Alaska and Hawaii

"Hawaiian Electric Industries and other defendants in lawsuits over the Maui wildfires in Hawaii have tentatively agreed to pay more than $4 billion in settlement amount, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter."

"A federal court in Alaska overturned on Tuesday night an oil and gas lease sale that had been mandated by the Biden administration's signature climate law as part of a political compromise, on grounds that the U.S. government violated the law when holding the sale."

"Federal officials are proposing a new set of protections in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. If approved, they could come atop the rules that Bureau of Land Management finalized this spring to limit oil and gas drilling on more than half of the giant petroleum reserve."

"The Biden administration has reinstated controversial Trump-era rules allowing what critics say are “barbaric” hunting practices that target bears and wolves, including pups or cubs, on federal land in Alaska.

"The melting of Alaska’s Juneau icefield, home to more than 1,000 glaciers, is accelerating. The snow covered area is now shrinking 4.6 times faster than it was in the 1980s, according to a new study."

"The Biden administration is dealing Alaska and its congressional delegation a significant blow, rejecting a pivotal mining road and proposing to revoke Trump-era orders that would have opened up 28 million acres of federal land to energy development and mining."

"About two years after 13 children and teens sued Hawaii over the threat posed by climate change, both sides reached a settlement that includes an ambitious requirement to decarbonize the state’s transportation system over the next 21 years."

"Every week at the Maui airport, a small helicopter gets loaded with 250,000 passengers. They're male mosquitoes, key players in a strategy that could be the last, best hope for Hawaii's endangered birds."

"HONOLULU — A community-led group formed to provide public oversight of the Navy’s Red Hill fuel facility will be shut down after the committee refused to cede control of the meetings to the military."