Are you ever on social media and you see articles titled something like “All the Things You’ve Been Doing Wrong Your Entire Life” or “Apparently eating chips isn’t as simple as popping them inside your mouth. No, there is a proper way to truly enjoy these crispy snacks.”
Now if there can be a right and wrong way to eat a pringle, it’s not surprising we get a lot of questions on the right way to advocate. And we’ve all heard someone tell us that the best tactic is to call your representative or to write detailed comments or some other magic bullet that will be most successful.
We have good news and bad news here. First, the bad news: there’s no magic answer – we can’t tell you the absolute best way to effect change. But, good news, in so many ways you just need to do something!
Every time people don’t act because they didn’t know how to advocate, we lose some of our collective power to effect change for the Cook Inlet watershed and our communities.
So if you want help, we are here! Let us know what issue you care about, talents you want to put to use, time constraints and we can help brainstorm! But in the meantime, sign that petition you agree with!
Here are some of the things we’ll have brewing over the next few months – stay tuned for updates, public hearings and opportunities to engage!
Coalbed Methane and the West Susitna Access Road
Inletkeeper will be weighing in on proposed coalbed methane leases of state land in the Mat-Su and on the proposed West Susitna Access Road. Exploration licenses (and then development) of almost a million acres west of the Parks Highway (including part of Nancy Lake State Recreational Area) for coalbed methane and the West Susitna access road, crossing the lower Susitna River and more than 150 salmon streams, would profoundly change the Susitna River valley and fish and wildlife habitat. Comment periods for the road are tentatively scheduled for this summer!
Anchorage Sewage Treatment Plant
The Asplund Wastewater Treatment Facility is allowed to dump up to 58 million gallons of barely treated sewage a day directly into Cook Inlet. Although the Clean Water Act generally requires more treatment before discharge, Anchorage receives a special waiver (one of only 23 in the country) which, despite having expired in 2005, will be reviewed for renewal in 2022 or 2023. The facility is already claiming that EPA has said they will renew the permit prior to any public input or research. Yet Alaskans know our Cook Inlet beluga whales are dying. Alaskans know our fish populations are struggling. Alaskan know the toxic mixing zones are too big. Alaskans need our government to actually take a hard look at this waiver. If you want to engage now on this issue, reach out to your state, federal, and municipal representatives and ask them to use some of the infrastructure bill money to protect Cook Inlet, our fish, wildlife, and people!
If you hear of issues you are concerned about, please let Liz (liz@inletkeeper.org) know and we can help you raise your voice and advocate!
Thank you for reading. We are able to do this work because of member support from concerned citizens like you. If donating is the kind of advocacy that works for you at this time, please donate to protect Cook Inlet for our future generations.
