North America
Trump-Putin breach: real or charade?
Is Trump's breach with Putin real, or is all the sudden sabre-rattling part of an elaborate charade to throw Congress off the scent of ongoing Trump-Putin collusion?
Tag: Alaska
Planet Watch
Retreat on Arctic drilling —push to open ANWR
The Interior Department announced the cancellation of two pending Arctic offshore lease sales—as Alaska's governor makes a new push to open the ANWR to oil companies.
Planet Watch
Russia files revised bid for arctic territory
Russia’s Foreign Ministry submitted a new bid claiming over 350 nautical miles of oil-rich Arctic sea shelf before the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.
Planet Watch
Obama’s new offshore plan: don’t believe the hype
Obama's five-year plan for offshore drilling opens up the Southeast coast and grandfathers Arctic leases—but the industry is still griping because it would keep ANWR off limits.
Planet Watch
Arctic Great Game in Alaska missile deployment?
As the Pentagon adds 14 interceptors to its anti-missile system in Alaska, some observers see a design on Arctic resources also sought by competitors Russia and China.
Watching the Shadows
Chuck Hagel: revenge of the paleocons?
Leftists are ironically rallying around Chuck Hagel as Obama's apparent pick for Secretary of Defense—a conservative Republican who is wary of the neocons but close to Big Oil.
Planet Watch
Ninth Circuit dismisses Alaska village claim over greenhouse emissions
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of the Alaskan village of Kivalina's claims against energy companies for greenhouse emissions it says threaten its existence.
Planet Watch
Petro-oligarchs play presidential candidates —again
Romney’s new energy plan is billed as a drive towards “energy independence”—yet ironically mirrors the plan Obama unveiled two years ago to lift current restrictions on offshore drilling.
North America
oxy
In what the New York Times somewhat hyperbolically calls a "clash," US Border Patrol vessels have over the past two weeks stopped at least 10 Canadian fishing boats in the Bay of Fundy between Maine and New Brunswick. Canada has responded by beefing up its Coast Guard patrols in what is being termed a "disputed gray zone" between the two countries' territories. The maritime dispute dates back to the 1783 Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolution, and is one of several between the US and Canada—including fishing waters at Dixon Entrance between Alaska and British Columbia, and areas of the petroleum-rich Beaufort Sea, near the Arctic Ocean. (Map: ResearchGate)