Arctic Alaska may host first playoff game Sep 19, 2008
They swim onto the Beaufort Sea shore right next to the football field ... Depending on prevailing winds off the Beaufort Sea, the mercury could dip lower. (Anchorage Daily News)
LETTERS: NCT, Sept. 17, 2008 Sep 18, 2008
HotJobs Local Search. We the people should have a say this time. (North County Times)
Arctic ice melt not quite a record this summer Sep 17, 2008
The pack ice loss, first in the Beaufort Sea off the coast of Alaska and then shifting to the Chukchi and East Siberian seas, was linked to a shift in atmospheric circulation. Air temperatures in the Chukchi Sea were 9 to 13 degrees higher than normal this year. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Energy: Why Is Our Oil Up Hurricane Alley? Sep 13, 2008
Yet in Alaska, offshore waters in the Chukchi Sea and the Beaufort Sea are believed to hold oil reserves as high as 27 billion barrels and significant natural gas. California's offshore waters could hold as much as 11 billion barrels. (Investors Business Daily)
Security: Palin's Importance Sep 3, 2008
Palin's also given Congress something it can do now remove restrictions on drilling for 30 billion barrels in the Chukchi Sea and all the natural gas of Beaufort Sea in Alaska's offshore. As governor, she's already gotten the environmental impact work out of the way so shipments to the Lower 48 can start in as little as a year or two. (Investors Business Daily)
Study: Thawing permafrost likely to boost global warming Sep 2, 2008
A handout photo from 2004 shows coastal erosion of mud-rich permafrost along on Beaufort Sea coastline Drew Point in Alasaka. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo). (Xinhuanet, China)
Exxon Mobil ships drilling gear to Point Thomson Aug 30, 2008
Meantime, Exxon intends to push on with preparations for drilling in February, and recently used tugs and barges traveling through the Beaufort Sea to land heavy equipment and supplies on the beach at Point Thomson, which is east of Prudhoe Bay next to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The plan is to construct a 60-mile ice road for bringing in a drilling rig that's undergoing a $20 million retrofit, said Craig Haymes, Exxon's Alaska production manager. (Anchorage Daily News)
Canadian PM presses Arctic claim Aug 29, 2008
With a chilly wind blowing from the Beaufort Sea and a Coast Guard icebreaker behind him, Mr Harper emphasised the importance of defending his country's interests in the Arctic. "Sovereignty as you know is not an abstract notion. It conveys a source of authority and protection," he said. (BBC News -- Americas)
Canada tightens its control in Arctic Aug 28, 2008
"These measures will send a clear message to the world," Harper said during a cold, blustery press conference held on the shores of the Beaufort Sea. Harper said he expects foreign ships to abide by the new requirement. (MSNBC -- International)
Canada to map resources in Arctic for development Aug 27, 2008
Natural gas has already been discovered in the Beaufort Sea, oil has been found in eastern areas of the Arctic Ocean and diamond mining is flourishing in Nunavut territory. The Geological Survey of Canada is working to map the Arctic and its potential resource riches by 2013 after signing a United Nations treaty meant to determine international boundaries in the far north. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- World)
Canada to Expand Energy, Mineral Mapping of Arctic Aug 27, 2008
Subscribe to daily environment news. CANADA: August 27, 2008. (Planet Ark, United States)
* Canada gets serious about Arctic Aug 26, 2008
The Canadian Coast Guards Louis S. St.-Laurent will rendezvous with the US Coast Guard Healy in the Beaufort Sea, north of Canada and Alaska, on or about Sept. 8 for the three-week joint operation. The joint survey will use seismic readings to map the undersea polar continental shelf in the western Arctic, said Jacob Verhoef, director of Canadas UN Law of the Sea program at the Department of Natural Resources. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
Nine polar bears spotted in open ocean Aug 23, 2008
Four polar bear carcasses were spotted in the Beaufort Sea after a storm, and federal scientists extrapolated that others probably died. Department of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in May declared polar bears a threatened species because of an alarming loss of summer sea ice in recent decades and climate models that indicate the trend will continue. (Juneau Empire)
• Polar bear sightings stir climate debate Aug 22, 2008
Four polar bear carcasses were spotted in the Beaufort Sea after a storm, and federal scientists extrapolated that others probably died ... A 2005 study in Alaska's Beaufort Sea by MMS researchers Charles Monnett and Jeffrey S. Gleason speculated that extended open-water swimming could be an important source of natural mortality. (Q13.com, WA)
Alaska's fast rivers are trial sites for new hydrokinetic turbines Aug 19, 2008
2 billion to explore for oil in the Beaufort Sea, and Exxon Mobil has pledged another $585 million to search off the Northwest Territories coast. . (Anchorage Daily News)
Staking Canada's Arctic claim Aug 18, 2008
Next week, in the remote waters of the Beaufort Sea some 400 kilometres north of the Yukon-Alaska border, a team of Canadian government scientists aboard the Coast Guard icebreaker Louis S. St-Laurent will embark on this country's latest mission to assert sovereignty in the Arctic ... It's all part of this country's effort to demonstrate, under the terms of a UN treaty, that Canada's offshore boundaries should be extended beyond the traditional 370-kilometre coastal economic zone to include... (Vancouver Sun)
Arctic Ambitions: Canada's stake in the North Aug 17, 2008
2 billion to explore a block of the Beaufort Sea put out for bid by the federal government ... In the Beaufort Sea, Exxon and BP could eventually try to build fixed platforms such as the one used to exploit the Hibernia oil field off the coast of Newfoundland ... Last year, federal royalties amounted to only $25 million, but if production in the Mackenzie Valley and Beaufort Sea ramps up as expected, the take could grow considerably. (Times Colonist)
As the ice melts, control ebbs in the Arctic Aug 17, 2008
In 2007 Exxon and its partners successfully bid more than $500-million to begin a five-year exploration program in the Mackenzie Delta and Beaufort Sea ... 2-billion for exploration rights in the Beaufort Sea. (Globe and Mail)
Northwest Passage navigable, says federal ice authority Aug 15, 2008
Vast stretches of the passage in the western Arctic are fully cleared of ice, part of an "unprecedented" opening of the Beaufort Sea caused by thinning ice, strong winds and ocean currents that have pushed floes north, well beyond the favoured southern shipping lane. Scientists say Arctic ice has declined in thickness and extent by 3 per cent per decade over the past 30 years. (Canada.com)
Rush to Arctic as warming opens oil deposits Aug 13, 2008
The pursuit of those resources will be underscored this week as the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy sails north from Barrow, Alaska, on Thursday to map the sea floor of the Chukchi Cap, an area at the northern edge of the Beaufort Sea ... While the Atlantic and Pacific coasts have been off-limits to drilling under a federal ban for nearly three decades, the Interior Department is already leasing areas of the Beaufort Sea and Chukchi Sea. (San Francisco Chronicle)
* Canada, US join up to collect scientific data on Arctic shelf Aug 13, 2008
The Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Louis S. St.-Laurent will rendezvous with the US Coast Guard Healy in the Beaufort Sea, north of Canada and Alaska, on or about Sept. 8 for the three-week joint operation. Through collaboration with our US neighbors, we will maximize both scientific and financial resources while collecting important data as part of Canadas submission to the UN by 2013, Lunn said in a statement. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
LETTERS: NCT, Aug. 9. 2008 Aug 10, 2008
Shell Oil has been trying to drill on oil leases for which they have already paid more than $90 million, in the Beaufort Sea off the Alaskan Coast, for many years and that drilling has been opposed by lawsuits from the Alaska Wilderness League, Sierra Club and other conservation groups such as EarthJustice (Because the Earth Needs a Good Lawyer) and Pacific Environment (Protecting the Living Environment of the Pacific Rim). The Left's War on The Poor continues, and if things do not... (North County Times)
Body of drowning victim recovered Aug 9, 2008
JUNEAU - The Coast Guard said the body of a 13-year-old boy who drowned in the Beaufort Sea while trying to save his father has been recovered. Petty Officer Jeremy Dawkins said volunteers located the body late Wednesday within a mile of where the older man fell overboard in Camden Bay. (Juneau Empire)
Polar bear surprise sends scientists fleeing Aug 9, 2008
The experts were surveying birds feeding on the shorelines north of Teshekpuk Lake on the Beaufort Sea prior to their southward migrations ... ""We saw the polar bear on our first clear day after several days of poor weather," said Joe Liebezeit, a WCS conservation scientist. Kevin Pietrak / Wildlife Conservation SocietyA scientist shows erosion along the shore of the Beaufort Sea."The bear didnt come near us," he added, "but the prospect of maintaining a round-the-clock vigil while trying to... (MSNBC -- Environment)
3 ships escape Arctic ice off Barrow Aug 6, 2008
The aim is to find potential spots for future drilling in the Beaufort Sea. Exxon Mobil owns a majority stake in Imperial Oil, which is Canada's largest integrated oil company, Rolheiser said. (Anchorage Daily News)
At the top of the Territories, a tradition that ties generations Aug 6, 2008
About 100 kilometres north of Inuvik, at the mouth of the Beaufort Sea, several small islands are dotted with plywood structures, often covered in blue or orange tarps. These are small whaling camps, each belonging to a different family. (Globe and Mail)
FAA shuts down Southeast flying service Aug 5, 2008
Shell Oil to test unmanned flights over the Beaufort Sea. The reports that the oil company will try out unmanned aerial vehicles to spot marine mammals in the Beaufort Sea. (Anchorage Daily News)
1 dead, 1 missing in Beaufort Sea Aug 5, 2008
JUNEAU - The Coast Guard says a man was found dead and another is missing in the Beaufort Sea. The agency says a family of three from Kaktovik was headed to Demarcation Point in a 20-foot-boat when a man on board fell into the water. (Anchorage Daily News)
Ice melt may open Northwest Passage for a second year Aug 5, 2008
Scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center say strong, southerly winds from the North Slope have devoured a huge swath of Arctic ice larger than the state of Texas in the heart of the Beaufort Sea. Combining that loss with the overall decline in sea ice in recent years should leave this year's end-of-summer Arctic ice pack close to its lowest measurement on record. (Juneau Empire)
For second year in a row, melt may open Northwest Passage Aug 4, 2008
Scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center say strong, southerly winds from the North Slope have devoured a huge swath of Arctic ice larger than the state of Texas in the heart of the Beaufort Sea. Click to enlarge. (Anchorage Daily News)
Oil extraction options weighed for Arctic seas Jul 31, 2008
In assessing the various development options, the study researchers reviewed the experience of the Northstar, Oooguruk and PanArctic Drake developments in the Alaska and Canadian Beaufort Sea ... Grounded ice islands have also been used successfully for exploration drilling in the nearshore waters of the Beaufort Sea, the report says. (Anchorage Daily News)
Boy watched relatives drown in NWT tragedy Jul 29, 2008
The family encountered difficulty in a three-kilo-metre-wide stretch of water where the Reindeer and Middle channels intersect -- about 25 kilometres from the Beaufort Sea, Staff Sgt. Eubank said. Peyton told police that he saw the boat drive by on Thursday, but did not call out for help. (National Post)
Tragedy strikes ahead of Beaufort beluga hunt Jul 29, 2008
Five relatives headed out last Monday on a reunion-style trip, but a massive search began Thursday when they failed to arrive at their whale camp at Baby Island in the Beaufort Sea. Four people, including a seven-year-old girl, drowned. (Globe and Mail)
Four drown in Mackenzie Delta Jul 27, 2008
Staff Sgt. Eubank said the group set out Monday toward a whaling camp about 160 kilometres north of Inuvik on the Beaufort Sea coast. They were last seen at a stopover place on Wednesday afternoon. (Globe and Mail)
Allen E. Jensen Jul 27, 2008
After retiring from the Corps of Engineers, Jensen spent several winters on the North Slope as a senior engineering consultant overseeing construction of ice roads and drilling platforms near the Beaufort Sea. Summers were still reserved for flying and fishing. (Wasilla Frontiersman, AK)
Arctic may hold as much as a fifth of undiscovered oil and gas reserves Jul 25, 2008
In Alaska, for example, native villagers are fighting efforts by Royal Dutch Shell to drill in the Beaufort Sea because of the effect that might have on bowhead whales and other marine species. But such concerns are unlikely to slow down the quest for petroleum, at a time when oil companies are finding it much harder to raise supplies. (International Herald Tribune)
Are more oil leases really necessary? Jul 22, 2008
Shell Oil Co., for example, is involved in a legal dispute in Alaska that prompted it to abandon a proposed course of exploratory drilling in the Beaufort Sea this summer. Shell has said it remains committed to offshore drilling in Alaska, but production is likely as far as 12 years off. (Anchorage Daily News)
LETTERS: NCT, July 19, 2008 Jul 20, 2008
The Liberty Oil Field in the Beaufort Sea off the northern Coast of Alaska has been analyzed and the news is the BP oil company has given the go ahead to spend $1. 5 BILLION to develop the field. (North County Times)
Election: A Road To Victory Through Alaska? Jul 17, 2008
"Other areas to develop are in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the National Petroleum Reserve, the Beaufort Sea and the Chukchi Sea," Crockett said. That is, if they can be opened to drilling. (Investors Business Daily)
Editorial: Arctic oil could buy some time Jul 16, 2008
The northerly portion of ANWR, on the Beaufort Sea, is a special area that has been set aside by Congress for oil and gas exploration. It is the Arctic Coastal Plain and is generally accepted by geologists to contain vast quantities of crude oil and natural gas deposits. (Green Valley News & Sun, AZ)
BP to begin developing Liberty oil field Jul 15, 2008
BP said it will begin developing its Liberty oil field, which will involve drilling the world's longest wells to reach an offshore reservoir in the Beaufort Sea. Story tools. (Anchorage Daily News)
Parker Drilling inks ultra-extended-reach rig contract with BP Jul 15, 2008
Drilling of the wells, which will be nearly two miles deep and extend up to eight miles into Liberty field, nearly six miles offshore in the Beaufort Sea, is anticipated to start in 2010. Parker estimates Phase 2 gross margins of between $14 million and $18 million. (Houston Business Journal, TX)
BP starts developing Liberty oil field Jul 15, 2008
ANCHORAGE, Alaska BP PLC has started drilling the world's longest wells to a hard-to-reach offshore reservoir in the Beaufort Sea, the company said Monday. Buried beneath thousands of feet of rock on the outer continental shelf, the Liberty project has required major refinements in drilling technology, including well bores that pierce up to eight miles of shales and siltstone, according to BP officials. (San Diego Union-Tribune -- Business)
Alaska's 'Frustrated' Governor Palin On Our 'Nonsensical' Energy Policy Jul 13, 2008
such as offshore areas like the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea. Congress can help us with those areas right now, bringing even more energy than ANWR and bringing it quicker. (Investors Business Daily)
Drunk fisherman acquitted of wreaking havoc Jul 3, 2008
The reports that late this summer, the Louis St. Laurent, a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker, and the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy will sail into the northern Beaufort Sea, far off the coast of Alaska and Yukon. The Healy will break a path for the Louis St. Laurent to follow, enabling the Canadian vessel to tow seismic equipment that will examine the seabed. (Anchorage Daily News)
Canada, US to team up on Arctic seabed mapping project Jul 1, 2008
Canadian officials said Canadian and American icebreakers will head northward later this summer to map the Canada Basin, located north of the Beaufort Sea. "We're talking the area to the west and north of Banks Island, so we're quite a ways north," said Michael Gardiner, the Canadian Coast Guard's assistant commissioner for the central and Arctic region. (CBC.ca)
Northern premiers assail Liberal green plan Jun 30, 2008
2-billion on searching for oil in three areas in the Beaufort Sea, the largest exploration commitment in Canada's history. Imperial Oil also plans exploration work, and is pursuing a $16. (Globe and Mail)
More children join ranks of city's hungry Jun 24, 2008
Gabriel Wilburn, a commercial diver hoping to work on oil exploration in the Beaufort Sea or a natural gas pipeline project, brought his 3-year-old son to the kitchen Thursday. "It was a nice sunny day. I forgot to pack a lunch for my son, so it was really convenient," he said. (Anchorage Daily News)
NWT defends Arctic gas as green benefit Jun 24, 2008
While Canada hasn't listed the polar bear as threatened, officials say privately that they believe the environmental battle will carry into Canada as well, potentially threatening Imperial Oil's Mackenzie gas pipeline or oil drilling in the Beaufort Sea ... 2-billion on searching for oil in three areas in the Beaufort Sea, although it's far from clear yet how oil or gas produced there would actually get to market. (Globe and Mail)
Memory of 1969 disaster colors current oil drilling debate Jun 23, 2008
The company on Friday announced it was giving up on hopes to begin drilling this year in the Beaufort Sea as the issue remains tied up in a federal appeals court in San Francisco. For the most part, Alaska's oil is produced on land rather than offshore. (Anchorage Daily News)
Shell Delays Alaska Drilling Plan Due Legal Dispute Jun 23, 2008
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Shell Oil said on Friday it would delay its 2008 drilling plan in Alaska's Beaufort Sea for a year because of an ongoing legal challenge filed by groups concerned about the potential impact on whales, walruses and other marine mammals ... Shell had planned to begin initial drilling at its Sivulliq prospect in the Beaufort Sea off northern Alaska later this year after spending US$44 million on leases in the area in 2005 ... "Exploration plans for the Beaufort and Chukchi seas... (Planet Ark, United States)
Shell gives up on Beaufort this year Jun 21, 2008
Shell says it's giving up on plans to drill in the Beaufort Sea this year due to an unresolved court challenge ... The groups argue industrial noise and potential spills could hurt migratory whales and the Beaufort Sea ecosystem. (Anchorage Daily News)
EPA issues Arctic offshore drilling permit Jun 21, 2008
The EPA permit allows Shell Offshore Inc., a subsidiary of Dutch-owned Royal Dutch Shell PLC, to release up to 245 tons of nitrogen oxides at each of its drilling sites in the Beaufort Sea. advertisement. (MSNBC -- Environment)
Shell forced to delay Alaskan drilling plan Jun 21, 2008
Welcome to The Sydney Morning Herald. Skip directly to: Search Box, , , Text Version. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Business)
Permit puts Shell closer to Arctic drilling Jun 20, 2008
The EPA permit allows Shell Offshore Inc., a subsidiary of Dutch-owned Shell, to release up to 245 tons of nitrogen oxides at each of its drilling sites in the Beaufort Sea. That's about equivalent to the amount produced by 1,500 school buses each year, EPA officials said. (Anchorage Daily News)
Exxon prepares for Point Thomson drilling Jun 18, 2008
The field is located on the Beaufort Sea coast next to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, about 60 miles east of the giant Prudhoe Bay oil field. Tired of waiting for Exxon to get on with development, former Gov. Frank Murkowski in 2006 took the first steps toward breaking up the 106,201-acre field and revoking leases held by Exxon and other companies including BP and Chevron. (Anchorage Daily News)
Energy: Alaska's Polar Bears: Going With The Floe? Jun 17, 2008
Oil companies enjoyed a similar exclusion in the Chukchi from 1991 to 1996 and in the Beaufort Sea since 1993 with no effect on the bears. In fact, there's no proof of a single bear being harmed by oil operations in Alaska since 1993. (Investors Business Daily)
Polar bears' protections eroding Jun 16, 2008
Administration and industry officials said oil companies enjoyed similar status in the Chukchi Sea from 1991 to 1996 and in the Beaufort Sea since 1993, and there was no effect on polar bear populations. There is no evidence of a polar bear being killed by oil and gas activities in Alaska since 1993, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Independent starts production at Oooguruk Jun 14, 2008
Pioneer Natural Resources Co. of Irving, Texas, has started production from its small Oooguruk field in the shallow waters of the Beaufort Sea. Pioneer becomes the first so-called independent oil and gas company to run a field on the Slope. (Anchorage Daily News)
The cost of the next barrel Jun 14, 2008
2-billion (Canadian) to develop three parcels in the Beaufort Sea, where one well can cost more than $60-million, where ice conditions are hazardous and rapidly changing, and where there are no pipelines to move to market any oil or natural gas that it might find. People are looking at the oil companies and they're looking at huge profits and are forgetting the amount of investment the oil companies now need to do if they are going to be able to meet the world's energy demand, said Candida... (Globe and Mail)
Groups to sue over polar bears Jun 11, 2008
The southern Beaufort Sea population off the state's north coast is shared with Canada. According to the conservation groups, the Bush administration has opened up virtually all of Alaska polar bear habitat to leasing. (Juneau Empire)
Activists to sue over polar bears, drilling Jun 11, 2008
The southern Beaufort Sea population off the state's north coast is shared with Canada. A 60-day notice of intent to sue is required before a lawsuit can be filed. (MSNBC -- Environment)
BP, ConocoPhillips Bid a Record $1.18 Billion for Arctic Drilling Rights Jun 8, 2008
Winning bidders paid an ``unprecedented'' amount for concessions in the Beaufort Sea, Mackenzie Delta and the Central Mackenzie Valley in the Northwest Territories, the Canadian government said late yesterday in a statement ... 18 billion for a 500,000-acre (202,380-hectare) in the Beaufort Sea. (Bloomberg -- Canada)
Canada contemplates Arctic claim beyond North Pole Jun 2, 2008
Under Verhoef's direction, Canadian researchers have been amassing what he calls "very positive" evidence that the Lomonosov Ridge - as well as a second undersea mountain to the west, Alpha Ridge, and offshore parts of the Beaufort Sea - constitutes a "natural prolongation" of the North American continent. More detailed data needs to be gathered in all three areas of the Arctic before Canada makes its submission under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea before a 2013 deadline. (Vancouver Sun)
WWF Urges Canada Not To Sell Arctic Oil, Gas Rights May 28, 2008
OTTAWA - A major environmental group formally urged Ottawa on Tuesday not to proceed with plans to sell oil and gas rights in the Beaufort Sea in Canada's Arctic, saying not enough had been done to protect the area's wildlife ... Ewins said the polar bear population in the southern Beaufort Sea was showing clear signs of distress ... No one from the Canadian federal Indian affairs and fisheries ministries -- who share responsibility for the Beaufort Sea -- was immediately available for comment. (Planet Ark, United States)
