A Look at Obama's Remaining Cabinet Picks. President Obama on Wednesday chose Sally Jewell, chief executive of the outdoor retailer REI, to succeed Ken Salazar as Interior Secretary and may be on the verge of picking hotel heiress and longtime supporter Penny Pritzker for Commerce Secretary. Here is a look at the changes Obama has made to his Cabinet so far and the jobs he still needs to fill: Government Executive

  

 

Nomination Battles are Flourishing. President Barack Obama, who once fantasized about a dream Cabinet fashioned after Abraham Lincoln's "Team of Rivals," now faces the less glamorous task of filling his second-term Cabinet. And that process - like so many other polarizing subjects in Washington these days - has not been easy. Obama's rumored first choice for secretary of State, United Nations Ambassador Susan E. Rice, withdrew her name from consideration after Republicans launched a campaign against her because of public comments she made in the aftermath of the September terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. And Obama's selections for Defense, Treasury and the CIA have faced similar troubles as senators seek answers on everything from that terrorist attack to the classified drone program and the administration's outlook for Medicare. Congressional Quarterly

 

Alaska Delegation Responds to Obama Pick. Members of Alaska's congressional delegation offered restrained statements Wednesday about President Obama's nomination of the head of a national outdoors equipment retailer to be his interior secretary. Both Senator Lisa Murkowski and Senator Mark Begich are interested in reviewing Ms. Jewell's qualifications before supporting her nomination. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

 

The Arctic: Tequila Sunset. ON SEPTEMBER 16th 2012, at the height of the summer melt, the Arctic Ocean's ice sheet had shrunk to an area of 3.41m square kilometres (1.32m square miles), half what it was in 1979. And its volume had shrunk faster still, to a quarter of what it was in 1979, for the sheet is getting thinner as well as smaller. One culprit is global warming, which is fiercer at the poles than elsewhere. The world's average temperature in 2012 was nearly 0.5°C above the average for 1951-80. In the Arctic, it was up almost 2°C. The Economist

 

Energy and Commerce Dems Try to Force Science Discussion. House Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats made clear again today that they plan to spotlight climate change in the new Congress. Democrats offered two amendments during a markup of the panel's oversight plan for the new Congress that would have required the committee to hold hearings on the science of man-made climate change and on its effect on coastal areas. E&E News

 

Iceland: $10 M of Herring Die in Fjord. Nearly $10 million worth of herring were found dead in Iceland this week, and researchers say low oxygen levels in the water are likely to blame. Tens of thousands of herring were found dead in the shallow Kolgrafafjordur fjord for the second time this winter. Roughly a season's worth of herring has been lost. E&E News

 

Canada: Government Fails to Protect Against Pollution-Report. The Canadian government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper has failed to protect its citizens and the environment from oil and gas and mining pollution, the country's environment commissioner said in a report to Parliament. The shortcomings detailed in audits released yesterday by Federal Environment Commissioner Scott Vaughan included the absence of regulations on chemicals used by the oil and gas industry and the lack of preparedness for tanker accidents and oil spills. The government must provide more enforcement as investments in pipelines, offshore drilling, oil sands development, shale gas production and mining all continue to grow, he said. E&E News

 

Oceans: Debris Turns Alaska Coastline into 'Landfill.' Debris believed to be from the March 2011 tsunami in Japan has been washing up on Alaskan shores since last year, state officials and cleanup crews said. An aerial survey paid for by the state and conducted last summer inspected 2,500 miles of Alaska's coast. Debris was found on every beach photographed, said Elaine Busse Floyd of the state Department of Environmental Conservation. "They took over 8,000 pictures, and it was more widespread and in greater quantities than we even expected," Floyd said. E&E News

 

Polar Bears 'May Need to be Fed by Humans to Survive.' The day may soon come when some of the 19 polar bear populations in Canada, Alaska, Greenland, Norway, and Russia will have to be fed by humans in order to keep them alive during an extended ice-free season or prevent them from roaming into northern communities. Some bears may have to be placed in temporary holding compounds until it is cold enough for them to go back onto the sea ice. In worst-case scenarios, polar bears from southern regions may have to be relocated to more northerly climes that have sufficient sea ice cover. Far-fetched, draconian, and unlikely as some of these scenarios may sound, 12 scientists from Arctic countries are, for the first time, suggesting that the five nations with polar bear populations need to start considering these and other management strategies now that sea ice retreat is posing serious challenges to the bears' survival. In worst-case scenarios, the scientists say that polar bears with little chance of being rehabilitated or relocated may have to euthanized. Zoos, which are currently having a difficult time acquiring polar bears because of stringent regulations that prevent them from doing so, will at some point likely be offered as many animals as they can handle, according to the scientists. The Guardian

 

EU Seal Ban to Factor in its Arctic Council Bid. The European Union's ban on commercial seal hunt products will factor into Canada's decision whether to support it in its bid for a seat on the Arctic Council. The EU, along with 14 countries and organizations, is seeking observer status with the eight-member council, a high-level intergovernmental body made up of Arctic nations. Canada takes over as chair of the council in May for two years under Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq's leadership. In an interview with QMI Agency on Wednesday, the minister said Canada is still considering whether to support applications of countries including China, organizations such as Greenpeace and bodies like the EU. Canmore Leader

Alaska Native Language Archive, February 22, 2013, Fairbanks. Please join ANLA and the Rasmuson Library for a Grand Opening Celebration to dedicate the new ANLA public service point on the second floor of the Rasmuson Library. The event will begin with an open house featuring collections in the Alaska and Polar Regions Collections, the Oral History Collection, and of course ANLA. This will be followed by a special panel session entitled Honoring Alaska's Native Languages: Past, Present, Future, reflecting on 50 years of Native language archiving at UAF.

 

Tufts Energy Conference, March 2-3, 2013, Medford, MA.Availability, accessibility, affordability, and acceptability: these "Four As" are at the core of global energy security. As energy demands increase around the world, the global community must balance the "Four As" while keeping up with need. Thanks to major innovations in extraction technologies, fossil fuels remain an available and affordable global asset. Yet climate change, geopolitical risk, and environmental impacts are changing the energy debate and challenging the acceptability of fossil fuels. In the short term, emerging green technologies often lack accessibility, availability, and affordability. TEC 2013 will explore how both developing and developed countries are working to meet their energy needs, manage geopolitical risk, and ensure energy security. Through six diverse but interconnected panels, TEC 2013 will address a number of pressing questions.

 

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