the global coronavirus pandemic – and the state government gets most of its revenue from investment earnings that have now evaporated."Alaska is experiencing a perfect storm, a most terrible trifecta, the hat trick from hell," said state Senator Natasha von Imhof, co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee, at a hearing Saturday.

British oil major BP Alaska announced that it is selling its entire business to Hilcorp Alaska, marking the exit from Alaska after six decades.The $5.6 billion sale includes Opens a New Window. interests in the Prudhoe Bay oil field, Point Thomson gas field and the trans-Alaska pipeline system, BP said in a release.Bob Dudley, BP group chief executive, said: "Alaska has been instrumental in BP's growth and success for well over half a century and our work there has helped shape the careers of many throughout the company. We are extraordinarily proud of the world-class business we have built, working alongside our partners and the State of Alaska…

Crowley Fuels has signed construction contracts to build a 55,000-barrel, articulated tug-barge (ATB) that is specifically designed to serve the Western Alaska market with delivery of clean fuel products.The 410-foot ATB will have enhanced performance features for the demanding river and sea conditions of Western Alaska, an area that depends on safe and reliable marine delivery services during the short open-water season. An ATB consists of a tugboat and barge that are connected from the bow of the tug to a notch in the stern of the barge by a hinged connection system…

1.54 billion liters of grey water were generated by ships off the British Columbia coast in 2017 - the equivalent of more than 600 Olympic-size swimming pools, said a study.World Wildlife Fund Canada says cruise ships traveling between Washington state and Alaska are responsible for dumping "the vast majority" of the potentially toxic grey water that ends up off the B.C. coast each year.Cruise ships accounted for 1.37 billion (almost 90%) of the 1.54 billion liters of grey water generated off the B.C. coast in 2017, the study revealed.Grey water — the drainage from dishwater, galley sinks, and showers — may contain contaminants ranging from grease, oil and flame retardants to disinfectants, fecal coliform and micro-plastics, among other substances.

Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC) has signed an agreement with BP and Exxon Mobil to help advance the state-owned company's proposed $43.4 billion Alaska liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.According to the agreement, the concerned parties would work together to identify ways to improve the Alaska LNG project ’s competitiveness, and progress the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authorization to construct the project.AGDC Interim President Joe Dubler said, “Our respective organizations share an interest in the successful commercialization of Alaska’s stranded North Slope natural gas. BP and ExxonMobil possess world-class LNG expertise which may help AGDC responsibly advance this project with maximum efficiency for the benefit of Alaskans…

MarineNews showcases the ten best of North America’s 2018 workboat deliveries. Domestic shipyard production is robust, innovative and getting greener. And, that translates into two kinds of ‘green.’As the domestic offshore energy support sector slowly awakens, other sectors have been happy to take the spotlight in its absence. As always, and if a hull was delivered in 2018, we took a look at it, with several areas as a focus for inclusion into this edition. For my part, I’m always excited when the U.S. boatbuilding sector can deliver for a foreign buyer. We’ve checked that box here. And, that’s because we can compete on price, quality and when we do…

Alaska marine transportation company Alaska Marine Lines said that it is expanding its service from Seattle and Anchorage to the Arctic Region in 2019.Bowhead Transport will provide the destination services at the North Slope villages of Point Hope, Point Lay, Wainwright, Utqiagvik (Barrow), and Kaktovik. Alaska Marine Lines will also service Deadhorse with its two annual sealifts.Bowhead, thru its teaming agreement with Alaska Marine Lines, will continue to participate in the door-to-shore service to the Arctic that it initiated over 30 years ago.The new stops will be added to Alaska Marine Lines' many ports of call, joining the major hubs of Naknek…

BP announced that it has entered into agreements with ConocoPhillips that will significantly increase its holding in the Clair field, a core asset of BP’s North Sea business in the UK, while also selling its non-operating interest in the Kuparuk and satellite oilfields in Alaska. BP has entered into an agreement to purchase from ConocoPhillips a 16.5% interest in the BP-operated Clair field, west of Shetland in the UK, buying a ConocoPhillips subsidiary that will hold this interest in the field. As a result, BP will hold a 45.1% interest in Clair and ConocoPhillips will retain a 7.5% interest. Separately BP has entered into agreements…

Russia's first-floating nuclear power plant arrived in the Arctic port of Murmansk over the weekend in preparation for its maiden mission, providing electricity to an isolated Russian town across the Bering Strait from Alaska.The state company behind the plant, called the "Akademik Lomonosov", says it could pioneer a new power source for remote regions of the planet, but green campaigners have expressed concern about the risk of nuclear accidents. Greenpeace has called it the "nuclear Titanic".Russian state nuclear company Rosatom…

TOTE Inc., courtesy of being the first in the world to order containerships powered by LNG, have been leaders in the push to design and build tonnage ahead of the emissions regulation curve. The company again makes headline with the announcement that TOTE Maritime Alaska has contracted MAN PrimeServ – MAN Diesel & Turbo’s after-sales division – to convert a pair of RoRo ships, North Star and Midnight Sun to dual-fuel operation on liquefied natural gas (LNG). Today the vessels are powered by four × MAN 58/64 engines and will be retrofitted to MAN 58/64 retrofit units.

A group of 37 U.S.-based scientists whose research focuses on Arctic wildlife asked two U.S. senators in a letter on Thursday not to open the National Arctic Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration, according to a copy seen by Reuters. The scientists, including several retired former officials from the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, said in a letter to Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Senator Maria Cantwell…

California will block the transport of petroleum from new offshore oil rigs through its state, officials told Reuters, a move meant to hobble the Trump administration’s effort to vastly expand drilling in U.S. federal waters. California's threat to deny pipeline permits for transporting oil from new leases off the Pacific Coast is the latest step by states trying to halt the biggest proposed expansion in decades of federal oil and gas leasing. Officials in Florida, North and South Carolina…

There are a number of federal and state statutes that intentionally and justifiably impose strict criminal liability. Persons who manufacture hazardous explosives and those who keep dangerous animals create serious risks to public safety. Clearly placing the burden of potential criminal liability, even in the absence of criminal negligence or intent, on those persons and entities is appropriate. There are other statutes, though, that fail to disclose whether the authors intended for the criminal penalties included for noncompliance to be strictly applied or whether criminal liability requires proof of criminal negligence or specific intent. Two such statutes of interest to the maritime community are the Refuse Act of 1899 and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA).