x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Northern Journal

Alaska is defined by its environment and its natural resources — the fish in its rivers, the oil and minerals buried underground. The Northern Journal podcast digs into those subjects, with interviews with those who know them best.

news natural sciences

All Episodes

57:49

Behind the scenes at the Anchorage Trump-Putin summit

Northern Journal ·

2025/08/20

Two of the most powerful political leaders in the world met in Anchorage last week. Northern Journal staff was out of town, but Anchorage Daily News reporter Zach Hughes was on site. In this episode, he gives us a behind-the-scenes look at how the Trump-Putin summit developed, and how it all went down — from reporters assembling on school buses to stealth bomber flyovers.

en

40:57

Lisa Murkowski: 'The problem with standing on...

Northern Journal ·

2025/07/20

Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has been in the news in recent weeks for her decisive vote on President Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill." She's also been featured prominently on national television shows, radio and podcasts, as part of a promotional tour for her new book: Far From Home.In this episode, Murkowski stops in to the Northern Journal podcast. We start by talking about her new book and her style of politics, and then, around 17:55, we get into her 'yes' vote on Trump's

en

44:37

What happens when the trans-Alaska pipeline shuts...

Northern Journal ·

2025/07/10

This episode delves into a secret corner of Alaska's oil and gas industry — an obscure, complicated but important realm where there are billions of dollars at stake. Our two guests have written a newly published paper for the Alaska Law Review that examines the future of the trans-Alaska pipeline — what happens when it's ready to be decommissioned, who's going to pay, and how the state could work to make sure it's not left holding the bag.Catherine Rocchi is regulatory lead at the Alaska

en

63:28

Captain Cook's name is everywhere in Alaska. A new...

Northern Journal ·

2025/06/04

If you live in Alaska, you likely have some awareness of Captain James Cook — at least because his name is on one of Anchorage's largest hotels, along with the body of water just offshore of the city, Cook Inlet. A new biography, The Wide Wide Sea, recounts the entirety of Cook's expedition that took him to Alaska, and puts the explorer in a new context that I think many Northern Journal listeners will appreciate. In this episode, we hear from the book's author, Hampton Sides, who conducted

en

53:41

Is there light at the tunnel for Alaska's fishing...

Northern Journal ·

2025/05/29

It's been a rough few years for Alaska's fishing industry. Oversupply, competition from farmed and Russian salmon, inflation and rising interest rates — all of these things have combined to put a real hurt on fishermen and processing companies.As the summer salmon season kicks off, there are some glimmers of hope that things are turning around. But there are also still some big questions and challenges looming over the industry. We break them down here, courtesy of an all-star group of

en

64:23

The Alaska LNG project: Is it real?

Northern Journal ·

2025/05/06

We're excited to revive the Northern Journal podcast for its second season. Have ideas for guests and subjects? Email host Nat Herz at nat[at]northernjournal.com.If you like what you hear, please consider a paid Northern Journal membership.Now, for the good stuff:If you're listening to this podcast, I'm willing to bet you've heard about the Alaska LNG export project — a $44 billion, state-sponsored megadevelopment that would pipe, liquefy and ship natural gas from Alaska's North Slope for

en

54:34

An hour with Anchorage's new mayor, Suzanne LaFrance

Northern Journal ·

2024/07/11

Anchorage's new mayor, Suzanne LaFrance, has pledged to fix what she describes as a broken city hall. The team that she's hired so far is a group of technocratic policy nerd all-stars, and their three year term will function as a kind of test: Can an administration rooted in professional competence and policy expertise make meaningful progress in solving some of the deep-rooted, intractable problems facing the city? Namely, its homelessness crisis, but also the housing crunch, a looming

en

62:12

A truly mammoth podcast

Northern Journal ·

2024/06/27

There may not be any subject as serious as the one the last episode of this podcast covered — the emotional issue of salmon bycatch. So, now it's time to balance out that seriousness with frivolousness. And we mean serious frivolousness.To be precise: This episode is about mammoth resurrection. And the possible transplantation and reintroduction of other charismatic megafauna to Alaska on a massive scale.For this story to make sense, you have to read the original Northern Journal story

en

87:07

The trawlers speak — another side of the Bering Sea...

Northern Journal ·

2024/06/27

If you listen to this podcast, you probably know about "bycatch," the accidental harvest of fish that aren't boats' target species. The issue — specifically, of salmon bycatch by Bering Sea whitefish trawlers — has become an all-consuming debate for some Alaska commercial and subsistence fishermen, along with leaders of Washington-based seafood companies and Southwest Alaska tribes. This episode features a rare interview with two officials from Bering Sea trawling-related businesses, Hunter

en

61:44

Inside Alaska's natural gas crisis, with a natural...

Northern Journal ·

2024/06/06

For the past two years, we've been hearing about the impending shortage of the locally produced natural gas that we use to heat our homes and generate our electricity in Southcentral Alaska. But there's been little concrete information about how utilities plan to solve the problem. Now, we're hearing that supply gaps are developing sooner than originally expected — as soon as two winters from now. This recent piece from Erin McKittrick is a good overview.In this episode of the Northern

en

64:37

Eklutna 2.0: A robust defense from the dam owners

Northern Journal ·

2024/05/11

Last month, we heard outrage from conservation advocate Brad Meiklejohn and tribal leader Aaron Leggett; those two guests thought utilities' new proposed plans to fix the Anchorage-area Eklutna hydroelectric project's harms to salmon were inadequate.Now, it's time to hear directly from those utilities, which own the project at scenic Eklutna Lake. Guests on this episode include two utility spokespersons, Julie Hasquet from Chugach Electric Association and Julie Estey from Matanuska Electric

en

44:30

How the state is letting oil platforms "rust away"...

Northern Journal ·

2024/05/07

Alaska regulators first said it was time for the Spurr platform, offshore from Anchorage in Cook Inlet, to be removed in 1992. Then, they backed down, and 30 years later, it remains in the water, where it hasn't produced a single drop of oil since. The history of Spurr and five other shuttered Cook Inlet platforms are featured in a new story from Nat. It's not a Northern Journal piece — it was produced with Alaska Public Media and APM Reports — but the powers that be signed off on a podcast

en

55:20

The Bering Sea whale hunters and the East Coast...

Northern Journal ·

2024/05/04

This episode features Pete Chelkowski, one of the two directors of One with the Whale — a new documentary that features the story of Chris Apassingok, a Yup'ik whale hunter from St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. Apassingok was 16 when he caught a bowhead and was subsequently subjected to a campaign of attacks and death threats initiated by an animal rights activist.One with the Whale is a rousing story, a celebration of Indigenous subsistence culture and a rural Alaska coming of age

en

56:52

What the heck is happening with the Eklutna River?

Northern Journal ·

2024/04/26

Eklutna Lake is a jewel of Anchorage recreation. It's also the source of some of the electricity used by city residents. A major policymaking process has been underway for the past several years to address the Eklutna hydroelectric project's effects on salmon, and it's now coming to its conclusion with intense controversy.This is a complicated story with many different stakeholders. But two people who have been among the most involved are Aaron Leggett, head of Eklutna's tribal government,

en

74:38

"I cannot introduce my son to salmon": A conversation...

Northern Journal ·

2024/04/26

Brooke Woods is a longtime Yukon River salmon advocate. She is Koyukon Athabascan and a tribal member of the community of Rampart, which is on the Yukon in Interior Alaska, about 80 miles northwest of Fairbanks.She joins the Northern Journal podcast to share a personal perspective on Yukon River salmon declines, and on management measures to address them. Bathsheba Demuth, the Brown University environmental historian who discussed the same issues on a previous episode, also joins us — if

en

45:22

The wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't...

Northern Journal ·

2024/04/13

Researchers Paul Denholm and Marty Schwarz just published a new study that says urban Alaska could save a lot of money by using much more wind and solar power to generate its electricity. The interesting part: They don't ignore the fact that it would take a lot of effort to make sure the system still works when the wind stops blowing and the sun stops shining, as we all know can happen periodically. They join the Northern Journal podcast for a discussion about their findings.If you like

en

60:45

A trip down the Yukon River with historian Bathsheba...

Northern Journal ·

2024/04/13

Bathsheba Demuth is an environmental historian. Her book Floating Coast explored the Bering Strait region from both the Alaska and Russian sides. Now, she's writing a book about the Yukon River, and recently co-wrote a piece for Northern Journal about salmon declines and how fishing — and fishing restrictions — are managed by the U.S. and Canadian governments. She joins the Northern Journal podcast to talk about her research and her summer reporting from the river last year.If you like this

en

17 results

Similar Podcasts

Expres Ráno

Expres FM

PBS News Hour - Full Show

PBS News

CD Voice

China Daily

Israel Today: Ongoing War Report

Noa Levi

Jeffrey Epstein: The Coverup Chronicles

Bobby Capucci