In 1997, Alaska's number one environmental health problem was the unsafe water and sanitation facilities in over 135 of Alaska's communities—mostly Alaska Native villages. The people of these communities must carry their water from streams or watering points to their homes; people must use "honey buckets" or privies for disposal of human waste; and solid waste lagoons are usually a collection of human waste, trash, and junk, infested with flies and other carriers of disease. The government of Alaska, under then-governor Tony Knowles, established a goal of "putting the honey bucket in museums" by the year 2005. To accomplish this goal, in 1993 Knowles established the "Rural Sanitation Task Force" to guide the effort and has committed approximately $40 million per year in state and federal funds to finance new water, sewer, and solid waste facilities.
A tremendous backlog of contaminated sites from World War II (1939–45) military installations exists, and some of these sites many years later were discovered to be the source of contamination of groundwater, drinking water, and fisheries habitat. The Environmental Protection Agency's database listed 86 hazardous waste sites, six of which were on the National Priorities List, in Alaska in 2003. Sites have been identified and prioritized and an aggressive state/federal cleanup effort is underway. Two former pulp mill sites in southeast Alaska are also the subject of major cleanup efforts. In 2001, Alaska received $85,248,000 in federal grants from the EPA; EPA expenditures for procurement contracts in Alaska that year amounted to $788,000.
The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill highlighted the need for better prevention and response abilities. Since then these capabilities have been increased through stronger laws and more clearly defined roles among all the various governments and communities and greatly enhanced state regulatory agency capabilities. State-of-the-art tugs are now escorting tankers in Prince William Sound; these tankers are constantly monitored to ensure that they stay on course, and their crews have been increased to ensure redundancy of critical positions.
Oil development on the North Slope and in Cook Inlet, mining throughout the state, and timber harvesting largely in the southern regions continue to be areas of focus for environmental protection, as do winter violations of air quality standards for carbon monoxide in Anchorage and Fairbanks.