On Thursday, May 20th 1993, Bob Van Brocklin left a suicide letter. “The stress from Exxon which brought about my financial stress, was too much to deal with alone. The end should be good and maybe my spirit will live. I have a lot of fear right now, but faith is all that is left. [...]

On January 20, 1990 a Channel 4 documentary series called Scottish Eye aired Slick Operators. The documentary tells the story of BP’s role in the Exxon Valdez oil spill and their lies in the aftermath of the spill. Sadly it is still very relevant today. BP is the largest owner of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and [...]

Yes, I follow Sarah Palin on Twitter. It’s my guilty secret. Most of the time I can ignore it, because gone are the days of the three-part tweets about grizzly mamas and fireweed, and hockey scores, and misattributed quotes from Roman philosophers.   I used to love that. But here’s one that floated by in [...]

Bill Sherwonit has been a freelance nature writer since 1992. His most recent book, “Changing Paths: Travels and Meditations in Alaska’s Arctic Wilderness” is now available HERE. For nearly a quarter-century, Bill has written extensively about wild lands and wildlife. Though he continues to journey into the wilderness each year, he has also paid increasing [...]

Alaskans are watching the news, like the rest of the nation watched us after the Exxon Valdez slammed into Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound more than 20 years ago.  Helpless.  Far away.  Filled with grief.  We look at our screens and monitor a growing black sheen of oil spread and we can’t do anything [...]

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has written a compelling piece for The Huffington Post that discusses the proposed Pebble Mine, a huge open-pit mine that would sit next to the world’s most pristine and productive salmon fishery. Pebble will mine gold, and copper. Copper, by the way, is highly toxic to fish. So, it’s basically a [...]

  Richard Fineberg has reported on Alaska petroleum development for more than three decades for newspapers, public agencies, environmental and other public interest groups and even occasional developers.  He has served three governors – the first as a budget and policy analyst, the second as a senior advisor on oil and gas and the third [...]

By Shannyn Moore Governor Sarah Palin is sleeping with the enemy of many Alaskans. Her trip to Houston, Texas to discuss a merged project with TransCanada and Exxon Mobil betrays Alaskans still reeling from last year’s devastating Supreme Court verdict. It flies in the face of anyone with a memory of 20 years let alone [...]

  Rumors were circulating last night, but it looks like its going to be official. Palin tweeted about her conversations with Alaska’s congressional delegation and the need to flow Alaska’s gas to “hungry markets,” and guess who’s going to help? The pipeline company TransCanada announced today that it has an agreement with Exxon Mobil Corporation to [...]

I’ve written a piece just for Huffington Post on Chevron’s tank farm: Drain, Baby Drain! 6 Million Gallons of Crude Oil at the Base of Erupting Volcano Could be Alaska’s Next Exxon Valdez. Feel free to Buzz it Up, and leave comments.

On March 24, 1989 I was living thousands of miles away from Alaska.  I had never been to Alaska.  I had never thought about going to Alaska.  I sort of remembered some nature show I’d seen on TV that told me that during the summertime, there were actually flowers, and the snow melted and there [...]

Back in March of 1990, Captain Joseph Hazelwood was sentenced to 1000 hours of wiping off oiled rocks in Alaska’s Prince William Sound, and paying a $50,000 fine.  Hazelwood captained the Exxon Valdez oil tanker which ran around on Bligh Reef in then pristine Prince William Sound, spilling between 11 million and 30 million gallons [...]