The Arctic This Week 2013:21
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Thanks for joining us this week! If you find TATW useful and fun to read, please share us with others. If you haven’t yet done so, you might want to give our PDF version a try. The PDF version makes it easy to navigate directly to the sections you’re interested in, and this week’s edition is illustrated with some great photos from Nils Arne Johnsen.
As always, all editorial choices, opinions and any mistakes are the authors’ own. To comment, to point out an error or to request a back issue, feel free to contact Tom, Kevin or Maura directly.
Reads of the Week
If you’re pressed for time, we believe the following articles will give you the most “bang for the buck.”
In an interesting ongoing debate in Canada, mining companies working with local First Nations and/or Inuit governments may or may not be required to report payments made to those entities; there is debate as to whether such payments are covered under the rules established by the United States’ Securities and Exchange Commission (G&M).
Writing for Up Here Business, Chris Windeyer explores gas development in Yukon and the NWT, and asks why it seems like this region has been left behind while shale gas has exploded in the US and even across the border in British Columbia. The answer proves to be complex, including the collapse of gas prices, lack of access to markets, and political opposition from several quarters; but Windeyer does a great job of presenting these complex factors in a clear and well-written piece.
A love letter of sorts to North America’s highest peak, Mount McKinley, appears in SB Nation this week, authored by Eva Holland. Eva starts with the story of the first summit party in 1913 and then explores how, one hundred years later, the mountain continues to fascinate and confound those who seek to climb it. A worthy read, even for those of us stuck in the lowlands!
We’re recommending one of our own this week: Kathrin Keil’s article “Moving Mosaic: The Arctic Governance Debate” breathes new life into the old topic of Arctic institutionalism. And if you only get to read one article on the Barents Euro-Arctic Council Summit this week, read this article from newsinenglish.no, which boasts both good analysis and several nice pictures.
The Political Scene
International
Both the Warsaw Business Journal and the International Institute for Strategic Studies published on the “growing importance” and role of the Arctic Council this week. Since the Council’s permanent secretariat opened in Tromsø this week (BO, Foreign Policy Blogs), this publicity seems fitting, although Heather Exner-Pirot calls the Arctic Council’s “coming of age” rather “anticlimactic” (AD). Alexander Yakovenko, Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, pointed to the establishment of the permanent secretariat as an indicator that the work of the Arctic Council has the capacity to resolve longstanding disputes between Arctic states (RT). Since many believe that the new prominence of and interest in the Arctic Council is an indicator that increased development in the region is sure and soon to come (Yale Environment 360), other new Arctic associations have been proposed. The Arctic Circle was set up earlier this year, and Greenlandic politician Josef Tuusi Motzfeldt wants an “Arctic Ocean Council” to deal specifically with conservation and natural resources exploitation (NN). TAI’s own Kathrin Keil believes that the Arctic Circle debate “too often takes a zero-sum game approach” focused on rivalry, “which gives short shrift to the complex issue of Arctic governance.” Seeing the Arctic Circle simply as a “rival club,” is – according to Keil – decidedly off-base.
If you’re looking for some in-depth reading on Arctic politics this week, check out Climate Change & International Security: The Arctic as a Bellwether, authored by Rob Huebert, Heather Exner-Pirot, Adam Lajeunesse, and Jay Gulledge. An alternative along similar lines is Jonas Grätz’s The Arctic: Thaw with Conflict Potential. Shorter blog posts – if you’re interested in Britain’s Arctic engagement (the World Online) or Regime Theory (e-IR) – were published by Georgi Ivanov and Anne Konrad, respectively.
Those of you interested in Asia’s growing interest in the Arctic should also check out The AsiArctic Program's new, snazzy website.
Barents Region
Kirkenes, Norway hosted the Barents Summit 2013 earlier this week (BO). Top ministers and youths from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Denmark, the European Union and Russia met (see twitpic) to celebrate twenty years of cooperation in the Barents Region (BO). At the meeting, the Barents Euro-Arctic Council member states adopted a second Kirkenes Declaration (PDF), which builds upon the 1993 declaration (BO, Newsinenglish.no). The first declaration (PDF) established the Barents Council and encouraged substantial investment and cross-border coordination in the region (BO). Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said cooperation in the region has increased trust between Barents governments and peoples, leading to the peaceful resolution of disputes (Gov’t of Norway, in Norwegian), including the 2010 Russian-Norwegian Treaty on Maritime Delimitation (RIAN). Stoltenberg and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev disagreed, however, on NGO involvement in Barents cooperation, with Stoltenberg supporting Russian NGOs against Russia’s recent governmental crackdown on NGOs, which began in March (Bellona). Stoltenberg’s father, Thorvald Stoltenberg, designed the first declaration during his time as foreign minister (BO). Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt also took part in establishing the Barents Council in 1993 (you can read his speech from the summit via the Government of Sweden’s website). This week’s summit was also the first chance for Iceland’s newly elected Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson to meet with his Russian counterpart (Iceland Review).
Although Sami Council President Aile Javo decided not to attend the meeting because she foresaw “no positive outcomes for the indigenous peoples in the Barents region” in the new declaration, other Sami leaders attended the summit and praised the new declaration’s commitment to include indigenous peoples in Barents decision-making (BO). In a sad reminder of political reality and a “serious signal” to Barents leaders (BO), however, the Working Group of Indigenous Peoples in the Barents Region, represented by Lars-Anders Baer at the meeting (BO), halted its activities the day after the summit due to lack of funding (BO).
Border crossing was one of the main topics covered in Kirkenes, a sure sign of the progress that has been made in the Barents region in the past two decades. Following the summit talks on Tuesday, the Norwegian and Russian prime ministers held bilateral talks on border-crossing between Norway and Russia, finishing their meeting by driving to the border and conducting a visa-free crossing (BN) of what was once “one of the most closed [borders] in Europe” during the Cold War (BO). You can watch the prime ministers receiving their visa-free ID cards at the border checkpoint on YouTube. In a particularly ironic turn of events, Russian border guards stopped Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt from crossing the border because he had forgotten his diplomatic passport (EOTA). At the summit itself, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev proposed visa-free travel within the Barents region (BO), which Finland in particular seems reluctant about, considering the considerable length of her border with Russia (BN). President Putin meanwhile joined the Russia-EU summit in Yekaterinburg, where visa talks were also said to feature high on the agenda (BN).
Canada
The Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories voted seventeen to one on Wednesday to approve its devolution deal (CBC), and Leona Aglukkaq gave her first speech as Chairwoman of the Arctic Council at Ottawa’s chapter of the Economic Club of Canada (Gov’t of Canada). Up Here Business called the Legislative Assembly’s motion a final “rite of passage” in the devolution process. Since the territory will now receive some CAD 65 million in resource royalties annually, debate begins over how these funds will be appropriated (EOTA). An interesting article by Jack Hicks may help readers fit the Northwest Territories devolution deal into a larger, Canadian context. The article looks at Nunavut’s successful resource development following the 1993 Nunavut Land Claims Agreement in light of the “dark statistics” highlighting social suffering in the territory (the Canadian Dimension). Hicks questions if the institutions developed as a result of the agreement “are part of the problem or part of the solution” for Nunavut.
Members of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation in N’Dilo will elect a new chief next week (CBC), and members of Canada’s Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers (or PAFSO) walked off the job on Thursday in the hopes of forcing the federal government to increase their salaries (G&M). Their absence may be interfering with the Prime Minister’s preparations to travel to Europe for the G8 Summit next week, increasing the incentives to meet PAFSO’s demands.
Canada and the EU are currently working to develop administrative mechanisms that would, as a provided exception in the EU’s 2009 seal ban, allow indigenous communities in Canada to export seal products to the EU (Embassy News). Resolving tensions over the seal ban in Canada will likely grease the wheels for the implementation of the EU’s status as an observer in the Arctic Council.
Uncollected
The first China-Nordic Arctic Cooperation Symposium was held in Shanghai this week (Arctic Portal), and the Standing Committee of the Conference of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region met in Norway. / Inupiaq academic and indigenous rights expert Dalee Sambo Dorough, presenting at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous issues on May 30th, argued that Inuit and other Arctic indigenous peoples must be included in Law of the Sea Negotiations (NN). / In a blog post published in the Huffington Post on Wednesday, titled “5 Ways the U.S. Can Have an Icelandic Revolution,” Carl Gibson argued that there is much the U.S. can learn from recent political movements in Iceland, which included the development of a new “crowdsourced” constitution. / The draft agenda (PDF) for the Alaska Arctic Policy Commission’s meeting in Barrow, Alaska on June 11-13 is now available online. / The Norwegian Research Council is seeking consultative input on Arctic policy, which is being accepted (click here to submit) until August 12th.
Energy
The 2013 Arctic Energy Summit will be held in Akureyri, Iceland, 8-10 October, directly preceding the first meeting of the Arctic Circle on 12-14 October in Reykjavik. An agenda and registration information for the Arctic Energy Summit can be found here.
Alaska
Two weeks after Alaska Governor Sean Parnell signed Senate Bill 21 into law restructuring the state’s oil taxes and providing breaks to oil companies at the expense of near-term state budgets, opponents of the bill say they are on track to gather enough signatures for a petition to put the bill to a statewide referendum in 2014 (FNM). Parnell has come to the law’s defense, citing recent news that BP and ConocoPhillips are planning significant new investments on the North Slope to boost production, just the effect that the bill’s supporters hoped for (AD). There is some debate as to whether these new investments are a result of the bill or not; they may have been in the works long before the bill was passed last month, and Democratic lawmakers question what impact, if any, the tax changes had on these companies’ decisions to invest (FuelFix). BP plans to add USD $1 billion in new investment, including adding two new drilling rigs and making upgrades to existing facilities (ABM). The additional drilling rigs will facilitate the drilling of more than 110 new wells, while upgrades at Prudhoe Bay will increase production efficiency (OGJ). Even with the increased investments, industry is cautious to state that overall production numbers will not increase from the North Slope, but the investment should lessen the pace of decreasing production and lengthen the lifespan of the aging fields (Motley Fool).
Alex DeMarban peels back the curtain on a secretive, partly state-funded lobbying group that has quietly been working the halls of Washington, DC, for over two decades to promote opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration. The group, Arctic Power, has little to show for its years of effort and millions of dollars spent (AD). Governor Parnell called on Democrats in the Senate to rethink oil exploration in ANWR and to approve the Keystone XL in the weekly Republican Radio Address (The Hill).
If you haven’t had enough of the grim details on the Kulluk’s grounding last December, see this article by Susan Caldwell that gives the blow-by-blow account that has emerged from the US Coast Guard’s marine casualty hearing on the accident which concluded this week Anchorage (AD). The last casualty of the Kulluk debacle seems to be industry enthusiasm for Arctic exploration. Balazs Koranyi writes for Reuters about how Shell’s failures, growing sensitivities about the Arctic environment, and tight oil and gas have shifted the industry’s interests elsewhere.
Department of the Interior listening sessions in Anchorage and Barrow on the Department’s efforts to develop Arctic-specific energy exploration regulations drew participation from across the spectrum, with environmental groups, local government bodies, private citizens and industry all taking part and offering their opinions (ADN, AD). Down South, Andrew Revkin of the New York Times highlighted the Natural Resource Defense Council’s critique of the Obama administration’s Arctic strategy, saying that giving the green light to Arctic drilling while neglecting energy efficiency measures represents confused priorities (NYT).
BP has teamed up with the University of Alaska Fairbanks to experiment with using drones for pipeline inspection in Alaska’s Arctic. Although the program shows promise, current Federal Aviation Administration restrictions on drones severely limit their commercial use, though these rules are up for revision by 2015 (Reuters).
A small fire on the deck of the cargo ship BBC Arizona in the port of Valdez called the attention of authorities to leaking containers of transformer oil on the ship’s deck, leading Coast Guard authorities to hold the ship in port until the issue is resolved. Clean up is ongoing and a floating boom was deployed around the ship, though there are no indications that oil has spilled into the harbor (ADN).
The remote Alaskan town of Kotzebue is working with GE to install a heat-to-power generator which will capture heat from the town’s sole diesel generator to heat water and produce electricity. The plan will save Kotzebue over 46,000 gallons of diesel a year. The town is wholly dependent at the moment on diesel fuel delivered in one shipment per year by ship during the ice-free summers (ABM). The Fairbanks region is a step closer to receiving cheap North Slope LNG after Governor Parnell signed a bill committing USD 362 million for a North Slope LNG plant and regasification facilities in Fairbanks. The plan could reduce utility costs by 50% for consumers, who now rely on more expensive fuel oil for heating (Alaska Journal of Commerce).
Europe
Eni Norge received an award this week for leading the way on developing new survival suits for use in the Barents Sea (Offshore). In other research, the ColdTech initiative, an ongoing project of the Northern Research Institute in Narvik, Norway, is studying ice mechanics and pressure ridges to better design ships and installations for working in Arctic conditions (Teknisk Ukebald – Norwegian).
Deutsche Welle explores how the promise of oil and gas development in the Barents Sea has already begun to transform the small Arctic Norwegian town of Kirkenes as new investment flows in and the town seeks to become a major hub for shipping and oilfield services (DW).
Statoil has announced that it will postpone development of the Johan Castberg field, citing uncertainties about resource estimates and the proposed 1% increase in Norway’s oil tax, which Statoil claims makes remote and challenging fields like the Johan Castberg less financially attractive (BO). While higher taxes will certainly impact profit margins, it appears that ballooning cost estimates may have had more to do with Statoil’s decision to postpone development (AB). In order to pool resources and reduce the staggering costs of development in the Barents region, Norway, Finland and Russia announced the formation of a joint fund for infrastructure to support oil and gas development (Bloomberg).
Norway’s parliament awaits responses to several questions posed to Petroleum and Energy Minister Ola Borten Moe concerning the government’s plans to begin issuing exploration permits in the southeast Barents Sea, a region which is occasionally impacted by sea ice (AB). The ministry announced that it would release its assessment of the region on 12 June (Gov’t of Norway, in Norwegian).
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has come under fire for investing over USD 912 million in the global gambling industry in 2012 (AB). Not what comes to mind when one thinks of “gambling away the inheritance.”
Iceland’s Eykon Energy is partnering with the China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) to apply for exploration licenses in Iceland, marking a Chinese company’s first entry into offshore energy development in the Arctic (Rigzone). CNOOC could take up to an 80% stake in the licenses, making it the largest operator in the Dreki Area near Jan Mayen Island (Platts). Prime Minister Gunnlaugsson is seeking to fast-track hydroelectric and geothermal energy projects in Iceland, though environmentalists are pushing back (IceNews).
The University of Oslo’s Department of Geosciences is partnering with several other universities and research institutes to form the new Research Center for Arctic Petroleum Exploration (ARCEx), which will be hosted on the campus of the University of Tromsø (press release).
In renewable news, Google’s new data center in Finland will be powered by a Swedish wind farm (Radio Sweden) and buses in the Swedish town of Eskilstuna will run on biogas made from malt residues from a local brewery (EOTA).
Russia
In spite of a cooperation agreement which the two companies signed two months ago, Gazprom and Novatek have yet to agree on investing in several joint projects, including two LNG production projects on the Yamal Peninsula and an oil and gas project on the Gydan Peninsula (MT). Gazprom, meanwhile, suggested that the Shtokman gas field in the Russian Barents Sea probably won’t be make economic sense until 2025 and should be reserved for “future generations” (BN). Shtokman is partly a victim of shifting energy markets as Russia’s oil and gas sector increasingly seeks to feed growing markets in Asia. Gazprom Neft and Japan’s JOGMEC have agreed to a joint project to tap oil and gas in East Siberia, a project that should begin producing in 2016 (Reuters).
President Dmitry Medvedev has signed an order granting extraction licenses on five Arctic shelf sectors to Rosneft and Gazprom. No competing bids for the licenses were accepted as the two state-controlled companies paid RUB 1.4 and 1.2 billion, respectively, for the licenses (MT).
A new hybrid diesel/solar power plant has been up and running since March in south-central Siberia, supplying power to the mountainous village of Yailyu and reducing diesel consumption by up to 50% (RIAN).
Greenpeace presents the Kafkaesque story of an oil spill along Russia’s Kolva River, the impact it has had on the local residents, and the bizarre reactions of both local government and industry. I won’t spoil the story, you just have to read it for yourself!
Canada
Writing for Up Here Business, Chris Windeyer explores gas development in Yukon and the NWT, and asks why it seems like this region has been left behind while shale gas has exploded in the US and even across the border in British Columbia. The answer proves to be complex, including the collapse of gas prices, lack of access to markets, and political opposition from several quarters. Windeyer does a great job of presenting these complex factors in a clear and well-written piece. Case in point: MGM Energy Corp. gave up its exploration licenses in the Mackenzie Delta of the NWT, citing the lack of a pipeline to bring any gas to market (CBC). Meanwhile, a move to cut through some of the regulatory barriers to gas development in the NWT has caused some concern amongst residents. The federal government has assumed all responsibility for regulating drilling waste and fracking fluids, a power that used to reside with local water boards (Northern Journal).
The Government of the Northwest Territories promoted the investments that it has made in energy efficiency and alternative fuels at many of its facilities, investments it says have saved CAD 3 million and over a million liters of fuel since 2008 (Gov’t of the NWT). NWT Premier Bob McLeod and Industry, Tourism and Investment minister Dave Ramsay both provided updates for NWT Legislature, focusing on the Territories’ Land Use and Sustainability Framework and the promise of oil and gas development in the Sahtu Region. Their full remarks can be found in the Government of NWT’s website here and here. And now that devolution looks to become a reality in the near future and significant new funds from resource royalties will begin to flow to the NWT, the debate has begun on how to spend all that new cash (EOTA).
Tim Querengesser, writing for Alberta Venture, presents the current Beaver Lake Cree Nation lawsuit challenging provincial and federal oil sands development permits on the Nation’s land as a story of David against Goliath.
Two internal audits from 2010 recently released to the press through an Access to Information request concluded that the Canadian Coast Guard’s capacity to respond to oil spills was seriously lacking due to outdated equipment and poor organization. These audits have raised serious concerns in BC, where proposals to ship Alberta oil sands out through BC ports could lead to an increase of over 1,000 tanker trips a year along the province’s coast (CBC).
Science, Environment & Wildlife
For a whole collection of new research and reflections on Arctic science, check out the latest issue of “Witness the Arctic” from the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States.
Ice & climate
Whispers that the Arctic may be essentially ice-free in summer in only a few years (Deutsche Welle) are accompanied by updates on this year’s sea ice extent and volume showing the slow development of a couple of thin patches in the ice cover (beautiful animation from the US Navy). A relatively mild Arctic cyclone appears to be contributing to the development of a particularly noticeable thin spot (Arctic Sea Ice Blog). All in all, the ice is melting at a rate that is not unusual, though overall coverage is, as last year, well below the 1979-2000 average (NSIDC).
There’s other fascinating research on ice going on, including a cool (new?) site from the Danish Meteorological Institute that shows the “surface mass balance” (24 hour +/- change) of the Greenland ice sheet. Where has it lost mass in the last 24 hours, where has it added mass, and how much? In Alaska and northern Canada, scientists are beginning to quantify “glacier wastage” with greater accuracy and measure the contribution of melting glaciers to sea level rise. The article describing this research in Alaska Business Monthly is detailed, well-written and interesting. There is similar work on the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, trying to get the most accurate numbers possible for their contributions to sea-level rise (phys.org). The WWF held a workshop in Iqaluit, Nunavut on management of what it calls the Last Ice Area, which is likely to be at the northern edge of the Canadian Arctic archipelago and Greenland (NN).
The impact of overall ice loss is beginning to be felt in some surprising ways. Biggest this week was the continued story of the extraction of Russian scientists from the North Pole-40 research station (Boston Globe, republished from WP) by Russia’s massive, ferociously-painted Yamal icebreaker. Sébastien Duyck sees a stark contrast between this loss to Russian Arctic science and the Russian delegation’s stated positions at recent climate talks in Bonn, Germany.
Norway’s Progress Party elected not to be part of the Kyoto-2 protocol, explaining that the party sees it as a meaningless initiative without the engagement of the world’s largest emitters the United States and China (The Foreigner, in Norwegian). And this week, Finnish Lapland broke records to become one of the warmest regions in Europe – 30.5 Celsius / 87 Fahrenheit at one point (Montreal Gazette). Personal tales of the unusual Finnish heat come from the Arctic Research blog. Meanwhile in Alaska, the summer fire season has begun in earnest (FDNM), though rain has helped to manage the ongoing blazes (FDNM).
On Svalbard, recent observations of atmospheric CO2 levels above 400 ppm have been confirmed (Norwegian Institute for Air Research, in Norwegian), and Murmansk’s famed Norilsk Nikel plant appears to have belched a “sulphur dioxide cloud” over this week’s Barents Summit (BO). Deutsche Welle’s Irene Quaile takes a look at an initiative to explain Arctic Ocean acidification to children; appropriately, as 8 June was World Oceans Day.
Arctic life
Starting with the lower end of the food chain, phytoplankton in enormous blooms surrounding the Kamchatka Peninsula are the subject of a beautiful satellite photo from the NASA Earth Observatory. These particular blooms may be caused in part by a sudden influx of iron from erupting volcanoes on Kamchatka. Far away in Norway, researchers are at a loss to describe the ways in which other tiny sea creatures – sea lice – are affecting populations of wild salmonids in the region’s waters (Institute of Marine Research).
In the plant world, it looks as though warming in the High Arctic may be shortening the flowering season for many resident species, and thereby also reducing the population of insects that thrive along with those flowers (Nature Climate Change). In the area under study in Northeast Greenland, the insect population appears to have shrunk by 50% in just 14 years as a result of warming (Science Nordic). But while these populations suffer, others are springing back to life under the influence of current warmth. Scientists in Canada recently revived 400 year-old moss recently uncovered by a receding glacier on Ellesmere Island (Washington Times), and beekeepers in northern Finland are hopeful that a recent spate of unusually warm weather will mean that their bees will find plentiful flowers at the right time, meaning a good yield of honey this year (EOTA). If fungi are your thing, check out a delightful booklet on the mushrooms of Alaska’s National Forests.
If you’re a lover of marine mammals, you’ll definitely enjoy Isabelle Groc’s excellent reporting on a project to tag narwhal in the Canadian Arctic last summer. The ten-part series is well underway; part four on the capturing and tagging is available here from straight.com. Follow that with what seems to be the beneficiary project; the WWF’s narwhal tracker. Other researchers appear to be attempting to connect observations of marine mammal behavior with observations of sea-ice loss (Minnesota Public Radio).
On land, a program in Alaska that picks up road-kill moose, which can provide high-quality meat for people in need, has failed to acquire its needed funding from the state government; it is now turning to individuals and communities (AD). In southern Sweden, moose are dying with surprising frequency for no outwardly-apparent reason (EOTA). Some have speculated that it is due to a thiamine deficiency. And thanks are apparently owed to Nordic reindeer for their contributions to keeping global warming in check (YLE). The grounds on which they graze reflect more heat than more thickly-covered ground.
An interesting article I wouldn’t have expected to see in the Economist looks at snow geese as a potentially critical component of polar bears’ diets. The geese may help to make up for increasingly meager ice-based hunting of seals. Arctic terns on their way north for the summer have been observed in Ottawa (OC), and the closely-scrutinized Pacific Loon family living under the watchful eye of Alaska’s loon cam is providing (one assumes unwittingly) entertainment to viewers worldwide.
Writing about research
We are fans of the Arctic Research blog, which gives readers a window on research going on at INTERACT stations in the Nordics. This week, we heard about the sudden disappearance of this winter’s ice on a lake in northern Finland, the importance of not forgetting your hat and sunscreen, and the potential reasons behind the frightening (and temporary, thankfully) loss of the team’s under-ice remotely-operated vehicle, UBC-Gavia.
Unsurprisingly, there is buzz about a newly-announced Chinese initiative to create a China-Nordic Arctic Research Center in Shanghai (China Daily, summarized in Barents Observer), but the Czech Republic, too, is preparing to open its own national research station at Ny-Ålesund on Svalbard (BO). For its part, Norway is getting ready to build and outfit the Kronprins Haakon, a new NOK 1.4 billion polar class-10 research vessel for the joint use of the Norwegian Polar Institute, the Institute for Marine Research, the University of Tromsø and others (BO). Researchers from the University of Maine are heading north as part of the Tara Oceans Polar Circle Expedition 2013 (boston.com), while the Professor Molchanov – a research ship out of Arkhangelsk – is underway on its latest Floating University expedition to the White, Barents and Greenland seas (RBTH or UArctic, as you prefer). Lastly, while NASA Goddard’s GROVER made its first tentative tracks across the Greenland ice sheet (video here), a Russian Arctic-monitoring satellite went toes-up – it’s a loss for Arctic mapping generally, not just for Russia (trust.org).
Uncollected
Yukon will undertake a review of regulations on roadside hunting (EOTA). It’s been driven to do so after a local-favorite grizzly was shot near Carcross. / A deep-frozen mammoth discovered in the Novosibirsk Archipelago appears to contain frozen blood (CBC), which could mean the possibility of obtaining nearly-intact DNA. / The North Pacific Fisheries Management Council is considering making the Bering Sea Canyons a wildlife preserve (KYUK). / A cleanup effort to rid Alaska’s beaches of trash that has drifted over from the devastating 2011 tsunami in Japan has now been funded (AD). /
Military / Search-&-Rescue
NATO
In May, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced that NATO has “no intention of raising its presence and activities in the High North.” Mia Bennett discusses this decision, as well as NATO’s relationship with Russia – largely strengthened through Norwegian efforts to enhance cooperation – in a recent article in Eye on the Arctic. Speaking at the Barents Euro-Arctic Council summit earlier this week, Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev expressed concern over Finland and Sweden’s plans to join NATO: "New members of the alliance, located near our borders, will ultimately change the parity of forces and we will be forced to react" (Prensa Latina). Russia’s fears that the Arctic will become militarized may be well founded, since Norway and the other Nordic states appear to support increasing NATO presence in the Arctic (CIMSEC). NATO inspectors conducted a two-day monitoring mission in Russian airspace under the Open Skies Treaty this week (RIAN).
Canada
The Montreal Gazette reported that the former head of the Canadian defense staff, General Walter Natynczyk, issued documents in September 2012 ordering Canadian forces to withdraw from Hans Island. This move, according to University of Waterloo’s P. Whitney Lackenbauer, is “Canada’s way of ensuring that we don’t create friction in an otherwise friendly relationship,” and that her territorial dispute with Denmark will be resolved by diplomatic means.
After undergoing a year’s worth of repairs, the Canadian Coast Guard Vessel Amundsen is returning to the Arctic to resume research-related activities (CBC). The icebreaker, which received CAD 6 million worth of patch-ups (Welland Tribune), appears on Canada’s new $50 bill (Wikipedia). The Coast Guard, which recently shut down Inuvik’s Marine Communications and Traffic Service, will be running all of its marine communication through Iqaluit this year (CBC), and the Government of Canada announced last weekend that the German multinational ThyssenKrupp has been selected to design the Navy’s new Joint Support Ships (CDFAI).
United States
TAI’s Mihaela David wrote an excellent piece on the Coast Guard’s recent strategy (PDF) in the wake of the release of the National Strategy for the Arctic Region. She praised the Coast Guard’s “pragmatism” (“when handed lemons, make lemonade,” she advised) given its budgetary constrains and lack of icebreakers (see chart). Commandant Admiral Robert Papp called the Coast Guard’s seasonal, mobile, money-saving approach “tested and proven” in the Arctic in recent years (Navy Times).
On June 4th, two days before the anniversary of the D-day invasion, 550 paratroopers from the 25th Infantry Division of the Army’s 4th Brigade were dropped from C-17 aircraft onto Alaska’s Fort Richardson as part of “Operation Spartan Reach” (EOTA). The exercise was designed to simulate securing an airfield from behind enemy lines.
Europe and Russia
Sweden and Finland’s defense policies (especially concerning Russia) may be at odds, despite Finnish President Sauli Niinistö’s assurances to the contrary (YLE). Sweden has shifted its policy away from independent defense (a policy priority for the Finns) and towards “international duties” instead.
Denmark will host a meeting in Greenland of defense chiefs from the eight Arctic nations on June 11th to collaborate on areas of “mutual concern” in the region (Defense News). That the meeting comes so shortly after Kiruna and includes only the Arctic Council member states is “no accident,” says Brussels-based political analyst Michael Fedder, who maintains that the various issues raised in the Kiruna Declaration will likely be a focal point of discussion.
Next year, Russian submarines, for the first time this century, will conduct patrols in the Southern Hemisphere (BO). Russia is also in the process of assembling a permanent naval group in the Mediterranean. The Severodvinsk, her Project 885 Yasen-class attack submarine, conducted official tests in the White Sea this week, according to RIA Novosti.
The Norwegian Navy fired a Naval Strike Missile (NSM) at one of its warships in a technical evaluation shooting early Monday morning (Tu.no, in Norwegian).
Search & Rescue
A group of German hikers were rescued near Fairbanks last weekend when, after visiting the abandoned bus immortalized by the book and film “Into the Wild,” the group was unable to cross two rivers on their journey back from the site (CBC). A helicopter rescue was also required in Canada’s Kluane National Park, when two mountaineers met high waters at Bullion Creek (Yukon News).
Thomas S. Axworthy’s recent address at Seattle’s Promise of the Arctic conference (Saying it Ain’t Doing It - Infrastructure gaps in maritime search and rescue in the North of North America) is now available via the Walter & Duncan Gordon Foundation website if you’re interested. Also addressing search-and-rescue, Yvonne Jones, the newly elected Labrador MP, criticized Conservatives of “gutting” the country’s search-and-rescue service (CBC).
Norway’s Statoil is seeking a “workable solution” to fulfill new lifeboat safety requirements (Gov’t of Norway) on its old installations, since the company believes that replacing all its lifeboat systems is a “completely unrealistic” request that would not be possible (Aftenbladet.no, in Norwegian).
Mining
Ed Struzik takes a fresh look at China’s mineral and energy ambitions in the Arctic, helped along by some keen insight and commentary from the Arctic Institute’s own Malte Humpert (Guardian).
Canada
Low mineral prices have led Alexco Resources to cut costs by laying off workers at its Keno Hill mine, cutting executive salaries and delaying capital improvements (CMJ). In spite of the challenging investment environment in the mining industry, the NWT Legislative Assembly is progressing with work on the NWT Mineral Development Strategy, recognizing the important role the mining sector plays in the NWT economy (press release). This month’s Northern Mining News from the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines had several interesting stories worth a look, including: a report on the progress on the Bathurst Inlet Port and Road project to connect several Nunavut mining interests to a Bathurst Inlet deep water port; a story on Diavik Diamond Mines’ winning of an environmental excellence award for its efforts to install wind turbines to power its remote sites; and some details on how tough market conditions are creating challenges for the mining sector.
TerraX Minerals Inc. has begun aerial surveys to collect detailed data on its Northbelt holdings in the NWT. The region has produced a fair amount of gold in the past, and the company has begun to engage local communities to discuss exploration plans (press release).
A former consultant for Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. stands accused by the Ontario Securities Commission of disclosing confidential information and insider trading in the context of a hostile takeover bid which saw Baffinland Iron Mines pass into the hands of two rivals, Nunavut Iron Ore and ArcelorMittal (NN). Regardless of the outcome of those accusations, former Baffinland shareholders are planning to press ahead with a lawsuit, claiming they were denied full information during the company’s takeover (CBC).
Peregrine Diamonds Ltd. and De Beers Canada Ltd. are establishing a summer presence at their Chidliak diamond claim northeast of Iqaluit. The goal of this summer’s exploration is to extract test cores from across the site for analysis to help determine future development of the site (NN).
Russia
Norilsk Nickel, which operates nickel mines and smelters on Russia’s Kola Peninsula, announced record profits and dividends this year. This is good news for the company’s shareholders, among whom are Vladimir Potanin, Oleg Deripaska and Roman Abramovich, three of Russia’s richest men. In spite of the cash on hand, Norilsk Nickel has decided not to invest in smelter upgrades that could reduce the high levels of emissions the plant puts off, a topic of serious concern with neighbors Norway and Sweden (BO). And in a case of inconvenient timing, while representatives from the countries across the region met at the Barents Summit in Kirkenes, Norway, last week, the Murmansk pollution monitoring office announced that sulfur emissions from the smelter plant were four times the legal limit (BO).
Alaska
As if the Obama administration doesn’t have enough controversy on its plate at the moment, Claire Thompson writes for grist.org about how the proposed Pebble Mine and its impacts on Bristol Bay’s legendary salmon runs may be the most important and controversial environmental issue the president will face in his second term. Battle lines are already drawn and intense lobbying has begun on both sides of the issue, with millions of dollars already being spent to woo lawmakers (Politico). Supporters of the project are touting the mine’s economic impacts, citing a new industry-sponsored report that details the billions of dollars of tax payouts to local, state and the federal governments that are projected over the life of the project, in addition to the thousands of direct and indirect jobs it is anticipated to create in local communities (Alaska Journal of Commerce).
Europe
Financing has been approved for the Northland mine in Pajala, Sweden, which should re-open the mine. It has been shuttered for the last two weeks (EOTA).
Fishing, Shipping & Other Business News
Fish
King Salmon are beginning to appear in Alaska’s rivers, as fishermen hope for a better run than last year’s (AD). There isn’t much optimism, though, and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council is working on new, possibly lower limits for king salmon bycatch for trawlers in the Gulf of Alaska (Homer News). In Norway, researchers are trying to prepare salmon for life in a warmer ocean; they are working on a selective breeding program to create farmed salmon capable of withstanding higher temperatures (phys.org). Also in northern Norway, fisheries managers are pleased to see a lower proportion of farm-salmon escapees among wild salmon in the Hardanger and Hardangerfjord river systems (Fisheries Directorate, in Norwegian). And off of Norwegian shores, the total allocated catch for 2014 North East Arctic cod might be up to 993,000 tons, up from 940,000 in 2013 (BO).
Norway continues to release word of its efforts to make the country one of the world’s leading seafood-producing nations (Gov’t of Norway, in Norwegian), and the future of the seafood industry in North Norway will be on the menu at an upcoming conference in Tromsø (Gov’t of Norway, in Norwegian).
Alleged tampering with the scales that are used to weigh catches in the Bering Sea has led the United States’ NOAA to announce a revamp of the rules governing weighing protocols and equipment; for a review, see the Bristol Bay Times. And in Nunavut, two Nunavut fishing boats have been accused of fishing for Greenland halibut illegally in Greenlandic waters (EOTA).
Improvements to training for future fisheries workers in Nunavut may help to boost the territory’s fishing industry (CBC), and British fisheries representatives are examining the possibility of building a closer import/export relationship with fisheries in Murmansk (BN).
Ships & Ports
First, I will shamelessly plug the wonderful city of Portland, Maine as an ideal future American node for Arctic shipping. Iceland’s President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson certainly sees its potential (Portland Press Herald).
Now on to actual news. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) announced this week that it expects to see an implemented polar code for shipping by 2016 (gcaptain.com), and Norway and Russia announced the inauguration of a new ship-reporting system for the Barents Sea – the first completely electronic system of its kind to be approved by the IMO (Gov’t of Norway, in Norwegian). That’s a good thing, too, as the Northern Sea Route is getting ready to open at the end of June (Arctic Portal). 54 vessels out of 89 applicants have been given permission thus far to use the route. Estimates suggest that this summer may see more than 1.5 million tons travel the route, though some of it may only travel the western half (BO). At the recent Barents Summit, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev suggested that an annual volume of 10 million tons is “quite reasonable” (BN). And praise is due to Barents Observer for a good illustration of the flags, destinations and cargoes carried by ships traveling the NSR over the past couple of years.
This week’s Maritime Summit in Oslo brought together an international contingent of business and government representatives to discuss the potential for future Arctic shipping and the rules that need to be in place to make such an industry beneficial and safe (good summary from Maritime Executive, more fluff but also more detail from E24.no, in Norwegian). Preparations are being made in Nunavut as well for a potential increase in shipping; the communities of Cape Dorset and Resolute are hosting air-quality monitors (AD). Also in Oslo, the Ocean Talent Camp introduced schoolchildren to the myriad different jobs associated with various maritime industries (Norwegian Shipowners’ Association).
Magazine Ship Technology Global released a short briefing examining the ins and outs of Arctic shipping, and Norway is pursuing development of new navigational charts for the Norwegian coast – a task that will take decades, according to Atle Lagestrand (NRK).
In other shipping news, the Murmansk Shipping Company has successfully sold subsidiary Northern River Shipping Lines to company Reskom-Tyumen (Tradewinds News). The happy new owners will go from being a company with 3 vessels to a company with 171 vessels. My, my. And in Norway, the Ulstein-built “Seven Viking” inspection, repair and maintenance vessel was crowned Best Vessel of the Year at Norway’s Nor-Shipping trade fair (Teknisk Ukeblad, in Norwegian).
General economic news
It seems there is to be no end to new fora in which Arctic issues of one stripe or another are to be discussed. The Canada Economic Club will be inaugurating a new World Arctic Forum, intended apparently to give business representatives better access to their Arctic-interested colleagues and to their relevant counterparts in government and civil society (NN). It’s getting hard to keep track of all of this.
At the recent Barents summit, Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev expressed interest in developing a joint-funding mechanism to support large development projects in the Barents region (BN, RBTH). Such a mechanism would bring together the Barents governments, as well as private-sector partners. Norway meanwhile has cut its national growth forecast for 2013 to 2.4%, excluding shipping and oil (IceNews).
Other business news
The Qikiqtani Inuit Association expects to have a balanced budget for this year (NN), which is a great improvement over last year’s numbers. Future projects, however, are heavily reliant on expected revenues from the Mary River project. In an interesting and related ongoing debate in Canada, mining companies working with local First Nations and/or Inuit governments may or may not be required to report payments that are made to those entities; there is debate as to whether such payments are covered under the rules established by the United States’ Securities and Exchange Commission (CBC). Next door in Alaska, the Sea Lion Corporation in southwestern Alaska is being held up as a positive example of a well-managed Alaska Native Corporation; it’s returning a comparatively massive dividend to its 620 shareholders (AD).
Congratulations to Up Here Business on yet more excellent reporting on business in the Canadian North; check out a great and personal article on starting and running a small business in the region, as well as a perhaps unintentionally touching story of the gentleman who’s been trucking fresh produce up to Inuvik, NWT for 27 years.
Swedish company RusForest is preparing to build a new wood-pellet production facility in Arkhangelsk. Watch this space – it’ll be interesting to see how wood pellets do in the long term as heating in northern communities (WSJ). The plant will have a capacity of 100,000 tons, and is expected to cost approximately EUR 10 million (ihb.de).
Google has struck an offtake agreement for a new wind farm (24 turbines, 73 MW) to be built near Pajala, Sweden. The energy will power a data center in Finland (EOTA). / Nunavut has thrown Mount Thor’s hat into the ring for potential endorsement as the Eighth Wonder of the World (NN). It IS pretty incredible. / Maine-made panels are on their way via Icelandic shipping company Eimskip from Portland to Norway, via Iceland (Portland Press Herald).
Health, Education, Culture & Society
To mark World Environment Day (June 5th), the European Commission highlighted the important research being done by ArcRisk, an EU-funded project that focuses on understanding the links between environmental contaminants and human health.
Barents Observer did a feature (including a beautiful video) on Mariann Wollmann Magga, a reindeer herder and member of the Norwegian Sámi Parliament, who sees the use of reindeer habitats for industrial purposes as a threat to the existence of the Sámi people. Another feature/video was created on Neeta Jääskö, a Finnish Inari Sámi jewelry designer, who says she used her handicrafts to help her connect to her Sámi culture before she learned to speak Inari Sámi. A new book about the Sámi in Russia during the Soviet era has been made available online in English thanks to support from the University of Tromsø’s Centre for Sámi Studies (Arctic Anthropology).
The Assembly of First Nations and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) say they are facing 30 percent cuts in federal funding, a drop of CAD 1.9 million for ITK (CBC). Acting ITK president Duane Smith questions the logic of these cuts, considering that Canada has just assumed chairmanship of the Arctic Council.
Anthony Wieslaw Krótki, the new Bishop of Churchill-Hudson Bay, plans to tour the 17 parishes and missions in Nunavut and northern Manitoba as his “first priority” now that he has been ordained (NN). Iqaluit’s Frobisher Inn will host the Nunavut Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, June 10-12. Government, Inuit organization, and NGO representatives are expected to be in attendance at the meeting (NN). A study of 211 adults in Nunavut, published in last month’s Nutrition Journal, found that a large amount of the participants consumed too much sugar (particularly in the form of sugary beverages) and other nutrient-poor foods (NN). Another study from McGill University, an extensive, nine-year undertaking, examines suicide in Nunavut. The report (PDF), entitled Qaujivallianiq Inuusirijauvalauqtunik (“Learning from Lives that have been Lived”), features the findings of nearly 500 interviews of persons connected to 120 suicides in the territory between 2003 and 2006 (CBC).
The OECD Better Life Index report was favorable for Iceland, whose inhabitants were ranked in the top ten when it comes to happiness (IceNews).
Infrastructure
Flooding damage
The spring breakup this year has distributed damaging flooding unequally among Alaskan and Canadian communities (see video of the Aklavik River breaking up to get a sense of the massive scale of things). Brutal flooding has hit the communities of Ross River, Yukon (CBC), Tok, Alaska (FDNM, + picture), and Aklavik, NWT (CBC). In Emmonak, Alaska, flood waters have taken out the airport’s runway as well as the road access to the airport (AD).
The town of Galena, Alaska on the Yukon River has been especially hard-hit, with many homes washed away in a sudden flood such as the town has never seen before (FDNM, EOTA, and pictures). Meanwhile on the coast, residents of the gradually eroding town of Kivalina are focused on doing what they can to cobble together adequate supplies of fresh water until the town has the chance to refill its tanks (AD).
Connectivity
A recent meeting in Norway brought together various tech organizations to examine whether it’s possible to deliver broadband above 75 degrees latitude in Norway (sciencenordic.com). Work continues meanwhile across the ocean in Canada, where the government of the Northwest Territories is considering a plan to drive a broadband link up the Mackenzie River valley to Inuvik (AD), and where company Iristel is installing a wireless station in Iqaluit (pictures). And nearby in Alaska, Quintillion (the Alaska affiliate of the Arctic Fibre project) is laying the groundwork for the Arctic Fibre cable to go in (alaskajournal.com). It’s hoped that the project will eventually bring connectivity to Nome, Kotzebue, Barrow, Wainwright and Prudhoe Bay.
Whatever the rosy outlook for broadband in the North may be, there is still a long way to go for communications infrastructure as a whole. Phones in and near Fairbanks, Alaska suffered a “catastrophic malfunction” this week, leaving officials scrambling to create alternatives (FDNM).
Air
There appears to have been insufficient demand for Air Greenland’s first planned Nuuk-Iqaluit flight this year (CBC), and Alaska Airlines announced this week that it was switching from jets to turboprop planes on its Fairbanks-Anchorage route (FDNM). In general, there is growing concern that the gradual deterioration of already-elderly runways in northern Canada will mean that northern communities will be forced to miss out on the benefit of new planes (more efficient carrying of payloads, better comfort, etc.), which cannot deal with shorter, gravel runways (OC).
Other
A new port terminal is part of the government’s development plan for the North Norway community of Tromsø (Gov’t of Norway, in Norwegian). / Meetings are on the calendar to discuss plans to build an Arctic deep-water port somewhere on the Alaskan coast (Dredging Today). / An inventory of public maritime and aviation infrastructure in the Arctic has just been completed by the Institute of the North, under the auspices of the Arctic Council (IoNorth). / The Deh Cho Bridge won the prestigious Gustav Lindenthal medal at this year’s International Bridge Conference (azobuild.com). / A new proposal to invest CAD 600 million in infrastructure in the Northwest Territories is outlined by minister David Ramsay in a recent speech; lots of interesting material there (Gov’t of the NWT). / A new waste-management plan for the city of Iqaluit would include a much stronger focus on separating wastes and on recycling what can be recycled (NN). / Alaska’s Dalton Highway was hit by a series of avalanches this past week (FDNM).
Sports
A love letter, of sorts, to North America’s highest peak, Mount McKinley, appears in SB Nation this week, authored by Eva Holland. Eva starts with the story of the first summit party in 1913 and includes this lofty description by the party’s leader, Hudson Stuck, of his experience on the summit:
There was no pride of conquest, no trace of that exultation of victory some enjoy upon the first ascent of a lofty peak, no gloating over good fortune that had hoisted us a few hundred feet higher than others who had struggled and been discomfited. Rather was the feeling that a privileged communion with the high places of the earth had been granted; that not only had we been permitted to lift up eager eyes to these summits, secret and solitary since the world began, but to enter boldly upon them, to take place, as it were, domestically in their hitherto sealed chambers, to inhabit them, and to cast our eyes down from them, seeing all things as they spread out from the windows of heaven itself.
One hundred years later, Holland’s article explores the continuing fascination with the mountain amongst those who seek to climb it. A worthy read, even for those of us stuck in the lowlands!
In a daring quest of a different sort, four adventurers will attempt to row across Canada’s Northwest Passage in a specially designed rowboat with a cabin and reinforced hull. The quartet expects the entire trip to take three months (CBC).
Akureyri, Iceland, seems to have inherited the distinction of being the most northern center for Australian Rules football after the hiatus of previous teams in Tromsø and Northern Russia. Check out this article in worldfootynews.com for the story of how the game spread to Iceland. Also, if you need a primer on what the heck Australian Rules footy is, as I did, the website provides complete explanations … in 17 languages.
Cyclists in Yukon are forming a new advocacy group called Whitehorse Urban Cycling Coalition to petition the city on bike-related issues such as bike lanes and new traffic regulations (YN).
As summer boating season kicks off, recreationists in the Yukon are being warned of the dangers of the region’s frigid waters (CBC).
Images & Videos
Special credit is due, not for the first time, to photographer Clare Kines for sharing so much of his great work. A series of images captures Red Knots recently arrived in northern Canada – their plumage is beautiful to examine (photos 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5). The photos are accompanied by two very brief videos of the birds feeding (1 & 2). He also shared some additional photographs of dramatic ice formations nearby – an iceberg and an ice cavern – and of a wry-looking Arctic hare amid late-falling June snow.
I, for one, was surprised to see this week that both Jens Stoltenberg and Dmitri Medvedev have Instagram accounts. They made use of them to share welcome messages with one another at the week’s Barents Summit – here from Stoltenberg, and here from Medvedev. They are hardly the only Arctic Instagram users, though. Photographer Ajar Varlamov shared two almost absurdly picturesque images of the Lena River in spring via @yakutia’s Instagram account (photo 1, photo 2), while photos of North Norway in these long, long days come from @liselottehh, @biotope, @samsmoothy and @ericare. The last is of a duck family at the U of Tromsø campus. And Yellowknife’s Instagram users have been busy at work, too – check out this week’s collection from ykonline.ca.
Other pics and videos worth your time this week include: photographs from the Barents Summit (and others – scroll down) from Norway’s foreign ministry; satellite pictures of two of the many volcanoes on the Kamchatka Peninsula from the NASA Earth Observatory; an old church in Fort Providence, NWT from Dan Newcomb on Flickr; the crowd of folks on snowmobiles heading home after Arctic Bay’s fishing derby, also from Clare Kines; and a collection of photos from the Canadian North this week from a variety of photographers, shared by the CBC.
The Grab Bag
The first-ever International Arctic Media Forum will take place in October in Arkhangelsk (RBTH). / The annual hunt for mammoth tusks emerging from the thawing permafrost is a significant source of income for some in Yakutia (RBTH). / Enjoy a photo essay on the reindeer herders of Chukchi Peninsula (RBTH). / Check out this week’s Taissumani feature, covering history in and related to Nunavut (NN). / Are rules for backyard chicken coops in Yellowknife too strict (CBC)? / Several Norwegian police cadets on a work trip to Murmansk got more than they bargained for after a night of partying (BO). / The transport of Roald Amundsen’s ship, the Maud, from Cambridge Bay, Nunavut back to Norway will be postponed until summer 2014 (BO). / A video profile of Sasha, a famous Murmansk blogger, showcases his role exposing stories of abuses of power (BO). / The World – a cruise ship for the super rich that one just loves to hate – stopped in Kirkenes this week, on its way to several ports of call in Arctic Russia (BO). / One resident of North Norway whose home has changed countries and languages several times over the course of his life is profiled in Barents Observer.
Abbreviation Key
Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN)
Aftenbladet (AB)
Alaska Business Monthly (ABM)
Alaska Dispatch (AD)
Alaska Journal of Commerce (AJC)
Alaska Native News (ANN)
Alaska Public Media (APM)
Anchorage Daily News (ADN)
Barents Nova (BN)
Barents Observer (BO)
Bristol Bay Times (BBT)
BusinessWeek (BW)
Canadian Mining Journal (CMJ)
Christian Science Monitor (CSM)
Eye on the Arctic (EOTA)
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (FNM)
Financial Times (FT)
Globe and Mail (G&M)
Government of Canada (GOC)
Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT)
Huffington Post (HP)
Johnson’s Russia List (JRL)
Indian Country Today Media Network (ICTMN)
Moscow Times (MT)
Natural Gas Europe (NGE)
Naval Today (NT)
New York Times (NYT)
Northern News Service Online (NNSO)
Northern Public Affairs (NPA)
Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI)
Nunatsiaq News (NN)
Oil & Gas Journal (OGJ)
Ottawa Citizen (OC)
Petroleum News (PN)
RIA Novosti (RIAN)
Russia Beyond the Headlines (RBTH)
Russia Today (RT)
Voice of Russia (VOR)
Wall Street Journal (WSJ)
Washington Post (WP)
Whitehorse Star (WS)
Winnipeg Free Press (WFP)
Yukon News (YN)
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