Protecting Alaska's Cook Inlet watershed and the life it sustains since 1995.
In the 1960’s and 1970’s, Americans joined together to secure some of the best air, land and water protections in the world. Then the pendulum started to swing back, with billions of dollars from corporations, think tanks and phony “astroturf” groups pushing an aggressive anti-consumer, anti-environment agenda. Today, from Koch Industries to Exxon, and from […]
Hilcorp’s seismic air gun blasting program started in full force this past weekend, with the seismic vessel Polarcus Alima running transects across some of the most important fish and whale habitat in Lower Cook Inlet. You can get an update on Hilcorp’s daily seismic blasting plans here, and you can call-in every morning at 10:00 […]
As fishermen left the Homer Harbor Monday morning (September 9) to longline halibut in Lower Cook Inlet, the 273’ seismic vessel Polarcus Alima darkened the horizon in Kachemak Bay. The vessel had turned off its AIS vessel tracking system after leaving Japan last week, but local fishermen and whale scientists quickly spotted the giant vessel […]
ANCHORAGE— Conservation groups filed a lawsuit today challenging the Trump administration’s approval of rules allowing Hilcorp Alaska LLC to harm Cook Inlet beluga whales and other marine mammals as it expands its offshore oil and gas operations in Cook Inlet. Cook Inletkeeper and the Center for Biological Diversity sued the National Marine Fisheries Service in […]
Seismic air guns used for oil and gas exploration produce the loudest underwater noise next to explosions and warfare, and they can have devastating impacts on marine life. As a fisherman from Newfoundland put it, “Whenever a seismic boat goes past and we drop our gear, the fish aren’t there. Any fisherman, or fisherman worth […]
The recent heat wave and forest fires ravaging Alaska are yet another reminder that the Last Frontier lies on the front lines of rapid climate change. Through the smoky haze, however, one thing remains clear: the billionaire Koch Brothers have their hands around the throat of democracy in Alaska, and Mike Dunleavy is their dutiful […]
Cook Inletkeeper today called-out the Dunleavy Administration for weakening a key Clean Water Act permit that will allow the oil and gas industry to increase toxic dumping in prime salmon, halibut, and beluga whale habitat. The proposed permit covers oil and gas production wastes from offshore platforms and other facilities in Cook Inlet. [Read comments […]
New study shows bear viewing industry supports nearly 500 jobs and more than $34 million in sales annually See Report Summary here & Full Report here. We’re getting tired talking about what a stupid idea it is to put a giant, toxic hole in the headwaters of the world’s greatest sockeye fishery. We’ve grown uncomfortably […]
The Alaska Miners Association (AMA) is trying to buy Alaska’s most spectacular water resources. And they want them for the bargain basement price of $60,000. That’s how much the AMA is paying veteran Juneau lobbyist Kent Dawson to put a stake through the heart of the process to designate and protect Alaska’s most important water […]
Court Dismisses Pebble’s Bogus Effort to Silence Fishermen Dunleavy Administration Wastes State Money on Frivolous Lawsuit In April we wrote about Pebble’s ham-fisted attempts to silence Bristol Bay fishermen with a frivolous lawsuit (see below). Today, the Alaska Superior Court agreed that Pebble’s lawsuit had absolutely no merit, and it dismissed the case. If you’ve […]
If you’re a semi-conscious Alaskan, you probably know by now the billionaire Koch brothers have their hands around the throat of democracy in the Last Frontier. You may recall how the Koch Brother’s front groups – the Alaska Policy Forum, Power the Future, and Americans for Prosperity- Alaska Chapter – waged an out-and-out war to […]
< Submit your Public Comment online here > When I interviewed for my job with Cook Inletkeeper in 1995, the hiring committee handed me a draft Clean Water Act permit for oil and gas discharges in Cook Inlet, and asked me how I would change it to reduce pollution. Twenty four years later I still […]
Since Pebble reared its head more than 15 years ago, its supporters have told many lies.
Our conclusion: the Pebble EIS is a bad joke. It’s incomplete. It’s unscientific. And for every Alaskan who cares about Bristol Bay, it’s wholly unacceptable.
With the recent release of the draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Pebble mine in record-fast time, Alaskans have been dismayed at the slapdash efforts of our federal and state governments to ram through a thin and incomplete review for a giant gold mine in the headwaters of Bristol Bay. And one of the gravest […]
The proposed Pebble mine in southwest Alaska stands out for a variety reasons, including the fact it would be the first large-scale, open pit mine in the headwaters of the Bristol Bay – the richest sockeye salmon fishery in the world. But with the recent release of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the […]
Act NOW to Protect Salmon Habitat – Comments Due March 22 BACKGROUND: The proposed Donlin mine along the banks of the Kuskokwim River in southwest Alaska would be a massive open gold mine. To power the facility, Donlin plans a 315 mile-long natural gas pipeline from Cook Inlet through the Skwentna, Yentna and Kuskokwim drainages. […]
BACKGROUND: In January 2019, Governor Dunleavy lopped-off $20 million in education funding in the state’s supplemental budget – an amount approved through bipartisan negotiations in the Alaska House and Senate last year, and money school districts relied on in their budgets through the remainder of the fiscal year. But the real bombshell came on February […]
But seriously, here’s what Power the Future does: they represent the interests of the largest, richest and most powerful corporations on the planet, but they wrap themselves in the shameless veneer of the working man under assault from a fringe band of crazies hell bent on sending us all back to caves and candle light.
Alaska is the most profitable oil and gas province in the world. Yet under current forecasts, Alaska is staring down the barrel of a $1.6 billion deficit for the coming fiscal year. Governor Dunleavy came into office promising to cut expenses to balance our budget. But even if he fired every state employee, he’d still wouldn’t be […]
As Wally Hickle famously stated, Alaska is the “owner state.” It’s past time we started to act like one.
I attended a presentation this week in Homer by Mark Hamilton, Vice President of External Affairs and mouthpiece for the Pebble mine, and it was remarkable on a couple fronts. First, the tone. Hamilton spoke down to the crowd like a seasoned used car salesman, highlighting only the possible benefits of the Pebble Mine, and […]
I spent 38 yrs. managing fisheries from California to the Arctic, and I support Ballot Measure 1. My career included: Salmonid (salmon, steelhead, trout) management as a Pacific and North Pacific Fishery Management Council member; developing amendments to the Forest Practices Act; an advisor in US/Canada Salmon Treaty negotiations and implementation, and reviewer of funding […]
For the past 23 years, Cook Inletkeeper has worked hard for clean water and healthy habitat in Cook Inlet and around Alaska. When we worked alongside residents in Tyonek and Beluga to prevent a coal company from Texas from mining through 14 miles of salmon streams on the west side of Cook Inlet, we witnessed […]
Desperate times call for desperate measures. What else could explain the choice of Randy Bates – former ADFG Habitat Division Director – as a prominent spokesman in folksy TV and video ads for the corporate campaign against Alaska salmon? Inletkeeper had a front row seat for Mr. Bates’ government career, and what we saw explains […]
Calling a person or a group a liar is somewhat taboo, even in our evolving post-fact world, because the accusation is fairly serious. And of course the main difference between a flat out lie and garden variety misinformation comes down to intent: did the speaker know what he or she was saying was untrue, yet […]
It’s no secret the corporate campaign against the Stand for Salmon ballot initiative has amassed more than $10 million to try to stop Alaskans from updating our 60-year-old, one-sentence-long salmon habitat law. But there’s a darker effort unfolding behind the scenes, and it’s not pretty. Pebble, Donlin, ConocoPhillips, British Petroleum and the other big corporations […]
In the lead-up to the long holiday weekend, when Alaskans were distracted with camping and hunting and fishing plans, the Walker Administration quietly issued two decisions which show exactly why we need to pass the Stand for Salmon Ballot Measure 1 to take politics out of our permitting system and to modernize our old, ineffective […]
Every once in a while the truth slips out. Yesterday Kurt Parkan, a mouthpiece for the giant Donlin Gold Mine, laid bare the myth of rigorous permitting in Alaska. “Projects go into the process of getting a permit with the expectation of getting a permit,” Parkan said. Parkan is a special-breed, having worked for the nonprofit […]
Today, the Alaska Supreme Court struck an important provision from the Stand for Salmon Ballot Initiative. It ruled the initiative’s ban on “substantial damage” – including permanent harm to salmon habitat – violated the Alaska Constitution because it amounted to an “appropriation” which impermissibly limited the Legislature’s discretion to make public resource decisions. The Court […]
re·dux: /rēˈdəks,ˈrēˈdəks/adjective, brought back; revived. Late last year one of Cook Inletkeeper’s keen-eyed Boardmembers sent me an obscure public notice for exploration work around Amakdedori Creek in Kamishak Bay on the west side of Lower Cook Inlet. The project didn’t entail oil and gas exploration, so it was unclear who would be poking around Kamishak […]
Alaskans are pushing the Stand for Salmon Initiative because we know our permitting system favors big corporations over everyday Alaskans concerned about fish habitat protection. Here’s a perfect example. In 2009, a group of Alaskans filed an application with the Alaska DNR to reserve water in a stream on the west side of Cook Inlet […]
Most working Alaskans consider $500,000 to be a lot of money. And of course, it is. But not when you’re a giant multinational oil company. British Petroleum recently dropped $500,000 to try to stop the Stand for Salmon ballot initiative, which would update Alaska’s 60-year-old, one-sentence-long salmon habitat protection law. To put that into context, however, […]
Your right as an Alaskan to wild, healthy salmon is under assault. These are strong words, and we don’t take them lightly. But the fact remains that large corporations are now woven into the very fabric of our government and our society, and their corporate DNA is manifesting itself in countless ways, big and small, […]
Did you ever get slapped for doing the right thing? That’s how Cook Inletkeeper feels after the Alaska Oil & Gas Commission (AOGCC) recently announced its final rule on whether Alaskans should get public notice and an opportunity to comment on hydraulic fracking operations in their communities. And make no mistake, the AOGCC’s response is […]
Recent filings with the Alaska Public Offices Commission reveal the many corporations and trade groups opposed to the Stand for Salmon Initiative, which is the ballot measure sponsored by Alaskans to update our 60-year old fish habitat laws. No one should be surprised our corporate “partners” oppose stronger safeguards for our salmon streams, because protecting […]
