Annual Budget Guidance Stresses Performance and Priority Goals. The Office of Management and Budget's release of its annual technical guidance for agencies preparing their fiscal 2014 budgets includes new instructions on implementing the goal-setting and progress measures required under the 2010 Government Performance and Results Modernization Act. The 800-page policy compendium titled "Circular No. A-11" also urges federal managers to consider their agency's impact on the economy. In an Aug. 3 memorandum to agencies heads, acting OMB Director Jeffrey Zients wrote, "your budget submission to OMB should further the president's goals of spurring job creation and job growth and putting the [nation] on a path to fiscal sustainability. You will need to take a close look at all of your programs, and together we will have to make the hard decisions necessary to create room for the most effective investments in areas critical to economic growth and job creation." Government Executive 

Arctic Sea Ice Stubbornly Stuck Near Record-Low Levels. It may not feel like it in Alaska -- where the state's largest city of Anchorage just experienced the fourth-coldest July on record and farmers statewide are having trouble growing crops in the damp chill -- but the Earth is pretty warm nowadays. The Lower 48 just experienced the warmest month ever on record, and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) reported Wednesday that Arctic sea ice levels remained well below average in July. In its most recent analysis of Arctic sea ice, the center said the ice coverage was a little more than 3 million square miles, nearly 1 million square miles less than the average from 1979-2000. It's just 7,700 square miles larger than last July's record low. Alaska Dispatch

Norway's Emerging Arctic Capital. Norway's northern city of Tromsø has been called "The Paris of the North" for years, but now it's taking on entirely new significance as the "Capital of the Arctic." The country's venerable coastal shipping line still calls twice a day like clockwork, and we thought it was time to pay a visit, too. News and Views from Norway 

Alaska Groups Join Challenge of EPA Oil Dispersant Rules. As Shell Oil continues its years-long wait to conduct offshore exploration in Alaska's Arctic, and as Cook Inlet oil and gas activity undergoes a renaissance, two Alaska-based environmental groups have joined a lawsuit challenging U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulation of chemical dispersants used to break up oil spills. Such dispersants sprang to public prominence during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, into which some 2 million gallons of dispersants were deployed. In the aftermath, people who felt the impact of releasing the chemicals into the Gulf was poorly understood have petitioned the EPA to initiate comprehensive safety testing and toxicity research of the chemicals, but new rules have not yet been instituted. Alaska Dispatch 

Circumpolar Leaders Gather for Arctic Imperative Summit: Summit Convenes Decision-Makers on Infrastructure Investment, Natural Resources, Policy and Security During Time of Rapid Arctic Change. Rapid change in the Arctic due to melting sea ice brings new opportunities and challenges. To address the complex Arctic agenda, an influential mix of international, U.S. and local leaders will convene at the second Arctic Imperative Summit, August 24-27, 2012, in Anchorage and Girdwood, Alaska. MISSION: Sharpening the world's focus on the short-term opportunities and long-term challenges of Arctic development, the Summit features a multidisciplinary group of experts. By engaging with decision-makers from all sectors, Arctic leaders will be in a stronger position to influence responsible development decisions on their shores. PR Newswire 

Ice Islands A Risk for Offshore Rigs in the Arctic: researcher: "It's alarming." Massive ice blocks breaking off Greenland's Petermann Glacier could eventually crash into future offshore gas and oil rigs - raising a major concern for the oil and gas industry. That's why scientists from Carleton University and the research network Arctic Net want to study the movement of such gigantic icebergs, or ice islands. "There hasn't been anything developed uniquely for these ice islands. So that's why we're trying to find more information on dimensions and also the ways these ice islands drift and deteriorate," said Carleton University graduate student Anna Crawford, who spearheaded the research project, at an Aug. 4 presentation at Nunavut Arctic College in Iqaluit. Nunatsiaq Online