Alaska's Energy Desk

In the past two months, 300 dead puffins have washed up on St. Paul Island, alarming residents who had only seen six carcasses over the last decade. The die-off appears to be slowing down now, but scientists say it could be the sign of a much larger ecosystem problem.

Communities across the state are cold and snowy and that weather trend is expected to stick around.

The coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ranks as one of the most controversial chunks of land in Alaska. Since Congress set it aside for more study in 1980, environmental groups, politicians and industry have battled over whether to explore for oil there or to protect the wilderness forever. As the Trump administration gets ready to take the White House in January, the debate will likely flare up again. But even though the fight’s dragged on for decades, there’s still a lot we don’t know about what lies beneath the refuge.

At least 80 percent of the Department of Environmental Conservation’s contaminated sites contain petroleum.

The farther west you go, the worse it looks for Alaska’s Steller sea lions. At the end of the Aleutian chain, the population is dropping about 7 percent a year.

The city’s privately-owned electric utility is trying to expand a program, aimed at shifting when those drivers juice their cars.