ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the nature of Alaska environmental issues and shows how they are connected to each other and to the fabric of choices Alaskans have before them. It discusses some critical characteristics of Alaska's natural environments, the roots of environmental controversies, existing policy approaches to environmental management in the North, and the implications of selected present and prospective resource activities to environmental quality. Cold temperature is one of the few environmental characteristics that affect the entire state. In winter, air temperature inversions become a significant environmental feature in the interior region of the state. The explosion in federal environmental legislation in the 1970s deepened the state's involvement in the intricacies of standards, regulations, grants, permit procedures, and environmental planning processes at all levels. Like the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act gives the federal government primary authority in environmental pollution control.
