Laborers, union reps and fuel executives gathered at the Grand Aleutian Hotel to hear the results. (Lauren Rosenthal/KUCB)

Update, 7 p.m. Wednesday: Delta Western fuel workers in Unalaska have voted in favor of unionizing.

The Inlandboatmen's Union of the Pacific got the support of a slim majority -- eight of 15 eligible employees. 

David Schaff of the National Labor Relations Board ran the election and tallied the votes. Schaff said there were some challenged ballots. But according to NLRB rules, there's no need to examine challenged ballots after a majority vote.

The Coast Guard has released the results of an investigation into the grounding of Shell's Kulluk drill rig at the end of their troubled Arctic drilling season.

The agency found that Royal Dutch Shell and its subcontractor, Edison Chouest, severely underestimated the risk of towing an unpropelled oil rig through the Gulf of Alaska in a winter storm in December 2012.

The Coast Guard and Unalaska police are investigating a fatal accident that took place aboard a 376-foot factory trawler this week.

Police chief Jamie Sunderland says crew members on the Alaska Ocean were doing some repair jobs at about 9 p.m. on Tuesday night.

"It looks like an acetylene tank was leaking inside of a cabinet, which was ignited by some nearby welding," says Sunderland.

The Redeemer at salvager Dan Magone's dock in Unalaska. /Credit: Lauren Rosenthal

Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell said in a speech Friday that delaying approval of the Keystone Pipeline will mean more oil tankers and oil spills in Alaskan waters.

Treadwell spoke at the annual Southwest Alaska Municipal Conference, or SWAMC, in Anchorage.

He said without a pipeline to the Lower 48, Canada will ship more of its oil west to Asia on the Great Circle Route.

Pipa Escalante/KUCB

Some Delta Western workers say the company cut off their access to some facilities after they went on strike in Feburary.

Walleye pollock is the Bering Sea’s biggest and most valuable fishery. But that doesn’t mean that the trawl fleet was ready and raring to go when the harvest opened in late January. 

Several Delta Western employees and ILWU members picketed on Sunday. / Credit: Pipa Escalante

After a visit from the company’s president, a handful of Delta Western fuel supply employees are pressing ahead with an effort to unionize.

It’s the same group that staged a walkout on February 16 to protest alleged mistreatment by managers. They want to join the Inlandboatmen’s Union -- the marine division of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

Kirk Payne is the president of Delta Western. He flew in from Anchorage this week to visit the Unalaska office. In an interview with KUCB, Payne said he had spoken with employees about alleged mistreatment.

Pipa Escalante/KUCB

A labor dispute is brewing in Unalaska between a fuel distributor and its staff. 

Seven Delta Western workers walked off the job early Sunday morning, and onto a picket line. They were joined by members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

The Delta Western employees want to join the ILWU. But they allege that the company has been trying to discourage them.

Three fishing companies that operate in Alaska have been fined about $275,000 by the Environmental Protection Agency for pollution violations stretching back to 2008. 

The EPA penalized Blue North Fisheries, the Fishing Company of Alaska, and Golden Fleece Incorporated for failing to monitor and record seafood waste discharges from four of their processing vessels.