Inletkeeper Blog
Offshore Oil Leases Are a New Crisis, Not an Answer to Alaska’s Energy Needs
Something that’s normally subtext became an unvarnished acknowledgement: federal policy consistently puts oil corporations first. Even when it makes no sense for anyone, including the oil corporations. For another example, look no farther than the Trump administration’s recent handling of oil and gas leases in Alaska.
What’s Next for Planned Offshore Lease Sales in Lower Cook Inlet
Last year, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) prematurely scrapped an offshore management plan that protected Alaskan coastal waters from oil and gas leasing. Now, the agency is planning multiple leases for Lower Cook Inlet in their new 5-year plan. It’s vital that we continue to speak up for our coastal ecosystems, sustainable fisheries, and what’s best for our local economies. Learn what happens next.
Offshore drilling is political theatre, not an energy solution
As the Cook Inlet gas we’ve historically relied on for heat and electricity becomes more expensive and precarious, the Trump administration is offering a golden chance to prolong our dependence, spend more on energy, and create a long-term drag on our economy by doubling down on what isn’t working. What’s the price of this opportunity? Only a 1-in-5 risk of major oil spills, which increases with each new piece of extraction infrastructure. The art of the deal!
Not interested? Well, it’s your lucky day. BOEM is signing you up anyway.
Communities Sound the Alarm Over New Federal Offshore Drilling Plan for Cook Inlet
Five new oil and gas lease sales are proposed for Cook Inlet under the federal offshore leasing plan.
The Rising Risk of an Oil Spill in Cook Inlet | Tikahtnu
Of all the risks Cook Inlet has faced in recent decades, one of the most insidious — and the most dangerous — is the risk of a major oil spill. But how do we measure risk, and how has the way our government offers offshore oil and gas leases steadily increased that threat over time?
We can’t risk turning climate pollution into water pollution
Carbon capture has a host of uncertainties upstream of the injection well. But let’s set aside for now the unsolved technological question of how CO2 can be affordably captured at any significant scale. Likewise the economic and political questions of how to price and/or police carbon to make polluters capture it. What concerns do we have about pumping CO2 underground, and the vigilance needed to be sure it doesn’t harm the people and ecosystems above?
11th OCS 5 Year Plan Talking Points & Comment Guidance
Front and center talking points: With new offshore oil and gas development, it’s only a question of when accidents and spills will occur. It doesn’t have to be on the scale of the Exxon Valdez disaster to be a catastrophe for Cook Inlet. A recent estimate from Lease...
Where Hilcorp drills, they spill
With Hilcorp as the major oil company operating in Cook Inlet, every Alaskan should be worried about plans for new offshore oil leases.
Cook Inlet at a Crossroads
Cook Inlet | Tikahtnu is a special place. Its waters, salmon, wildlife, and communities have sustained life here for millennia. That didn’t happen by accident—and it won’t continue without people willing to stand up, speak out, and stay engaged. Thanks to supporters like you, Cook Inletkeeper has done exactly that for more than 30 years.
A new federal offshore plan proposes five new lease sales in Lower Cook Inlet
Earlier this year, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) initiated a national five-year planning process for offshore oil and gas lease sales. The existing plan wasn’t set to expire until 2029, but it didn’t line up with the Trump administration’s overtly pro-oil approach. So BOEM threw the plan out, and now proposes to open an extensive amount of Alaska’s coastal oceans — 21 total leases from Southeast to the Arctic — to industrial development.