The Paris Agreement seeks to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels to give the planet a decent chance of avoiding the worst outcomes of climate change. To hit this target, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change calls for reducing carbon emissions by 40-60% by 2030 and reaching net zero emissions by 2050-2070. ...
It's been a little over a year since Hilcorp warned the local utilities, which depend on their gas supply, not to rely on future supply contracts from them. Since then, our four regional electric co-ops and gas distributor ENSTAR have been studying the cost and benefits of gas from other sources, including imported liquified natural gas (LNG) and...
In a recent decision hitting Hilcorp with a $265,500 fine for violating an approved drilling plan, the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC) cited the company's “track record of regulatory noncompliance.” It sounds a lot like the AOGCC fine Hilcorp received in 2020, which also cited "a history of regulatory...
Vote online in the HEA election here, or send your mail-in ballot by May 4. We can’t predict what energy system we’ll have in 2030, but it won’t be the one we have today.Since the 1960s, the majority of our electricity has been fueled by Cook Inlet natural gas. In January, the state forecast that at current usage rates, supplies could fall short...
Cook Inlet natural gas – the fuel for roughly 85% of our region's electricity – could fall short by 2027, according to a report released in January by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. Previous DNR gas supply studies have estimated that prices would need to increase by 50-100% by 2030 for gas extraction to break even. Natural gas...
The energy prospects on the horizon in December 2022 are very different from those of December 2021, and in December 2023, the picture is likely to be different once again. With action and engagement, we can make it a much brighter one. Mitigating the destruction that climate change is bringing to our ecosystems and lifestyles has been a...
In October, engineer and entrepreneur Patrick Simpson, who’s working on a mobile deviceto recycle ocean waste into plastic lumber, produced his first run of plastic 2x4s. Since June,Inletkeeper and our partners have contributed to the effort by collecting plastic waste at theInletkeeper Community Action Studio and the Goods Sustainable Grocery in...
We who care about climate action often fool ourselves into only seeing two paths ahead: “topdown”and “bottom-up.” We pivot between too-small individual behavioral changes and too insurmountableinstitutional changes without seeing the local and regional actions in between. This“middle out” space is where our best opportunities exist. We created...
80% of Southcentral Alaska's electricity is generated by natural gas turbines, and about a third of our electric bills go to fueling them. All this gas is extracted from beneath or around Cook Inlet, and for decades this local market has grown increasingly precarious. This April, the near-monopoly supplier of gas to our utilities, Hilcorp,...
An abbreviated version of this piece was initially published in our Spring 2022 newsletter. When America began to electrify, lights came on first in cities. It made commercial sense: the city's affluent could easily foot the cost of power, and urban density meant less line to lay and easier maintenance. Electricity beyond the city made no sense....
