The state’s DNR Public Access Assertion and Defense team is a group of roughly a dozen state workers who have, arguably, Alaska’s best public sector jobs. They spend large parts of their summers flying into and floating the state’s remote rivers and lakes, then spend the winters wielding the data they’ve gathered in court.

The city of Valdez and the owner of the trans-Alaska pipeline are locked in a dispute over environmental protections at the state’s crude oil shipping port.

Narwhal Exploration is planning to pick up where Royal Dutch Shell left off, probing for petroleum beneath the ocean.