Protecting Alaska's Cook Inlet watershed and the life it sustains since 1995.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The recent heat wave and forest fires ravaging Alaska are yet another reminder that the Last Frontier lies on the front lines of rapid climate change. Through the smoky haze, however, one thing remains clear: the billionaire Koch Brothers have their hands around the throat of democracy in Alaska, and Mike Dunleavy is their dutiful […]
New study shows bear viewing industry supports nearly 500 jobs and more than $34 million in sales annually See Report Summary here & Full Report here. We’re getting tired talking about what a stupid idea it is to put a giant, toxic hole in the headwaters of the world’s greatest sockeye fishery. We’ve grown uncomfortably […]
Today, the Alaska Supreme Court struck an important provision from the Stand for Salmon Ballot Initiative. It ruled the initiative’s ban on “substantial damage” – including permanent harm to salmon habitat – violated the Alaska Constitution because it amounted to an “appropriation” which impermissibly limited the Legislature’s discretion to make public resource decisions. The Court […]
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 […]
re·dux: /rēˈdəks,ˈrēˈdəks/adjective, brought back; revived. Late last year one of Cook Inletkeeper’s keen-eyed Boardmembers sent me an obscure public notice for exploration work around Amakdedori Creek in Kamishak Bay on the west side of Lower Cook Inlet. The project didn’t entail oil and gas exploration, so it was unclear who would be poking around Kamishak […]
Fall is my favorite time to bicycle commute through Anchorage. I like to watch the birch trees turn from their summer shades of green, to the yellow of autumn, and ultimately to their final resting place on the bike path where they crunch under my tires. I also like to see our salmon change as […]
Hydraulic fracturing—or “fracking”—has jumped into the American lexicon in the past decade, largely due to the advent of directional drilling technology targeting shallow shale gas plays in the Lower 48, and the drinking and groundwater contamination threats they pose. The Bush Administration compounded the problem when Dick Cheney—fresh off his stint running Haliburton, the world’s […]
This summer I have been granted an amazing opportunity to work with Cook Inletkeeper as the ACF Ted Smith Conservation Intern in Homer, AK. I am currently a junior at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, studying Environmental Studies, a major that I have found much passion in. I am from the Big Island of […]
By Maya Goodini, Inletkeeper Intern, Summer 2016 The rich salmon-filled streams of Cook Inlet are a crucial part of what gives this region a sense of place, an identity. Salmon fisheries and canaries have played a significant role in shaping the history of Cook Inlet. Wild salmon are the heartbeat of south-central Alaska and define […]
