A mysterious black blob of something is floating along the Alaskan coast... and it's biological. According to the Coast Guard, "It's definitely not an oil product of any kind." The strange goop even has a taste for flesh... "[S]omeone turned in what was left of a dead goose -- just bones and feathers..."
posted by SansPoint on Jul 16, 2009 - 111 comments

mother earth fights back "Global warming, which most climate experts blame mainly on large-scale burning of oil and other fossil fuels, is interfering with efforts in Alaska to discover yet more oil." via dangerousmeta and " It’s so hot windshields are shattering or falling out, dogs are burning their paws on the pavement, and candles are melting indoors." - are the naysayers ready to get on board? and start acting like good global citizens?
posted by specialk420 on Jul 30, 2003 - 24 comments

A new bugaboo will have to be found: The Bush Administration has decided not to attempt to drill for oil in the ANWR.
posted by aaron on Apr 22, 2001 - 26 comments

"You don't have to burn books now," says Thomas. "You just press the delete key." Two unabashedly partisan reports of the Bush administration's clandestine campaign to "tighten up" anything from online government sources dealing with the development of Alaskan mineral resources. We've done the debate on Alaska, but what about the ability to amend online records? The old administration's sites are meant to be preserved by law, but plenty appears to have been deleted in the name of "polishing": "We changed value-laden words like 'destroy' to 'impact.'" Newspeak in action? Should government-run sites be required to carry a Changelog?
posted by holgate on Apr 14, 2001 - 7 comments

"The vice president says he would rather protect this refuge than gain the energy, but this is a false choice ..."
~G.W. Bush (on Gore's plan to keep the protected status of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, while Bush plans to open up parts of the protected land to oil prospecters.)
posted by tamim on Sep 30, 2000 - 25 comments

Voting Green where it's white? Nader's strongest showing by far is in Alaska, apparently: polls put him at 17%. Now my knowledge of Alaska is mainly drawn from Travels with Samantha, so I'm intrigued by the reasons for his support? Is it strictly the environmental issue (although plenty of people are in Alaska to exploit its natural resources) or because, as a friend said, "that's where all the crazies go?"
posted by holgate on Sep 21, 2000 - 3 comments