Posts by Editor

By Dave Norton The seal of the State of Alaska. (ADN archive) This year, Alaska celebrates 70 years since our state constitution was created. And yet the official state seal that was adopted then fails to acknowledge Alaska’s Indigenous identities and all of our state’s resources. State seals are official symbols used to visually represent…

On December 1, 1962, a pivotal moment in Alaska’s energy history unfolded when the Standard Oil Company of California (SoCal) drilled the Beluga River Unit #1 well and uncovered what would become one of the state’s most productive natural gas fields—the Beluga River gas field, located just north of Cook Inlet and approximately 40 miles…

On November 29, 1975, President Gerald Ford visited Fairbanks, Alaska, to tour the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), including Pump Station #8, just before his historic trip to the People’s Republic of China. His visit highlighted the importance of energy independence, the nation’s growing oil infrastructure, and maintaining a balance with the Alaskan environment. Joined…

Thomas Smith March 2, 2011Original Story An oil discovery in the Moose Range wilderness on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula would bring a momentous change to the territory and have oil exploration implications far to the north. The discovery in Moose Range was the boost Alaska Territory woefully needed at a time when mining was down and…

June 22, 2017 by Elizabeth Harball and Zoë Sobel, Alaska’s Energy Desk Tom Marshall was a geologist and a land selection officer for Alaska in the 1960s. He was the driving force behind the state’s Prudhoe Bay selection. (Photo by Elizabeth Harball/Alaska’s Energy Desk) You could argue — and a lot of people do — that  Alaska…

Discovery of Prudhoe Bay February 2015 Heather Saucier, Explorer Correspondent Original Story Here It wasn’t easy, that’s for sure. But AAPG member Tom Marshall – a geologist who moved to Alaska in his early 30s, enamored by the idea of homesteading in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley – managed to change the future of the entire state with…

Original story Years before Alaska became a state, petroleum exploration companies drilled expensive dry holes. The Alaska Oil & Gas Development Company was among them. The Alaska territory’s first commercial oil well arrived in 1957, two years before statehood. The discovery well, drilled by the Richfield Oil Company – today known as ARCO – successfully drilled…

Katalla was on Controller Bay and accessible by water if the weather was right. This was rough country, but planned railroad service from Alaska’s prolific interior copper mines promised new opportunities. Unloading supplies at the dock in Katalla, Alaska Territory. Photo courtesy Alaska Digital Archives. As the Alaska Pacific Railway and Terminal Company started building…