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

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Healthy Habitat

Inletkeeper Applauds Halt to Cook Inlet Oil & Gas Lease Sale Process

By Bob Shavelson | February 4, 2021

Cook Inletkeeper today applauded the decision by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to cancel public hearings around the proposed million-acre Oil & Gas Lease Sale 258 in Lower Cook Inlet.  BOEM’s move comes in the wake of President Biden’s January 27 Executive Order placing a pause on all oil and gas leasing […]

Take Action to Protect Lower Cook Inlet from Oil & Gas Pollution

By Bob Shavelson | January 27, 2021

In early January, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) spit out an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the 1 million acre + Oil & Gas Lease Sale 258. BOEM spent a mere 3 months on the EIS; never before had the federal government rushed through an environmental review so quickly, and BOEM’s haste […]

Dunleavy Launches Yet Another Assault on Wild Alaskan Salmon

By Bob Shavelson | January 15, 2021

It was just another Friday in the Great Land, which meant just another assault from the Dunleavy Administration on Alaska wild salmon and the people who try to protect them. Today the Dunleavy Administration announced new proposed rules to strip Alaskans of their right to keep water in wild salmon streams. Not surprisingly, the proposed […]

Trump Throws Lifeline to Big Oil With Last-Second Inlet Lease Sale

By Bob Shavelson | January 13, 2021

In the last brutal days of the Trump Administration, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) threw a desperate lifeline to the oil and gas industry. On January 13, BOEM released a rushed and haphazard draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to pave the way for a million-acre oil and gas lease sale in the […]

The systems that bind us

By Sue Mauger | December 30, 2020

In my early years learning about the ecology of streams, I spent a few summers in the sagebrush country of southeastern Oregon. I was studying desert springs measuring water chemistry, collecting bugs and identifying plants associated with each little oasis. I was discovering the complex connections of the natural world at a very micro-scale. I also learned […]

Does Cook Inlet Need More Oil & Gas Leasing and Dumping?

By Bob Shavelson | December 18, 2020

Early last September, as fishermen left the Homer Harbor for nearby cod and halibut fishing grounds, the 273’ seismic vessel Polarcus Alima darkened the horizon in Kachemak Bay. The massive vessel – under contract to Hilcorp – proceeded to blast seismic airguns for weeks on end in a quest to explore for more oil and […]

For Peat’s Sake

By Satchel Pondolfino | December 14, 2020

How do we value the land? This is the conversation the Homer Drawdown community has begun to explore. The most emphasized valuation of land is based on its market value. Of course, the worth of land cannot wholly be captured by monetary figures. The way the land feeds our soul, renders our way of life, […]

Dunleavy Chooses Oil Over Salmon in Cook Inlet

By Bob Shavelson | December 10, 2020

This past week, the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council sent shockwaves across Alaska when it abruptly closed commercial salmon fishing in the federal waters of Lower Cook Inlet. The closure resulted from the State of Alaska’s blanket refusal to work with the federal government to co-manage the salmon fishery in Lower Cook Inlet. The irony […]

People, Planet and Profits: Pillars for Building Sustainable & Equitable Food Systems

By Robbi Mixon | December 8, 2020

Food systems, like all systems, are made up of interconnected links, with change in one link inevitably affecting others. Links include all aspects of the food system, from farmers to processors, to retail and transportation. Our modern food system is focused on feeding an ever-growing world population, as efficiently and economically as possible, but often […]

GreenWave’s Regenerative Ocean Farming: A Case Study in Generating Ecosystem Services

By Robbi Mixon |

Currently about 40% of the world’s population resides within 100 kilometers from the coast, many of which depend on ocean resources to make a living, through subsistence, tourism, recreation, and other economic activities.  In 2010, 39% (123.3 million) of US citizens lived in counties directly on shorelines, with an expected 8% (10 million) increase by 2020.  […]

Is the Pebble Mine Dead?

By Bob Shavelson | November 25, 2020

On the day before Thanksgiving, Alaskans woke to astounding news: the Army Corps rejected a major permit for the Pebble mine. Never before had the Army Corps rejected a major permit for a large oil, gas or mining project in Alaska. Never. And it only came about after years and years of relentless pressure from […]

PEBBLE MINE IS A GIANT BLACK EYE FOR ALASKA

By Bob Shavelson | November 18, 2020

When I was young and my mom thought I was running with the wrong crowd, she had a simple admonition: if you lay down in the gutter, you get up dirty. That was long ago. But today, when I look at our industry “partners” in Alaska, it feels like we’re wallowing in the gutter. While […]

New Pebble Tapes: Alaskans Will Pay for Pebble Mine Development

By Bob Shavelson | October 29, 2020

Today another public relations bombshell tore into the Pebble Partnership, with the release of new tapes by the Environmental Investigation Agency showing Northern Dynasty’s Ron Thiessen bragging about the company’s political influence over Alaska Senators Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski. Thiessen also boasts how Alaskans will pay at least $1.5 billion for the roads, ports […]

Guest Blog: Exxon Restoration Fund Process Should Maintain Strong Public Participation

By Bob Shavelson | October 26, 2020

Background: The Exxon Valdez Trustees Council (EVOSTC) was established after the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill to oversee restoration of the injured ecosystem through the use of the $900 million civil settlement. The Council consists of three state and three federal trustees (or their designees). The Council is advised by members of the public and by members of […]

The Federal Government Wants to Industrialize Lower Cook Inlet

By Bob Shavelson | October 8, 2020

Forty-five years ago a group of Alaskans with a passion for Cook Inlet took on the oil and gas industry. And in a remarkable David and Goliath battle, they prevailed. Thanks to this small but dogged group of fishermen, scientists, artists and activists, the epic view across Kachemak Bay – and the remarkable resources of […]

The Pebble Partnership: When Lying Liars Tell Alaskans to “Trust the Process”

By Bob Shavelson | October 2, 2020

In late September, the “Pebble Tapes” dropped like a bomb on the Pebble Partnership, blasting public relations shrapnel through the Canadian corporation that will draw blood for a long time. As Pebble staggers through the smoke and fog of the Pebble Tape’s fallout, it’s engaging some tried and true corporate strategies for damage control. But […]

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 […]

If fishermen can’t flush a head in Cook Inlet, why should Hilcorp be allowed to dump toxic waste?

By Bob Shavelson | September 17, 2020

As the fishing season hit its stride this summer, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Jason Brune sent a letter to commercial fishermen about the hazards of dumping raw sewage close to shore. And while sewage management — especially on smaller boats — can be a challenge, Mr. Brune was right. It’s illegal to dump […]

Johnson Tract Mine Prompts Big Questions

By Bob Shavelson | September 3, 2020

Another hardrock mine has reared its head in Cook Inlet, and it’s raising big questions from local property owners, fishermen and businesses. In late August, Inletkeeper flew to the west side of Cook Inlet to meet with local residents and representatives of High Gold – the junior Canadian mining interest currently exploring the Johnson Tract. […]

Local Food and Clean Water: a Matter of Community and Salmon Survival

By Robbi Mixon |

Over the past five years, as we’ve developed our local foods programming, the value of building and supporting local food systems has become increasingly clear in our work to protect the Cook Inlet watershed. The United Nations refers to food, energy and water as the “nexus” of sustainable development: food production requires both water and […]

Pebble Can Afford Fancy Lobbyists But Not a Feasibility Study to Show it has a Real Project

By Bob Shavelson | July 28, 2020

Talk is cheap, but numbers don’t lie. Northern Dynasty Minerals (NAK) – the junior Candian mining interest behind the proposed Pebble mine – did its damndest to hype its stock in the lead-up to the much-anticipated release of its Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) earlier this month.  And while it came as no surprise the Army […]

Biden’s Climate Plan A Good Start for Alaska

By Bob Shavelson | July 26, 2020

Alaska’s land, water and communities are facing a climate crisis, and we all know the problem. Surface air temperatures in the Arctic are rising at twice the rate of average global warming. A hotter, more arid atmosphere is melting the state’s iconic glaciers at a troubling pace, aggravating destructive forest fires. Climate change-induced ocean acidification […]

Pebble Mine is Buying Permits Under the Trump Administration

By Bob Shavelson | July 22, 2020

Massive spending on lobbyists gives foreign mining interests unfair advantage over everyday Alaskans A new compilation by Cook Inletkeeper from U.S. Senate Lobbying Reports shows the Canadian mining interests behind the proposed Pebble mine have spent more than $15 million since 2007 on high-priced lobbyists to buy their way to federal permits.   And since 2017 […]

Chinook salmon declines related to changes in freshwater conditions

By Sue Mauger | July 13, 2020

A new study – led by University of Alaska researchers and in collaboration with Cook Inletkeeper – provides the first evidence that declines in many of Alaska’s Chinook salmon populations can be attributed in part to climate-driven changes in their freshwater habitats.

Increasing Pollution May Push Cook Inlet Beluga Whale Towards Extinction

By Bob Shavelson | July 9, 2020

There is an enduring struggle in Cook Inlet to maintain a balance between developing oil and natural gas resources while also protecting the watershed’s rich biodiversity and thriving tourism and fishing industries. To date, the scale has tipped in favor of development, and one of the most irrevocable outcomes may be the extinction of the […]

The Pebble Partnership: Still Tone Deaf After All these Years

By Bob Shavelson | June 21, 2020

First impressions are often telling. Inletkeeper first met with Northern Dynasty in Homer in 2005, before the Candian junior mining interest – which had never before developed a mining project – formed the Pebble Limited Partnership.  The meeting was cordial but somewhat fraught, because Northern Dynasty had recently announced plans to dig a massive hole […]

Hilcorp Wants to Increase Toxic Dumping in Cook Inlet. And ADEC is happy to help.

By Bob Shavelson | June 2, 2020

TAKE ACTION NOW: https://inletkeeper.org/hilcorpdumping/ CHECK OUT OUR SHORT VIDEO: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT5Fqlfbubs In today’s increasingly greedy world, oil and gas companies will go to just about any length to make as much profit as possible. And Texas-based Hilcorp is the poster child for profits at any cost. Since it gobbled up the lion’s share of oil and […]

Agency Experts: Pebble Review Still Fails the Test

By Bob Shavelson | May 12, 2020

When Pebble’s draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) came out last year, it was widely panned as a superficial nothing burger, designed simply to push the project to the next stage of the process.  How bad was it? So bad that agencies reporting to Donald Trump and Mike Dunleavy had this to say:   The Department of […]

Feige Shows State Bias in Pebble Letter to Corps

By Bob Shavelson | April 29, 2020

When it comes to development projects like the Pebble mine, our state agencies in Alaska are supposed to be neutral arbiters.  They can call balls and strikes, and but they’re not supposed to hit home runs for one side or another. But a recent letter from the Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources makes […]

Dan Sullivan Needs to Tell the Army Corps: Support Alaskans, Not Pebble

By Bob Shavelson | April 6, 2020

Alaskans fighting the Pebble mine have largely focused their ire on Senator Lisa Murkowski, because she’s the more moderate politician and someone who might actually do something.  Dan Sullivan, on the other hand, has largely escaped scrutiny, because Alaskans know he’s a shameless toady for the billionaire Koch dynasty and deep in the pocket of […]

Trump Hides Behind Virus to Ramp-Up Shameless Assault on Alaskan Waters

By Bob Shavelson | March 31, 2020

Barack Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel once famously said, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. What I mean by that is it’s an opportunity to do things you could not do before.” Emmanuel must have had a crystal ball to channel the Trump Administration when he uttered those prescient words. […]

Just Transition, Alaska Native Food Sovereignty: Resiliency in Action

By Robbi Mixon | March 19, 2020

During January 2020’s first-ever Alaska Just Transition Summit, participants explored what “food sovereignty” meant to them and shared ways in which they are helping to build a more just Alaskan food system for all. This post explores the concept of self-determination within food systems, and how we got to where we are today. In his […]

Donlin Gold: Standing Firmly Against Free Speech for Iditarod Mushers

By Bob Shavelson | March 17, 2020

The Iditarod is truly the Last Great Race.  But it has also struggled for funding in recent years, and in 2016, it capitulated to major sponsors – including Donlin Gold – to install a “gag rule,” which prohibits mushers from criticizing race sponsors, among others. Rule 53 of the Iditarod Official 2020 Rules states: “All Iditarod mushers will be held […]

New Report Tells the Real Story about Large Mines in Alaska

By Bob Shavelson | March 9, 2020

Inletkeeper recently reported about Alaska’s unenviable status as the most toxic state in America due to pollution from large metal mines.  Today, a new report issued today by Earthworks pulls back the curtain on Alaska’s phony  permitting scheme, with key findings about pollution violations from large Alaskan mines that include: 100% – All five mines […]

Mike Dunleavy vs. Coastal Alaskans

By Bob Shavelson | March 2, 2020

It’s curious why any Governor would continually poke a stick into the eye of his constituents, but Mike Dunleavy seems to have a unique penchant for it. In just the past several months, Mike Dunleavy’s apparent distaste for coastal Alaskans has taken a variety of forms, including: Loss of Ferry Service:  In perhaps his biggest […]

Alaska Leads the Nation in Toxic Releases for a Good Reason: Large Mines Like Pebble Are Toxic

By Bob Shavelson | February 19, 2020

In 1984, a cyanide gas leak from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of people in what’s been called the world’s worst industrial disaster. Less than a year after the Bhopal disaster, a Union Carbide plant in Institute, West Virginia, suffered another chemical leak which sent dozens of […]

Art as Strategy: Envisioning a Just Transition

By Kaitlin Vadla | February 6, 2020

This is the second piece in a series of Inletkeeper’s staff reflections from their experience at the Alaska’s first-ever Just Transition Summit Alaska’s Just Transition is about getting from where we’re at to where we want to be. We’re in a single revenue source, fossil-fuel based economy that is unsustainable for workers and the environment. […]

NMFS Bureaucrats Drive Beluga Whale to Edge of Extinction

By Bob Shavelson | February 4, 2020

On  January 28, the National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS) announced it had been overestimating the number of endangered beluga whales for years in Cook Inlet, and said the “population is estimated to be smaller and declining more quickly than previously thought.” Two days later, Inletkeeper joined the Center for Biological Diversity in a notice of […]

Transition is Inevitable, Justice is Not

By Robbi Mixon | January 23, 2020

Kohtr’elneyh • Remembering Forward • Alaska’s Just Transition Summit, January 8 – 10, 2020 • Fairbanks Kohtr’elneyh (We Remember) is the Lower Tanana language of the Benhti’ Kenaga So what is a Just Transition? Just Transition initiatives shift the economy from dirty energy to community-controlled energy: from funding new roads to expanding public transit, from incinerators […]

Make Time to Protect the Natural Values of Kachemak Bay

By Bob Shavelson | December 9, 2019

What’s Happening:  The Alaska Department of Fish & Game recently issued a public notice to repeal the current ban on jetskis and other personal watercraft in the Kachemak Bay Critical Habitat Area. The deadline for comments has been extended to no later than 5:00 p.m. on January 21, 2020 The Substance Problem: The Alaska Legislature created […]

Oops, He Did It Again! Dunleavy Stiffs Alaskans.

By Bob Shavelson | December 4, 2019

It’s safe to say Mike Dunleavy is the least popular governor in state history, and for good reason. He ran for office on a wave of dark money, with the phony promise every Alaskan would get a $6,700 PFD check. Then he locked arms with the billionaire Koch Brothers and their front group Americans for […]

DUNLEAVY ROLLBACKS IGNORE PROPERTY RIGHTS & TOURISM DOLLARS

By Bob Shavelson | November 27, 2019

Local businesses, voters and property owners around Lower Cook Inlet responded recently to the Dunleavy Administration’s abrupt decision last week to unravel safeguards to Kachemak Bay. On November 19, ADFG staff notified its planning team the “governor’s office decided to repeal the PWC [Personal Watercraft] prohibition” for the Kachemak Bay Critical Habitat Area. The notice […]

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 […]

Dunleavy Opens Spill Rules for Industry Rollbacks

By Bob Shavelson | October 16, 2019

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 […]

Listen to Hilcorp’s Relentless Seismic Pounding in Lower Cook Inlet Fish & Whale Habitat

By Bob Shavelson | September 15, 2019

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 […]

Massive Hilcorp Seismic Vessel Descends on Lower Cook Inlet Fisheries

By Bob Shavelson | September 10, 2019

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 […]

Lawsuit Challenges Hilcorp’s Plan to Blast Cook Inlet Beluga Whales

By Bob Shavelson | September 4, 2019

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 Airgun Assault to Start in Lower Cook Inlet this Fall

By Bob Shavelson | August 19, 2019

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 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 […]

Heat Wave Hits Cook Inlet Salmon Streams

By Sue Mauger | July 10, 2019

Climate Crisis Sends Stream Temperatures Off the Charts 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 F (27.6 C) in the Deshka River, a major salmon stream on the west side of Cook Inlet in the Mat […]

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