Nathaniel Herz

2 weeks ago | newsfromthestates.com | Nathaniel Herz

Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration is threatening to strip a company of oil and gas leases in Cook Inlet outside Anchorage, saying it’s sitting on deposits that could delay an impending shortage of gas needed for heating and power generation in urban Alaska. The Alaska Department of Natural Resources recently placed in “default” the Cosmopolitan Unit, a block leased by Texas-based BlueCrest Energy, saying it hasn’t met commitments to drill.

3 weeks ago | kmxt.org | Nathaniel Herz

Editor's Note: This story was produced as part of the Pulitzer Center's StoryReach U.S. Fellowship and the Public Media Accountability Initiative, which supports investigative reporting at local media outlets around the country. It was reported and edited by Northern Journal and APM Reports, with support from Alaska Public Media.

3 weeks ago | juneauempire.com | Nathaniel Herz

A startup company is proposing to build a large Bitcoin mining operation on Alaska’s North Slope later this year that’s expected to be powered by the region’s abundant natural gas — a test of an operation that it wants to grow into the largest in the nation. The project from Wasilla-based Stax Capital Partners would be the first of its kind for the state, and the company wants to “create the playbook for sustainable, at-scale Bitcoin mining in Alaska,” said chief executive Sparrow Mahoney.

4 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Nathaniel Herz

Butch Laiti is president of the Douglas Indian Association, a tribal government in Juneau. The association has purchased a fishing boat and wants to buy a commercial fishing permit for its members to share, but a state law bars it from doing so. (Nathaniel Herz/Northern Journal)This story was produced as part of the Pulitzer Center’s StoryReach U.S. Fellowship and the Public Media Accountability Initiative, which supports investigative reporting at local media outlets around the country.

1 month ago | ktoo.org | Nathaniel Herz

For decades, an economic catastrophe has been unfolding in the Indigenous villages along the Gulf of Alaska, with lost jobs and the destruction of a traditional way of life: hauling fish from the sea. That destruction is still playing out. More than 80% of people who responded to a recent survey sponsored by an economic development nonprofit said that Southeast Alaska and Kodiak Island villages are in a “crisis of sustainability” because of lost access to fisheries.