Two companies plan to construct the first primary aluminum plant to be built in the United States in almost 50 years, the companies said on Monday, adding once complete, the smelter in Inola, Oklahoma will be the largest ever primary aluminum production plant in the U.S. When the smelter in Oklahoma is completed by 2030, […]
US President Donald Trump has opened large areas of Alaska, including the Gulf of Alaska just north of the BC border to oil leases. The additional leases also allow more drilling the Arctic. If drilling and production does go ahead, which isn't certain, that might also mean there could be even more oil tanker traffic […]
In 1999, a tropical fungus called by scientists Cryptococcus gattii unexpectedly appeared on Vancouver Island. Spores from the fungus can cause a sometimes fatal pneumonia-like illness in humans, cats, dogs and marine mammals, including porpoises and dolphins. There is one reported case of the fungus infecting a great blue heron. Normally, the fungus is most […]
Most historians and archaeologists believe that the First Peoples to arrive in North America came down the West Coast on what they now call the “kelp highway.” The review paper “The First Americans” was published this week in the prestigious journal Science. Evidence from archaeological sites from the British Columbia coast to the southern tip […]
UPDATED with comments from District of Kitimat, Terrace and the Gitga'at Nation A preliminary seismic hazard assessment by Natural Resources Canada has identified possible earthquake scenarios for the Douglas Channel near Hartley Bay, Terrace and Bella Bella. The same studies indicate that while Kitimat may not be directly in a seismic zone prolonged earthquakes cause […]
The Ice Age First Nations in the interior of Alaska relied more heavily on salmon and freshwater fish in their diets than previously thought, according to a new study from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. First Nations of the Pacific Coast have always recognized the value of the salmon. Archaeologists have used new techniques to […]
With climate change, the oceans are becoming more acid and that is a threat to the dungeness crab, according to a study by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The study says ocean acidification expected to accompany climate change may slow development and reduce survival of the larval stages of Dungeness crab. The dungeness […]
Scientists have identified a new species of a strange marine mammal group that lived on the Pacific Coast between 33 million years ago and 10 million years ago. The new specimens -- from at least four individuals -- were recovered from Unalaska, in theAleutians. The Desmostylians, unlike other marine mammals species alive today -- such […]
“Very low levels” of crude oil from the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska, are a threat to the survival of herring and pink salmon that spawn in the region, according to a study released today by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The study shows that embryonic salmon and herring […]
Ninety-seven years ago, long before the main townsite was founded in the 1950s, (the Haisla Nation, of course, had been here for thousands of years) Kitimat was to play a short, now forgotten and unlucky role in the First World War with the launch of a vessel in New Westminster called the War Kitimat as […]