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Protecting Alaska's Cook Inlet watershed and the life it sustains since 1995.

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Cook Inletkeeper

Imagining the Future We Want into Being

By Cook Inletkeeper | January 1, 2021

What is the common thread between Concord, NH; Denton, TX; Norman, OK and a growing number of American cities? They all have a commitment to 100% clean energy within the next 30 years. The transition from fossil fuels to renewables is inevitable. What’s not inevitable is that this transition is just and, in the words […]

Why Recycling Electronics Helps Fight Pebble

By Cook Inletkeeper | October 1, 2020

For the past 15 years, Cook Inletkeeper and its partners have hosted electronics recycling (e-cycling) events around the Kenai Peninsula. As this year’s events fast approach, it’s important to understand the many advantages of recycling electronic waste.  One of the most important benefits to e-recycling is helping to protect the fisheries and communities in the […]

Pebble Redux: The Bears of Amakdedori | Full Film Now Online

By Cook Inletkeeper | July 8, 2020

There are few icons of wilderness as powerful as the bears of southwest Alaska. With thousands of them living wild on the Alaska Peninsula, they play crucial roles as ecosystem curators and economic drivers, drawing wildlife lovers from all over the world who support the region’s lucrative sustainable bear viewing industry.  Once regarded as untouchable, […]

Who is in the Room?

By Cook Inletkeeper | February 20, 2020

Youth Voices are Integral in Creating a Just Transition to a Regenerative and Fossil Fuel Free Economy in Alaska by Satchel Pondolfino When you walk into a decision-making space, take note of who is in the room. The decisions that come out of that room are going to reflect those people and their world views. […]

Letter from the Director

By Cook Inletkeeper | December 20, 2019

As we approach solstice anticipating the returning light, I’ve been laughing about the notion that this is the slow time of year. The to-do list here at Cook Inletkeeper is longer than ever – there is no off-season to protecting what we love. This month we are fighting the repeal of the jetski ban in […]

Public Comment Due Dec. 13: Alaska’s Biggest Business Deal of the 21st Century

By Cook Inletkeeper | October 22, 2019

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska has extended public comment on proposals to transfer BP pipelines and other assets – including BP’s interests in the Trans Alaska Pipeline (TAPs) to Hilcorps.  The new deadline is December 13, 2019. While BP and Hilcorp have negotiated this deal for more than a year, the RCA has made an […]

The Deliberate Disaster

By Cook Inletkeeper | July 16, 2019

Throughout his campaign for Governor, then later in defense of his sweeping cuts to kids, the elderly and rural Alaska, Mike Dunleavy has talked a lot about an “honest budget.” In fact, that’s what he calls it on the official state web site: An Honest Budget. Most Alaskans alarmed at the Dunleavy budget cuts, and […]

The Day the Bears Went Hungry

By Cook Inletkeeper | July 11, 2019

Pebble Mine, Brown Bears & the Climate Crisis   For the past year, Inletkeeper has been studying the brown bears in Lower Cook Inlet, to understand the potential impacts on bears and the bear viewing industry from the proposed transportation corridor and export terminal from the Pebble Mine.  Lower Cook Inlet boasts the highest concentration of […]

Salmon Stream Temperatures Off the Charts

By Cook Inletkeeper | July 10, 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEJuly 10, 2019 HEAT WAVE HITS COOK INLET SALMON STREAMSClimate Crisis Sends Stream Temperatures Off the Charts (PDF Version Here) HOMER, AK— As Alaskans suffer through the smoke, haze and danger of a record-breaking heat wave, Alaska’s salmon are suffering too. On July 7th, stream temperatures topped 81.7 oF (27.6 oC) in the Deshka River, […]

House of Representatives Vote to Block Funding for Pebble Mine.

By Cook Inletkeeper | June 19, 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 19, 2019 House of Representatives Vote to Block Funding for Pebble Mine.Representative Don Young wants to “Look at the Science.” Homer, AK – Today, the House of Representatives passed amendment 90, “The Huffman Amendment” to the Energy and Water Appropriations Act (H.R. 2740) bill to suspend funding for permitting the proposed […]

Update: Pebble Keeps Feeding the Swamp to Push Dead-End Mine

By Cook Inletkeeper | May 2, 2019

In May 2019, Inletkeeper released a report (see below) showing the pile of money Pebble is spending on high-end lobbyists to influence the Trump Administration’s so-called “permitting process.” The report showed that since the beginning of the Trump administration, Pebble has paid $4.43 million to in-house and external lobbyists. Since 2007, that number balloons to […]

Pebble Mine:Voices from the Frontline

By Cook Inletkeeper | March 27, 2019

Featured photo: Michael Melford The Army Corps of Engineers began their public hearings in Naknek, AK on Monday for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement regarding the proposed Pebble Mine Plan. At the same time that residents from rural Alaska make arrangements to speak out at these public hearings, our State Legislature in Juneau is proceeding […]

Gov. Dunleavy Leaves Alaskans in a Ditch

By Cook Inletkeeper | December 28, 2018

Sue Mauger, Science Director at Cook Inletkeeper, connects the dots on climate change and calls out the negligence of Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy in his administration’s swift removal of the Climate Action Plan from the official State website. Sign the petition to the Governor, Here! Originally Published in Alaska Dispatch News, Dec. 28, 2018 When our new governor […]

We are DONE with the Debate

By Cook Inletkeeper | December 7, 2018

ADD YOUR NAME to demand that Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy return the Climate Change Task Force information and action plan documents to the official state website. There is no debate. Our national reports read loud and clear: Alaska is warming faster than the rest of the planet and the cost of doing nothing grows every day. Alaska should […]

Stand For Salmon: The Long View

By Cook Inletkeeper | October 31, 2018

Written by Sue Mauger, Science Director We live in, play around and benefit from a salmon landscape. Wild salmon unite and define us as Alaskans. We pride ourselves in living differently up here, but we are making the same mistakes that others made across the world when they chose incompatible development over salmon. Stand for […]

Exxon Says “No” Salmon on Ballot Measure 1

By Cook Inletkeeper | October 26, 2018

ExxonMobil has donated a total of $1 Million to vote “No’ for salmon on Ballot Measure 1. In 2017, Exxon Mobil Corporation earned 2nd place on the Fortune 500 list, making it the largest privately-owned oil and energy company in the world. Exxon enjoyed profits over 19.7 BILLION dollars. Or, enough to cover the $507.5 million […]

SALMON EXPERTS URGE ALASKANS TO SUPPORT BALLOT MEASURE 1

By Cook Inletkeeper | October 17, 2018

Today Cook Inletkeeper released a statement from 58 retired state and federal agency scientists and managers who strongly support the Stand for Salmon Ballot Measure 1. Taken together, these experts have more than 1500 years’ experience managing and overseeing salmon and salmon habitat In Alaska. “Exxon, Pebble and the other corporations are smothering Alaskans with […]

SALMON EXPERTS URGE ALASKANS TO SUPPORT BALLOT MEASURE 1

By Cook Inletkeeper |

Today Cook Inletkeeper released a statement from 58 retired state and federal agency scientists and managers who strongly support the Stand for Salmon Ballot Measure 1. Taken together, these experts have more than 1500 years’ experience managing and overseeing salmon and salmon habitat In Alaska. “Exxon, Pebble and the other corporations are smothering Alaskans with […]

Our Swimming Permanent Fund

By Cook Inletkeeper | October 9, 2018

On the same day PFD dividends hit bank accounts this year, I thawed a filet of silver salmon from the Kenai River.  I remember feeling so grateful with that particular fresh, beautiful fish in my hands this August. With the sockeye fishery closed just weeks before, I started to wonder what our freezer would look […]

Rise for Climate, Jobs & Justice

By Cook Inletkeeper | September 6, 2018

We are at a tipping point. 2020 is a threshold for meeting global targets to tackle the climate crisis. We are fast running out of time to act and any meaningful action from the State of Alaska has been alarmingly slow at best. The Global Climate Action Summit, being held in California on 12-14 September 2018, has […]

Walker Administration Rejects Salmon Protections, Weakens Law

By Cook Inletkeeper | August 29, 2018

ANCHORAGE— The Alaska Department of Natural Resources bowed to corporate pressure late yesterday evening, after the court ordered deadline, and rejected efforts by Alaskan citizens to protect wild salmon in the Chuitna River watershed on the west side of Cook Inlet. “It’s been 9 years since we filed papers to reserve enough water in Middle […]

Alaskans Should Be In Charge, Not Private Energy Companies

By Cook Inletkeeper | August 13, 2018

Did you know that in the Cook Inlet, oil & gas operators can legally dump toxic waste into coastal fisheries? That’s right  – Oil & gas corporations are allowed to dump over 100,000 gallons of oil and grease and over 835,000 pounds of metals such as mercury, nickel, copper, manganese and zinc into the Cook […]

Award Winning Mural Artist Celebrates Salmon in Homer

By Cook Inletkeeper | August 10, 2018

Partnership Between Community Organizations Connects Art to Advocacy HOMER, August 10th, 2018 – Visiting Artist in Residence, Patrick Maxcy, will be painting a live art mural today, August 10th, for the 3rd Annual Alaska Wild Salmon Day event held between 4:30 – 7:00PM at Karen Hornaday Park Pavillion in Homer. His colorful salmon mural painted […]

It’s Salmon Season!

By Cook Inletkeeper | July 26, 2018

You might hear us talk a little bit about salmon around here. We love them, it’s true. Because, of course, we all live in one of the last strongholds of wild salmon on earth. That’s right, on THE-PLANET. Stop and think about that for a moment… The conquest of human beings across this continent over […]

A Letter from the Director

By Cook Inletkeeper | July 4, 2018

1,000 Donations by July 15th   This year, every week has felt like a new assault on our democracy.  And lately it seems like the very fabric of compassion that binds us together as human beings is being torn to shreds.  Frankly, I don’t really feel like celebrating right now. Right here in Alaska some […]

School Of Fish Workshop Series

By Cook Inletkeeper | June 29, 2018

  Yay! We partnered with the Homer Folk School and Stowaway Cafe to bring you a summer series of workshops that will take your love for salmon to a whole new level! From dialing in your skills with a fillet knife, or recipes of all kinds, to a detailed exploration of salmon science and getting […]

Civics in Action: Fisherpoets Talk Habitat in Juneau

By Cook Inletkeeper | June 26, 2018

In March, Cook Inletkeeper’s Central Peninsula team had the opportunity to travel to Juneau along with three Alaskan fisherpoets to meet with our elected officials.  Here are reflections on the trip from two fisherpoets, both lifelong Alaskans who made the trip to Juneau for the first time. Commercial fishing in with my father in Cook […]

Alaska’s “Awful 8”: Standing for Business As Usual

By Cook Inletkeeper | June 21, 2018

In Inletkeepers’ blog series, ‘The Corporate War on Salmon’, our Advocacy Director, Bob Shavelson, examined the campaign disclosure of so-called ‘Stand For Alaska’ to reveal that this supposed ‘broad statewide coalition’ is backed by an elite who’s who of corporate special interest in our state. As you can see in the records, over 80% of […]

Urgent Climate Action

By Cook Inletkeeper | June 1, 2018

Gov. Walker’s Climate Leadership Team is collecting public comment for a draft policy response to the causes and impacts of climate change. Comment before JUNE 4 Have you heard about ” The Blob”?  It’s a monsterous meterological phenomenon that super heated North Pacific waters starting in 2014 and was directly connected to a 70% decline in Pacific Cod stocks. Combined with […]

Pebble: When NO means NO

By Cook Inletkeeper | April 6, 2018

Since day one, your opposition to the Pebble open pit mine in the headwaters of the richest sockeye fishery in the world has run strong. You showed up to public hearings, you wrote comments, you voted at the ballot box. The message was always clear: the risks are too high, our salmon systems are too […]

Alaska’s Corporate War on Salmon

By Cook Inletkeeper | January 15, 2018

These Corporations Have Rigged the Salmon Protection System By Bob Shavelson, Advocacy Director I’ve been working on water quality and salmon habitat issues in Alaska for over 20 years.  And over all this time, I’ve learned a few painful but obvious lessons. First, our governments have stopped trying to protect our fish habitat. Yes, we […]

Sharing Stories and Building Trust

By Cook Inletkeeper | November 16, 2017

The Mat-Su Basin Salmon Habitat Partnership held its 10th annual Salmon Science and Conservation Symposium this month in Palmer. Cook Inletkeeper’s Science Director had the honor of offering welcoming remarks to the crowd of salmon enthusiasts from local government, business, federally recognized tribes, scientists, nonprofits, subsistence fishery users, commercial fishing industry, sportfish groups and concerned […]

The largest corporations on the planet are attacking your right to clean water

By Cook Inletkeeper | August 18, 2017

Why is a women’s group attacking clean water safeguards?The answer tells a larger story about how massive corporations have bought our government and our politicians. And it’s on prominent display in the Last Frontier. In 2015, the Obama Administration adopted a long-needed rule to clarify the Clean Water Act’s wetlands protection provisions.  Over the years, […]

New Leases in Heart of Cook Inlet Mark Dangerous Turning Point

By Cook Inletkeeper | June 23, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR MORE INFORMATION June 21, 2017 Bob Shavelson (907.299.3277) ANCHORAGE—Today, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held a lease sale for tracts in the federal waters of Lower Cook Inlet. Unlike the previous three sales, Lease Sale 244 garnered bids, though only one company – Hilcorp – participated in the sale. “Lease […]

On the Anniversary of the Exxon Valdez, Cook Inlet Oil & Gas Shows Continued Complacency

By Cook Inletkeeper | June 10, 2017

March 24 marks 28 years since the Exxon Valdez “fetched up, ah, hard aground” on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, laying a path of destruction across Alaska’s coastal ecosystems and the countless lives they support. While Exxon officials worked hard to convince the world it spilled “only” 10.8 million gallons of crude—ostensibly to pay […]

Hilcorp Gas Leak in Cook Inlet

By Cook Inletkeeper | March 22, 2017

On February 8, Alaskans learned Texas-based Hilcorp Alaska had “discovered” a large leak from a natural gas fuel line supplying power to platforms on Middle Ground Shoal in Cook Inlet. Several weeks later, we learned Hilcorp knew – or should have known – about the leak months earlier, in December 2016 or earlier. While ongoing […]

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