Inletkeeper Blog
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.
Protecting What We Love, Building What We Need
As Homer Drawdown prepares to launch our fourth solution in the near year, we are forging ahead with a new focus: local waste streams. Roughly one-third of food is wasted globally, and likewise, organic material makes up about a third of what ends up in our local landfill.
The Story of the Johnson Tract Mine — and What it Threatens — is Bigger Than a Single Project
The Johnson Tract Mine, spearheaded by Contago Ore, is a proposed gold, zinc, lead, copper, and silver mine at the base of Mt. Iliamna (a gigantic volcano perched on one of the most seismically active regions globally), inside the boundaries of Lake Clark National Park. While the mine site sits on a 20,942-acre private inholding owned by Cook Inlet Region, Inc. (CIRI), its impacts would extend far beyond that parcel.
SB-92: How to Keep Alaska’s Budget From Driving Over a Cliff
Taxing oil and gas S-Corporations in the same manner as C-corporations is an important first step in repairing Alaska’s fiscal foundations. As long as oil and gas extraction is a significant source of state revenue, Alaska will be undermining itself by preserving a loophole that allows Hilcorp, now the state’s major industry player, to profit from our resources without paying income tax that would be collected in any other state.
“Government Efficiency”
Gov. Mike Dunleavy published Administrative Order 360 in early August to reduce “administrative and economic burdens associated with regulatory compliance.” But the order is more likely to slow down rather than speed up decisions we need for sustainable energy, as well as weakening protections for the ecosystems Alaskans depend on.
Unexpected Life in Unmapped Waters
I’ve waded in what I consider the most beautiful waters in the world here in the Cook Inlet watershed. I’ve chased every species of salmon that call these special waters home. However, after teaming up with the Kenai Watershed Forum (KWF) for Salmon Habitat Mapping field days—a program designed to engage volunteers in documenting local, unmapped salmon habitats as part of Inletkeeper’s Local Solutions series—I can now say that fish also live in unexpected places.
Become the Change YOU Want to See: Supporting Local Solutions
These solutions require you and your neighbors who live here, love this place, and depend on a healthy watershed to help shape them.
Backyard Salmonscapes: Strengthening Our Watershed Through Connection
Backyard Salmonscapes aspires to deepen our roots in the watershed and to stand up for the rivers and salmon that shape our lives. These initiatives offer tangible ways for each of us to carry forward that responsibility, through local advocacy and collective action across the Kenai Peninsula.
Cook Inlet’s Dirty Dozen: The 12 Oil & Gas Lease Sales Threatening Alaska’s Waters
Why are our public waters being auctioned off while our public services wither? Over the next seven years, Lower Cook Inlet faces twelve separate offshore oil and gas lease sales. These sales represent one of the most aggressive pushes for offshore drilling that Lower Cook Inlet has ever seen.
Cook Inlet and the Dirty Dozen of Oil & Gas Leasing
12 oil and gas lease sales are planned to take place over the next seven years in Cook Inlet, AK.