Protecting Alaska's Cook Inlet watershed and the life it sustains since 1995.
When President Biden took office, he promptly delivered on his campaign promise to address climate change by pausing new oil and gas leasing in federal waters until his Administration could review the leasing program. The pause put the brakes on proposed federal Lease Sale 258, which had been rushed through in a matter of months […]
In the complex interplay between corporate profits and environmental protection, it can be hard to connect the dots to understand the larger picture. Inletkeeper is now engaged on two fronts which at first may appear disconnected, but on closer inspection, reveal a troubling linkage that requires heightened scrutiny. [Click here now to tell EPA we […]
Conservationist and ecologist Aldo Leopold published his pivotal essay Land Ethic in 1949. Central to this essay is a call for honoring our moral responsibility to the natural world, by caring not only about ourselves, but also the land, and the inseparable relationships between them. Land Ethic demands thinking and action beyond our own immediate […]
As Alaska girds for a future without the wave of petrodollars that fueled our early years, itâs time we decide how best to protect and develop the incredible natural resources that make the Great Land unique. A new report makes clear that hard rock mining will not fill the fiscal gap left by flagging oil […]
A few minutes after midnight on March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez struck Bligh Reef, a glaring navigation hazard in Prince William Sound. The rest is history. Today marks the 32nd anniversary of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (EVOS). And as we look back on the devastation and heartbreak wrought by the EVOS, itâs important […]
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. BOEMâs move comes in the wake of President Bidenâs January 27 Executive Order placing a pause on all oil and gas leasing […]
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 […]
What is the common thread between Concord, NH; Denton, TX; Norman, OK and a growing number of American cities? They all have a commitment to 100% clean energy within the next 30 years. The transition from fossil fuels to renewables is inevitable. Whatâs not inevitable is that this transition is just and, in the words […]
To say itâs been a wild and uncertain year would be an understatement. The pandemic lockdown started just as markets and farmers around Alaska were preparing for a busy summer growing season. Would markets be allowed to open? What would farmers do with all their products? Will there be a demand for local food? So […]
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 Alaskaâs blanket refusal to work with the federal government to co-manage the salmon fishery in Lower Cook Inlet. The irony […]
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 […]
Currently about 40% of the worldâs 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. […]
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 […]
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 âpartnersâ in Alaska, it feels like weâre wallowing in the gutter. While […]
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 […]
Over the past five years, as weâve 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 ânexusâ of sustainable development: food production requires both water and […]
A new study – led by University of Alaska researchers and in collaboration with Cook Inletkeeper – provides the first evidence that declines in many of Alaskaâs Chinook salmon populations can be attributed in part to climate-driven changes in their freshwater habitats.
There is an enduring struggle in Cook Inlet to maintain a balance between developing oil and natural gas resources while also protecting the watershedâs 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 […]
Government bureaucrats love to highlight Alaskaâs work protecting our environment, because it helps sell the idea that Alaskaâs âopen for business.â The big mining, oil and gas corporations also like to tout Alaskaâs green bona fides, because it helps insulate them from public criticism. Thereâs only one problem: itâs all a lie. Thatâs because Alaskaâs […]
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 […]
Today, Cook Inletkeeper joined four Native Tribes in a legal challenge to the Dunleavy Administrationâs decision to let Donlin Gold build a 315 mile-long gas pipeline across hundreds of fish streams from Cook Inlet to Donlinâs mine site next to the Kuskokwim River. Lawyers from Earthjustice filed the lawsuit in Alaska Superior Court in Anchorage […]
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 â including Donlin Gold â to install a âgag rule,â which prohibits mushers from criticizing race sponsors, among others. Rule 53 of the Iditarod Official 2020 Rules states: âAll Iditarod mushers will be held […]
In 1984, a cyanide gas leak from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of people in whatâs been called the worldâs 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 […]
This is the second piece in a series of Inletkeeper’s staff reflections from their experience at the Alaskaâs first-ever Just Transition Summit Alaskaâs Just Transition is about getting from where weâre at to where we want to be. Weâre in a single revenue source, fossil-fuel based economy that is unsustainable for workers and the environment. […]
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 […]
Itâs 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 […]
In the 1960âs and 1970âs, 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 âastroturfâ groups pushing an aggressive anti-consumer, anti-environment agenda. Today, from Koch Industries to Exxon, and from […]
Hilcorpâs 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 273â 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 […]
ANCHORAGEâ Conservation groups filed a lawsuit today challenging the Trump administrationâs 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. Weâre getting tired talking about what a stupid idea it is to put a giant, toxic hole in the headwaters of the worldâs greatest sockeye fishery. Weâve grown uncomfortably […]
Today, the Alaska Supreme Court struck an important provision from the Stand for Salmon Ballot Initiative. It ruled the initiativeâs ban on âsubstantial damageâ â including permanent harm to salmon habitat â violated the Alaska Constitution because it amounted to an âappropriationâ which impermissibly limited the Legislatureâs 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: /rÄËdÉks,ËrÄËdÉks/adjective, brought back; revived. Late last year one of Cook Inletkeeperâs 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 didnât 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. Â 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 fracturingâor âfrackingââhas 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 Cheneyâfresh off his stint running Haliburton, the worldâs […]
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 […]
