Baucus Retirement Could Put Landrieu in Top Energy Spot. The musical chairmanship game set off by Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus' retirement could put one of the Democrats' biggest oil and gas industry boosters in charge of the Energy panel - and simultaneously improve her re-election chances. Louisiana Democrat Mary L. Landrieuis currently third in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee's pecking order, following Chairman Ron Wyden of Oregon and South Dakota's Tim Johnson, who is also retiring at the end of his term. Wyden is next in line for the Finance Committee gavel in the 114th Congress - an opening on one of the most powerful committees in Congress that could be hard for the tax policy technocrat to pass up.Roll Call 

"State of the Air 2013" Report Finds Anchorage's Air Quality Health and Fairbanks' Air Failing. The American Lung Association's "State of the Air 2013" report  finds the air quality in Anchorage, and nationwide, continues the long-term trend to much healthier air. The Fairbanks North Star Borough remains a notable exception showing high levels of short-term and annual particle pollution. Fairbanks is the 11th-most polluted city for short-term particle pollution and tied as the 18th-most polluted city in the nation for year-round levels of particle pollution. Particle pollution levels can spike dangerously for hours to weeks on end (short-term) or remain at unhealthy levels on average every day (year-round). Anchorage Daily News

Flush with $95 Million, Mega-Dam Project in Alaska Advances. Fresh funding will allow a state agency to continue moving forward with plans to build what would be the second-tallest dam in the country, just behind California's 770-foot Oroville dam. Proponents of the Susitna-Watana Hydro project in Southcentral Alaska pushed hard during the recent legislative sessions to funnel money toward the mega project. They were able to secure further state investment during a session in which lawmakers approved a cut to state oil revenue worth about a billion or more per year. Despite the state's shrinking revenue expectations, the Susitna dam project received $95.2 million in Alaska's most recent capital budget, which totaled $2.2 billion, down nearly $1 billion from the previous year. Alaska Dispatch

The Arctic Council Needs to Open Up. [Opinion] The Arctic Council is under increasing pressure. Set up as an intergovernmental forum to promote cooperation among Arctic states, the Council is failing to adequately accommodate rising interest from outside the region. As a result, it is no longer the only Arctic forum in town. On 15 April, the President of Iceland, Ólafur Grímsson, proudly announced the official launch of a new forum: the Arctic Circle. In the last decade, interest in the High North has surged beyond the traditional Arctic coastal states. South Korea is busy building icebreakers, China is stepping up its polar research efforts and the European Union published its first Arctic strategy in 2008. EurActiv

Arctic Breeding Birds Need Our Attention. [Opinion] Earth Day this year has been dedicated to presenting "the face of climate change." Nowhere is this face more on view than in Arctic Alaska. Like the birds I study, I migrate to this fantastic landscape every summer. At 231,000 square kilometers, Arctic Alaska is larger than Minnesota and encompasses most of the northern portion of the state and the entire Arctic coastal plain. National Geographic

Should Parnell's 'Choose Respect' Campaign be Named 'More Jail Time?' [Opinion] Our Republican governor would like you to think that his "choose respect" campaign is all about the feel-good concept of ending violence. But in reality his actions come down to one thing: more jail. Bush Alaska should be horrified. More jail time, more prosecutors and more criminal laws will not help Bush Alaska, but instead his attack is crippling our youth. Alaska Dispatch

Rosneft Plans More Arctic Exploration to Boost Share Value. OAO Rosneft (ROSN) said a plan to step up Arctic exploration will help increase shareholder value at the same time the world's largest publicly traded oil producer starts exporting liquefied natural gas. Rosneft will export its first LNG from a planned Far East project in 2018. The producer, which is seeking to double gas output by 2020, is targeting clients in Asia, where prices for the fuel are higher. Bloomberg

Sea Ice Loss Affects Much More Than Just The Arctic. Sea ice is any form of ice found at sea that originated from the freezing of sea water. It is the most visible feature of the Arctic Ocean, with its extent waxing and waning with the seasons. Ice thickness is highly variable, ranging from a thin veneer to tens of meters. While the existence of sea ice reflects the cold conditions inherent to high latitudes, sea ice also strongly modulates the energy budget and climate of the Arctic and beyond, particularly because it is white, and hence reflects much of the sun's energy back to space (it has a high albedo) and also through acting as a lid, insulating the underlying ocean from a generally much colder atmosphere. Alaska Dispatch

Mammal and Bug Food Co-Op in the High Arctic. Who would have thought that two very different species, a small insect and a furry alpine mammal, would develop a shared food arrangement in the far North? University of Alberta researchers were certainly surprised when they discovered the unusual response of pikas to patches of vegetation that had previously been grazed on by caterpillars from a species normally found in the high Arctic. Science Daily

Dr. Rebecca Lent to Join the Marine Mammal Commission in June 2013. Dr. Rebecca Lent will join the Marine Mammal Commission as Executive Director beginning 1 June 2013, following the retirement of its current director, Dr. Timothy Ragen. Dr. Lent joins the Commission after serving for more than 20 years with NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, most recently as Director of the Office for International Affairs. Marine Mammal Commission

Railways to Secure Arctic Development. By 2020 a large transport line is going to be built in Russia. The future railway is called "The Northern Latitude Route" (NLR) and will stretch along the Arctic coast of Russia across the entire Siberia from the east to the west. It is expected that the new railroad will boost cargo turnover between Siberian sea ports and will also become an 800-km support transport line for the Northern Sea Route. The Northern Latitude Route will provide access to the main oil and gas fields in Siberia, that are planned to be developed in the nearest future, including offshore fields. NLR will then ensure the shortest way for transportation of hydrocarbons.  Barents Nova

Canadian Armed Forces Achieve Objectives During High Arctic Operations Operation Nunalivut 2013, one of the major sovereignty operations conducted every year by the Canadian Armed Forces in the High Arctic, concluded today with a closing ceremony and parade at Task Force Nunalivut Headquarters in Resolute Bay. This year's operation took place in the northwestern portion of the Arctic Archipelago, with long-range sovereignty patrols by air, and over land and sea ice. The operation extended from Resolute Bay west to Mould Bay, Northwest Territories, and north to Isachsen, on Ellef Ringnes Island, Nunavut, and Tanquary Fjord, on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut. MarketWire

No formal legislative action was taken on Arctic legislation yesterday.