Opponents of a major oil project on Alaska’s petroleum-rich North Slope lost the first round of their legal battle over the Willow project but said they would not give up. A federal judge on Monday rejected requests by environmental groups and an Alaska Native organization to delay construction related to Willow. The decision means ConocoPhillips Alaska can forge ahead with cold-weather construction work, including mining gravel and using it to extend a road toward the Willow project while lawsuits challenging the project are pending. The groups are seeking to have last month’s approval of the project by the Biden administration overturned.
$50M isn’t enough to save salmon hatcheries on the Columbia River.
With facilities at risk of collapse under the strain of climate change, tribal nations say much more federal funding is needed for upgrades and repairs.
The federal government has announced plans to increase funding for the Columbia River Basin’s salmon hatcheries, the often-crumbling facilities that maintain the river’s dwindling salmon populations. But Indigenous nations and state agencies say the influx of funds is only a fraction of what is needed. The Bonneville Power Administration, the federal agency required to pay for salmon recovery using proceeds from selling power generated by hydroelectric dams, is putting an additional $50 million toward repairs at hatcheries operated by nations and states. The agency also plans to increase annual funding for hatchery upkeep from $500,000 to $2.7 million.
Those are your headlines at this hour. I’m Colette Keith in the KIPI News center.
