On December 23, 2009, Crowley Maritime Corporation’s tugboat Pathfinder was serving as an ice scout vessel in Prince William Sound. At about 6:18 pm that evening, the 136-foot vessel ran aground on Bligh Reef, the same reef on which the Exxon Valdez grounded twenty years earlier. The Pathfinder grounding investigation released by Coast Guard showed […]
Alaska Airlines Salmon Thirty Salmon Fli...
Working with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (AMSI), Alaska Airlines launched an updated version of its fish themed Boeing 737-800, the “Salmon Thirty Salmon” to replace their original effort introduced in 2005. The iridescent, three-dimensional King salmon boasts 3,500 scales, each applied by Associated Painters of Oklahoma City. A crew of eight took nearly a […]
Dramatic Arctic Sea Ice Thinning Seen in...
Researchers from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the University of Washington Seattle have completed a comprehensive survey that shows dramatic Arctic sea ice thinning between the years of 2004 to 2008. The once dominant and thicker multi-year ice is being supplanted by thinner seasonal ice. Data for the study was provided by […]
Izembek Refuge Access Road Rejected
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rejected a land exchange proposed to establish a road corridor through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. This decision was contained in the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that evaluated the proposed road system. A land exchange needed to move the Izembek Refuge access road project forward will not be […]
PWS Escort Tug Winch, Towline and Tether...
As with many other coastal regions of the world, Prince William Sound in Alaska is utilized for the marine transportation of crude oil. Crude is delivered to Port Valdez via the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and shipped by ocean going tankers to ports along the west coast of the United States. After the disastrous grounding of the […]
Tow Plows to be Tested in Alaska
Tow plows to be tested in Alaska communities this spring. Juneau and Soldotna residents will be the first drivers to encounter these snow plows that clear two lanes of a road at a time. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (ADOT&PF) is testing the equipment in an effort to clear snow covered roads […]