Alaska and Hawaii

"A growing number of Democrats in Congress want to move ahead with the climate portion of President Biden’s stalled spending bill, saying the urgency of a warming planet demands action and they believe they can muster enough votes to muscle it past Republican opposition."

"After initially resisting, the U.S. Navy will comply with Hawaii’s order to remove fuel from a massive underground storage tank facility near Pearl Harbor blamed for contaminating drinking water, officials said Tuesday."

"The Biden administration announced on Monday that it will reverse a Trump-era policy that opened up vast swathes of Arctic Alaska land to new oil development."

"Hawaii’s Department of Health on Monday upheld the governor’s order requiring the Navy to drain massive World War II-era fuel tanks after oil leaking from the aging facility contaminated Pearl Harbor’s tap water."

"The Sitka spruce soaring more than 180 feet skyward has stood on this spot on Prince of Wales Island for centuries. While fierce winds have contorted the towering trunks of its neighbors, the spruce’s trunk is ramrod straight. Standing apart from the rest of the canopy, it ascends to the height of a 17-story building."

"Forces profound and alarming are reshaping the upper reaches of the North Pacific and Arctic oceans, breaking the food chain that supports billions of creatures and one of the world’s most important fisheries."

"When the highway and pipeline were planned in the 1970s, the debris “lobes” were frozen solid. Now, they’re monsters devouring everything in their paths."

"Methane continues to escape at a high rate from oil and gas operations in the Permian Basin, according to an aerial survey released Tuesday that detected major methane plumes from 40% of 900 sites that were measured. The latest research conducted by the Environmental Defense Fund via helicopter during the first two weeks of November found that 14% of those plumes were the result of malfunctioning flares."

"On a moonless summer night in Hawaii, krill, fish and crabs swirl through a beam of light as two researchers peer into the water above a vibrant reef. Minutes later, like clockwork, they see eggs and sperm from spawning coral drifting past their boat. They scoop up the fishy-smelling blobs and put them in test tubes."

"The only reliable snowy owl breeding site in the United States has a conspicuous shortage of owls."