The group was there to promote Alaska's position as a source of petroleum for export, and to focus on removing barriers to developing the state's energy resources.

Lawmakers want to know if the state is getting taxes it is owed from oil and gas companies.

Plans by the Native Village of Kotzebue to sell wind power to its local electric cooperative are on hold after the federal government slashed a $150 million grant for Alaska tribal infrastructure projects earlier this month.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation reported the spill of up to 400,000 gallons of water used at a large lead and zinc mine in Northern Alaska early Wednesday. According to the department, the spill of “process water” occurred at about 2:30 a.m. at the Red Dog Mine, located around 80 miles north of Kotzebue.

Infrastructure projects across the country are in limbo after the Trump administration placed a sweeping 90-day hold on federal grant and loan programs. For the Northwest Arctic, this jeopardizes millions of dollars for previously funded energy projects and could further delay them for at least a year.

For the first time, however, researchers in two northern Alaska communities want to study how electric vehicles, including electric snowmachines, could be incorporated into their isolated power grids.

Last week, the Army Corps of Engineers approved key permits that Teck needs to begin building an exploration road to the deposits, which would cross 20 acres of wetlands.

GCI’s announcement comes one day after an announcement for a separate project that would bring the same internet speeds to the North Slope community of Utqiaġvik. GCI has several other fiber optic projects in Western Alaska, including in the Y-K Delta, Bristol Bay and Aleutian Islands regions.

Besides expanding food options, the managers of the new AC store plan to offer fresh flowers, in-person banking and even snow machines under the same roof.

“The idea of the tribally-owned energy project is to have more control locally over the price of energy, and to be able to produce as much energy locally as we can, reducing the amount of diesel fuel we use for electricity,” said Chad Nordlum, the energy project manager for the Native Village of Kotzebue.