Oil Spills

ConocoPhillips has agreed to pay more than $200,000 in state and federal fines to settle environmental claims related to two oil spills from corroded pipelines at its Kuparuk River oil field in 2006 and 2007, regulatory agencies said Monday. The...

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will speak in New Orleans about the government's $4.5 billion settlement with BP over the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.     The Department of Justice said Holder and top U.S. officials will hold a news...

The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas are believed to contain more recoverable oil than Alaska's Prudhoe Bay - and Prudhoe Bay, you'll recall, is the greatest oil find in North American history. So it was no small news today (Thursday) when -- for the first...

Gale force winds have now died down in Unalaska, and a preliminary examination of the hull of the drilling vessel "Noble Discoverer" has turned up no sign of damage. Just yesterday (Saturday), the 14-thousand ton RIG drifted dangerously close to shore in...

A spokesman for Shell Alaska said late Monday night that divers found no signs that one of its drilling ships grounded while being adrift Saturday evening. Curtis Smith said the underwater inspection done Monday showed "there was no contact with the...

Dubbed a "window to the sea," the Alaska SeaLife Center is a big destination for residents and visitors to the Last Frontier. But Alaska’s only public aquarium is more than just a tourist attraction -- it’s a facility where dozens of...

A coalition of conservation groups is suing the federal government over its approval of oil spill response plans for an Arctic Ocean drilling program.     The lawsuit does not seek to stop Shell Oil from beginning to drill this summer as planned.    ...

Twenty three years ago on March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker carrying 53 million gallons of crude oil, slammed into a reef in Prince William Sound causing one of the worst environmental disasters ever.      It's estimated the tanker...

The Obama administration approved Shell’s oil spill response plan for the Beaufort Sea on Wednesday. It was one of two outstanding federal permissions the company needs to proceed with its Arctic offshore drilling program this summer. Shell is...

The federal government has signed off on Shell Oil Co.'s spill response plan for the Chukchi Sea, clearing a major hurdle for the Houston oil giant to begin drilling vast Arctic Ocean reserves off Alaska's coast during the 2012 summer open water season...

A U.S. District Court judge has dismissed the federal government's argument that a BP subsidiary violated its probation after an oil spill because of another spill on Alaska's North Slope. Judge Ralph Beistline also lifted BP Exploration Alaska, Inc.'s...

Opponents of Shell Oil’s plans to explore for oil in arctic waters say Alaskans should pay attention to what’s happening in Nigeria, where Shell has shut down its Bonga Oil Field. The well is located about 75 miles offshore, but Shell says it...