Royalty-Sharing Effort Stalls Panel's Action on Offshore Drilling Overhaul.

Greenland Glacier Melting Faster Than Expected. A key glacier in Greenland is melting faster than previously expected, according to findings by a team of academics, including Dr Edward Hanna from University of Sheffield. Dr Hanna, from the University of Sheffield's Department of Geography, was part of a team of researchers that also included Dr Sebastian Mernild from the Los Alamos Laboratory, USA, and Professor Niels Tvis Knudsen from the University of Aarhus, Denmark. The team´s new findings present crucial insight into the effects of climate change. Science Daily

North Sea Spill Reveals Risks of Drilling in the More Remote, Less Regulated Arctic. One year after BP capped its blown out well in the Gulf of Mexico, another spill has dumped oil into yet another sea. Nearly 55,000 gallons of oil have leaked from a Royal Dutch Shell drilling platform off the coast of Scotland. Once again we are faced with the reality that offshore drilling is an inherently perilous venture. The dangers in this industry will never go away. The question is: are we prepared to deal with them? Huffington Post 

Ottawa Must Pay to be Player Up North: If Canada Wants to Shape Events in the Arctic, It Will Cost Billions. A senior Canadian Army officer - Lt.-Gen. Walter Semianiw - is to travel to Moscow and other northern European capitals this fall for discussions about the Arctic. This development mocks the ludicrous media hype suggesting that there is a bitter rivalry involving Canada, Russia, the United States and Denmark (Greenland) over their sometimes competing claims and interests in the Arctic. Edmonton Journal

In the Arctic Race, The U.S. Lags Behind. Seattle is the home of the U.S. Coast Guard's entire fleet of polar-class icebreakers. Both of them. Capt. George Pellissier commands both the Polar Sea and the Polar Star. He has spent much of his career on these ships, which were built in Seattle in the 1970s. "The two ships are almost identical. They were built a year apart. Our design is to break 6 feet of ice continuously, and we can break up to 21 feet of ice," Pellissier says, referring to the thick "pressure ridges" that can form between sheets of ice in the waters north of Alaska, and which can trap and even crush less sturdy vessels. NPR

Groups Say Chukchi Sea Drilling Plan Still Flawed. The federal agency overseeing offshore petroleum drilling said Thursday it has corrected flaws a federal judge cited in environmental work ahead of a 2008 lease sale off Alaska's northwest coast. Environmental and Alaska Native groups who sued to block drilling in the Chukchi Sea disagree. They say the Bureau of Ocean Energy, Management, Regulation and Enforcement still has not addressed crucial information gaps, such as how drilling will impact polar bear, walrus and other species affected by global warming, and how petroleum companies will clean up spills in ice-choked waters. Business Week 

Walrus Herds Gather on Alaska's Northwest Shore. A contractor taking part in federal marine mammal aerial surveys over the Chukchi Sea spotted about 5,000 walruses Wednesday on a beach north of Point Lay. A second herd of 3,000 walruses rested a short distance away. In winter, Pacific walruses are found at the edge of sea ice in the Bering Sea. Older males remain in the Bering Sea for the summer, but mothers and their young ride the edge of sea ice as it melts north through the Bering Strait and into the Chukchi Sea. Female walruses and their young have come ashore during late summer and fall in four of the last five years on Alaska's northwest coast. The phenomenon began after sea ice melted far beyond the relatively shallow continental shelf to waters of the deep Arctic Basin. PhyOrg.com 

Empire Editorial: Icebreakers: Save the old ones, build more new ones. Our nation's lack of preparedness in a key area of national security and commerce is shocking. Emerging global shipping lanes have drawn the attention of all Arctic nations as polar ice recedes. Every nation with a claim is pressing that claim. Russia announced in July it would send troops into the far north, joining Finland, Norway and Sweden, which already have troops stationed to defend their interests. Countries are hungry to explore for mineral, oil and other natural resources and seek new fishing grounds. Juneau Empire  

Risks Still Too Great for Shell's Arctic Offshore Plans. More than a year later after the BP oil spill, the environmental degradation from the Deepwater Horizon disaster lingers in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil can still be found on nearly 500 miles of Gulf coastline, and an enormous dead zone remains at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Yet most Americans have moved on from images of the burning rig, oiled birds, and the 11 men who lost their lives. And in a crucial and dangerous way, Washington has also moved on. Early this month, the Obama administration approved Shell Oil's plans to drill four exploratory wells in America's Arctic Ocean. Shell's plans are the most aggressive to date in a region largely untouched by humankind, and where there has never been significant ocean drilling. The approval was given, despite the fact that there is no proven way to clean up oil spilled in an icy environment. US says not enough known about the Arctic. What's more, America's own science experts - the United States Geological Survey - say it's "difficult, if not impossible" to make informed decisions about drilling in the Arctic because too much remains unknown about the Arctic's marine environment and the wildlife that depend on it. Alaska Dispatch 

Navy Assesses Strategic Demands in Arctic. The Navy has completed its latest assessment of the Arctic region, where melting ice is raising strategic questions as well as commercial opportunities. "In the past, the Arctic was largely inaccessible, but increased seasonal melting of the sea ice is opening the region and creating opportunities for oil and gas exploration, maritime shipping, commercial fishing and tourism," Rear Adm. David Titley, director of the Navy's task force for climate change, said in a statement Tuesday. "We are confronted by a new ocean for the first time in 500 years." Military.com