Protecting Alaska's Cook Inlet watershed and the life it sustains since 1995.
A Hilcorp contractor – SAExploration Seismic Services – is seeking a Miscellaneous Land Use Permit from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources to conduct a seismic survey this spring. To conduct the survey, SAE will detonate explosive shocks at 55-feet intervals along a 5.4 mile transect encompassing land, tidal and waters around and north of Anchor […]
Wetland permits are critical to large mining and other industrial operations. The Dunleavy Administration, DEC, and mine promoters want to control wetland permitting to streamline the industrialization of areas like the Bristol Bay watershed. Unable to prevail in the court of public opinion or with the Federal EPA, the Dunleavy Administration is now attempting to […]
The EPA’s decision this week to veto the Pebble Mine and issue Clean Water Act protections for Bristol Bay is a victory for Alaskans and the Bristol Bay and Cook Inlet ecosystems! In all the ways you showed up: at rallies, signing petitions and postcards, with dollars and loud voices, you contributed to a landmark […]
As we wait with anticipation for the EPA’s 404(c) Final Determination on Pebble mine later this month, Inletkeeper continues to ask questions about the Donlin Gold mine. The Donlin Gold mine would be a massive open-pit complex next to the Kuskokwim River in southwest Alaska and it presents sweeping risks to wild salmon habitat stretching […]
Cook Inletkeeper runs on your support, yes, your support. You help keep the lights on and the building warm; you help us keep an eye on developments in our state, region, and communities. We help keep our community keen with real stories, real science, and real research. All our people are real people; our directors […]
After canceling the sale in May of 2022, the Biden Administration moved forward with leasing Alaska’s Lower Cook Inlet—resulting in only 1 bid on 1 block out of 193. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 30, 2022 Press Contact: Grace Nolan, grace@team-arc.com; Sue Mauger, sue@inletkeeper.org (Anchorage, Alaska) – Today, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) held […]
This has been a frustrating year! Yet another Pebble mine comment period. Oil & Gas Lease Sale 258 in Lower Cook Inlet is happening tomorrow despite being canceled in May. The Cook Inlet beluga whale population is not improving. Our carbon emissions continue to go up, not down as is desperately needed. The best part […]
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 Soldotna, and at theCenter […]
As Alaskans pay over $4/gallon at the pump, Exxon Mobil Corp. made record-breaking 3rdquarter profits. With rising demand and an undersupplied energy market amplified byWestern sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, the planet-warming dirty money isrolling in fast. If corporations really were people, this one and its cousins would be unwelcome atthe holiday […]
— Sarah Anne Sulzer This year, I connected with Inletkeeperafter my mom and I went into the Community Action Studio in Soldotna. I love animals and got hooked feeding the baby goats and chickens through the Community Compost project. I’m passionate about climate change and decided I could help get more young people involved with […]
Just weeks after January 6th 2021, a moment in U.S. history when dark clouds of hopelessnessand anxiousness overshadowed what should have been a celebration of democracy, AmandaGorman became the youngest inaugural poet, reciting her poem “The Hill We Climb” at thepresidential swearing-in ceremony. Her poem inspired hope and offered the nation a collectivecall to action! […]
It’s easy to feel alone in the conviction that now is the time to stop developingnew oil & gas leases in Alaska. In 2022, we’ve seen Congress mandate that Lease Sale 258 in the federal watersof Lower Cook Inlet move forward before the end of the year; and the BidenAdministration expressing support for the Alaska […]
With the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), we saw steps forward on climate and clean energy but also steps backward, burdened with expanded oil & gas leasing and fast-tracked mining in Alaska. Linking clean energy development to decades of continued fossil fuel development impedes our goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050, […]
Waqaa, Cama-i, Cissiarougua. Wiinga Yup’iaq angun, wii Qusquqvagmiu-llu. (Greetings, My Name is Ciissiar (Little-Bug), I am a Yup’ik man, and I am from the Kuskokwim River). My parents are Allen Simeon of Aniak married to Laura Simeon of Kalskag and Gloria Simeon of Bethel married to Michael Meeks of Kenai. I am fairly new to the lower […]
Clean water is critically important for people and salmon, landscapes and communities. One way that we can ensure clean water and healthy salmon is to protect surface water (like streams and lakes) and groundwater (such as aquifers and underground water between rocks, sediment, and sand). Gravel pits – if not designed thoughtfully and developed carefully – […]
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, […]
Since our last update, the Inflation Reduction Act passed, bringing with it a mandate to hold Lease Sale 258 in the federal waters of Lower Cook Inlet before the end of 2022. Although we can’t stop this unpopular sale from moving forward, Inletkeeper and partners will be monitoring the level of industry interest to push […]
Cook Inletkeeper has been fighting alongside our supporters for our collective vision of Cook Inlet for the last 27 years. This vision has focused on clean water, healthy salmon, and strong communities. One central theme of this fight has been limiting oil and gas development and corresponding pollution. That vision is still central today. Inletkeeper’s […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 28, 2022 FOR MORE INFORMATION: Liz Mering, Inletkeeper (907.235.3459) Marissa Wilson, Executive Director AMCC (907.299.6566) PROPOSED BILL IN CONGRESS IGNORES ALASKANS, WOULD SACRIFICE COOK INLET 40 years of oil and gas development in undeveloped Lower Cook Inlet puts local economies at risk HOMER, AK – The proposed climate and energy package […]
Western conservationism isn’t working. As we face the fact that our environmental laws are ill-equipped to address the all-encompassing nature of the climate crisis, we must learn from the holistic land, water, and forest management practices born from a millennia of experience.
It’s salmon season in Alaska and that means people all over the State are putting on their waders or grundens, pulling out their nets and poles, and heading out to our salmon waters at all hours of the day and night. In our watershed, Dena’ina, Alutiiq and Sugpiaq people have been in relationship with salmon […]
If you are like me, you feel like we just celebrated Lease Sale 258 in Lower Cook Inlet being taken off the table. Unfortunately, as many of you are only too familiar with, we are again facing a proposed lease sale in Lower Cook Inlet. President Biden and the Department of Interior proposed a five-year plan […]
How many times do we have to say NO to a bad project that would harm Alaskans? Most Alaskans know the main storyline of the decades-long Pebble Mine saga: Geologists discover the pebble deposit in 1987; A series of foreign companies thought it would be easy to dig a giant pit and mine the headwaters […]
On Monday, I saw a helicopter pilot I hadn’t seen in 14 years. Stan piloted my first trip in Bristol Bay to sample small headwater streams near the Pebble deposit. Seeing Stan brought up a flood of memories and names of people who have contributed to the decades of work to protect Bristol Bay, each […]
Over the three-day Nughelnik: Alaska Just Transition Summit in Anchorage May 20-22, Inletkeeper staff joined 500 other attendees from around the State of Alaska. Organized by The Alaska Just Transition Collective – a coalition of Alaska partners building a shared visionary path for Alaska by addressing the growing political, economic, and ecological crises we face. The goals […]
Alaska’s bears and salmon are inextricably linked. During the summer months, while Alaskans are filling our freezers with salmon, the brown bears on the Alaska Peninsula are storing up their salmon for the winter. Bears of the Alaska Peninsula are incredible — eating dozens of salmon and gaining up to 4 pounds a day. The […]
By Kayla Walsh, Alaska Conservation Foundation Intern What brings a city girl like me to Cook Inlet, a place I hadn’t heard of just 6 months ago? Well, I started a graduate program in Conservation Medicine and I’m here to learn all about it from the real experts: Alaskans! I’ve been asked what Conservation Medicine […]
On May 26, we started what we hope will be the LAST comment period advocating for strong protections under the Clean Water Act to defend Bristol Bay from destructive mining by a Canadian company. Many of you have been with us in this fight for years and years. Bristol Bay Native Corporation put together a […]
Late on Wednesday the Biden Administration quietly announced that the Department of Interior would not be pursuing Oil & Gas Lease Sale 258 in Lower Cook Inlet. First, we are thankful! Alaskans have been fighting the industrialization of Cook Inlet since the 90s and each of these victories is important for our communities that rely […]
The blue lines on topographic maps necessarily under-represent the complex movement of freshwater across floodplains, through wetlands and gravel bars. For a juvenile fish, the blue lines are experienced as a maze of currents, temperature, food and hiding places, while a migrating adult salmon wends its way along the blue lines of riffles and pools […]
After a short winter lull, Inletkeeper’s programs start revving up come spring. One program that Kenai Peninsula residents have grown to count on are our annual spring electronics recycling events. This year is no different. Mark your calendars for April 30th for our annual e-recycling events in Soldotna and Homer. Drop off your old devices […]
I stood at the finish line of the Mouth to Mouth Wild Run & Ride at the end of Cannery Road in Kenai, on an extremely cold February afternoon (the race is still over three months away). There was a mean wind that bit at any exposed skin, making my eyes water. I quickly wiped […]
Salmon and agriculture are two of Alaska’s most important renewable resources. Alaska’s agricultural sectors are growing faster than any other state in the nation. With the formation of both the Alaska Grown Caucus in the Alaska Legislature and the announcement by the Governor of the Food Security & Independence Task Force, farming is poised to […]
This year will mark 50 years since Congress passed and enacted the Clean Water Act (CWA) after our nation’s rivers literally caught fire. This disregard of pollution was not unique to the Lower 48 as Alaska fishermen were finding blobs of oil floating in the ocean from passing tankers. While the Clean Water Act isn’t […]
Almost a million acres in the Susitna Basin are under threat by a plan by the state to issue two licenses for exploration and possibly future drilling for Coalbed methane. (links to the state documents below) Take action here – this link will take you to a form to email the Division of Oil and […]
Cook Inletkeeper has been keeping a watchful eye on the west side of the Susitna River for years. When the state of Alaska permitted a 315-mile right-of-way for a gas pipeline to fuel the proposed Donlin Gold Mine, cutting a massive swath from Cook Inlet, over the Alaska Range to the mine site, we joined […]
How does a community organizer cultivate and captivate a room full of energy without sharing physical space? What draws people in when gathering and sharing a meal just isn’t possible? If there is one thing organizing during a pandemic has taught me it is that we need each other. I love organizing because I love […]
Salmon are no canaries. They have robust life-history strategies and diverse habitat needs. If we keep their freshwater habitat cold, clean and intact and their marine food web stable without large blobs of warm water, wild Pacific salmon will persist and continue to contribute to global and local food security. Their greatest vulnerability is that […]
You look at seed catalogs in December. You buy snow blowers in June. You mend nets in August. You prepare for your future guided by your hopes for the future. So let’s all brush aside the fog of uncertainty clouding our vision over these last 18 months and prepare for the future we want in […]
The past 18 months have illuminated the tremendous unsustainable practices and social inequities throughout many sectors, including our globalized food system. We have seen food processors fall ill from lack of sick leave and protective equipment. Severely delayed global supply chains have led to massive food waste and higher food costs. Lost incomes have exacerbated […]
Within Inletkeeper’s 26 year lifetime, we’ve experienced a rapid change in the communications and media landscape. The technology that once seemed far off and of the future is here now. This landscape and the mediums available for spreading our message and empowering action will continue to shift and grow. The advent of the world wide […]
I’ve never been a fan of scary movies. All the anticipation and fear of knowing that bad things are around the corner – and there’s nothing to do about it – is not my idea of fun. I think that’s why I’ve been committed to monitoring salmon stream health during this time of rapid change. […]
I am incredibly honored by Bob, Sue, and of your trust as I step into the role Bob has, seemingly effortlessly, managed for so many years. As I inherit the “Inletkeeper” title from Bob, I’d like to share my vision for the future of the Cook Inlet watershed in the decades ahead: Alaska’s economy has […]
Fat Bear Week brings the wonder and joy of our Cook Inlet bears to people around the world! This year–for the fourth time!!–Otis (or brown bear 480) was crowned king! Otis–relying on the amazing rich nutrients in Katmai–ended the season weighing over 1,000 pounds. Not the largest bear of the bunch but a survivor! Otis […]
This Thursday is complex. Many of us grew up spending the day with friends and family celebrating Thanksgiving. But Thursday is also a National Day of Mourning where we must remember our nation’s tragic history with the indigenous peoples who have called North America home from time immemorial. We are trying to recognize both of […]
International politics, law, and negotiation are crazy things. They are essential for world-wide problems where without global commitment, we cannot likely achieve an outcome; but at the same time incredibly frustrating and more aspirational than proactive in trying to unite 197 nations to reach collective agreement on the right path forward. And the “right” path […]
Over the last fifty years, U.S. waters have been affected by almost 50 oil spills over 420,000 gallons. A few of the most famous are: Santa Barbara, California (1969): 3 million gallons spilled from an offshore platform blowout creating a 35 mile long oil slick. Exxon Valdez, Alaska (1989): 10.8 million gallons spilled from a […]
Last week we asked you – our Inletkeepers – to stand up for Lower Cook Inlet and say “no” to the proposed oil and gas lease sale in Lower Cook Inlet. If you haven’t already signed the petition, please do so at inletkeeper.org/ls258 – and then share with 5 friends (or five more friends!)! Many […]
Central to most Alaskan’s plates are salmon and other foods from the sea. It’s hard to visit Kachemak Bay without also enjoying fresh oysters or beer-battered fish. Halibut and salmon are common freezer staples all year long. It’s hard to imagine Alaska without this plentiful bounty. Given our high food costs, many Alaskan families supplement […]
You are Inletkeeper – and NOW is a critical time to stand up for Cook Inlet. Last Friday, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) released the draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed oil and gas lease sale in Lower Cook Inlet. We now have 45 days to explain to our government why this […]
