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March 28, 2024

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No Time for Tuckerman -

Thursday, August 3, 2023

The Quitter Returns! -

Monday, March 21, 2022

Putting the goober in gubernatorial -

Friday, January 28, 2022

Young Denies Existence of Big Trees

~Photo of delusional person by John Schoen. Do NOT believe your lyin’ eyes. This post is about Don Young. Periodically, Alaska’s one and only congressman makes it a point to embarrass the thinking residents of his fine state. Some times it’s by yelling at his fellow legislators, or insulting them. Sometimes it’s an outlandish stunt like banging the penis bone of a walrus on the table while the House is in session, or wearing a propeller beanie to demonstrate how silly wind power is. But this one is just bizarre. And for Don Young, that’s saying something. But first, let’s…

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Arctic in Crisis

  By Rick Steiner The Arctic is one of most pristine and unique regions of our planet, but it is now in crisis from two serious threats — climate change and industrialization. As sea ice retreats, the Arctic has become the “wild wild north” — a last frontier for a failed development paradigm that has ravaged much of the rest of the biosphere. And while governments and industry say they will develop the Arctic “responsibly,” their actions so far suggest otherwise. On climate change, things have quickly gone from bad to worse. The Arctic is warming at twice the rate…

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Ghost Pots Haunt Bering Sea Crab Fishery

The ocean has many woes. Over-fishing, acidification, heavy metals, plastic and styrofoam, oil spills, marine mammal endangerment, mining near water bodies, and climate change, just to name some of them. But here’s one you don’t hear about very often that affects one of our favorite gifts from the sea – Alaska crab. For those who have never seen a crab pot, they are huge metal and net contraptions that cost between $1000 and $1500 a piece. They sit on the sea floor, collecting and trapping crab that dwell on the bottom. They are secured by heavy lines and marked by…

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Arctic Drilling – You Just Gotta Believe…

There are those of you who have been worrying about Shell’s imminent offshore drilling plans in the Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska. You remember the live video of the billowing plumes of oil spewing from the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. You remember watching the news from Alaska in 1989, as film of viscous black liquid that was supposed to be seawater slopped up on the shoreline in Prince William Sound. Countless seabirds, otters, and other wildlife suffered death by crude. Many humans also suffered ill effects to their health from a toxic bath of oil and hazardous…

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All Hail the Glorious Frankenfish!

There are times when people who have no idea what they’re talking about can really be infuriating. Then, there are other times when their overblown level of ill-placed self-confidence, and the astronomic scale of their own ignorance combines in such a way that it actually turns into comic relief. Case in point – the latest boil on the behind of the internet, The Northern Right blog (which is so thin on intelligent commentary you can actually see through it) has given a platform to one Mr. Alex Gimarc. Mr. Gimarc is not effusing about the usual right wing talking points…

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Oyster Roundup!

~Thick and fast they came at last, and more, and more, and more! Some slurpable nuggets for your Thursday. Don’t forget to tune in tonight for Thursdays in the Mud on 1020koan.com (1020am and 95.5fm in Anchorage) at 8pm Alaska time. Baby Beluga Rescue! A beluga calf estimated to be only a few days old was rescued after a storm in Bristol Bay. The young whale is now being treated at the Alaska Sealife Center in Seward. “SeaLife Center president and CEO Tara Riemer Jones says the biggest challenge has been providing 24-hour care. She says staff from U.S. aquariums…

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All Hands On Deck! EPA Public Hearing TODAY at 5:00 PM

by Jeanne Devon and Linda Kellen Biegel Today is the day. The EPA findings tell us that Pebble Mine is an unacceptable risk to thousands of sustainable jobs, and the last great wild salmon fishery on earth. With the stroke of a pen, the EPA can assure that this special place remains safe from development, and intact for generations to come. One of the most, if not THE most important meetings there will ever be on mining in the Bristol Bay Watershed will be held today at the Wendy Williamson Auditorium on the UAA Campus. The EPA will be hearing…

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Goodbye Rats, Hello… Hawadax?

Hawadax Island. It doesn’t conjure up images of umbrella drinks, and moonlit strolls on the sand. It sounds more like one of those islands where they sent large groups of people with contagious and incurable diseases, but it’s actually quite lovely. “Hawadax” means “those two over there” in the Alaskan Unungan language, (referring to two knolls that dominate the island’s topography) which isn’t really that thrilling either – until you get the whole story. Because however unappealing Hawadax “Those Two Over There” Island may sound, it could have been a lot worse. In fact, it was a lot worse until…

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WAR Defends Ted Nugent for Illegally Hunting Bear in Alaska

*sniff* I’m sorry… I just get all choked up hearing Ted Nugent talk about the mystical circle of existence, and how nature is in balance, and how the Palins and all the good people of Alaska live off the land as God intended, and how when we kill stuff, we’re all joined together in this interconnected web of the miracle that is life, and… Wait. What? Activist and musician Ted Nugent has signed a plea agreement with federal prosecutors admitting he took an illegally shot black bear in Southeast Alaska two years ago, according to the agreement. Ted Nugent? A…

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Exxon Valdez Oil Spill – A Cautionary Tale for Arctic Ocean Drilling

~A footprint fills with oil on Knight Island in Prince William Sound more than 20 years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Photo J. Devon By Richard Steiner As the Obama administration prepares to issue final permits for exploratory oil drilling on the outer continental shelf off Alaska’s Arctic coast this summer, the public is hearing some familiar promises from industry and government – the risk of a catastrophic oil spill is small, best available technology will be used to prevent spills, any oil spill will be effectively contained and cleaned up, government will keep a vigilant eye on industry,…

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