Protecting Alaska's Cook Inlet watershed and the life it sustains since 1995.
Thank you to all the happy salmon supporters who connected with us at this year’s Salmonfest. The long hard work paid off, we are always happy to make a splash in the chaotic and joyous vortex that Salmonfest is. From a line-up of Salmon Champions speaking from the River Stage, to salmon dinner, to a […]
We are finally experiencing the last ripples of Pebble mine. After decades of powerful advocacy, extensive salmon research, and strong tribal voices, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) vetoed the proposed copper mine threatening the headwaters of Bristol Bay in January 2023. We are still celebrating this long-anticipated moment and all those who played a role […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
As Alaska girds for a future without the wave of petrodollars that fueled our early years, it’s 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 […]
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 “partners” in Alaska, it feels like we’re wallowing in the gutter. While […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Mike Dunleavy recently flew all the way to the east coast to stand by Donald Trump as he gutted rules under the nation’s “environmental magna carta” – the National Environmental Policy Act. Of course Mike Dunleavy has contorted himself in any number of ways to coddle a President who’s handling of the COVID pandemic has […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 19, 2019 House of Representatives Vote to Block Funding for Pebble Mine.Representative Don Young wants to “Look at the Science.” Homer, AK – Today, the House of Representatives passed amendment 90, “The Huffman Amendment” to the Energy and Water Appropriations Act (H.R. 2740) bill to suspend funding for permitting the proposed […]
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 […]
In May 2019, Inletkeeper released a report (see below) showing the pile of money Pebble is spending on high-end lobbyists to influence the Trump Administration’s so-called “permitting process.” The report showed that since the beginning of the Trump administration, Pebble has paid $4.43 million to in-house and external lobbyists. Since 2007, that number balloons to […]
UPDATE: February 2020. The Alaska Miners Association failed to secure passage of legislation to prevent Alaskans from protecting our most important water resources last session. So, what’s a well-heeled mining trade group with a fancy lobbyist to do? Keep pushing. Now, the Alaska Mining Association has amended the original legislation (HB 138), with a tried […]
Court Dismisses Pebble’s Bogus Effort to Silence Fishermen Dunleavy Administration Wastes State Money on Frivolous Lawsuit In April we wrote about Pebble’s ham-fisted attempts to silence Bristol Bay fishermen with a frivolous lawsuit (see below). Today, the Alaska Superior Court agreed that Pebble’s lawsuit had absolutely no merit, and it dismissed the case. If you’ve […]
If you’re a semi-conscious Alaskan, you probably know by now the billionaire Koch brothers have their hands around the throat of democracy in the Last Frontier. You may recall how the Koch Brother’s front groups – the Alaska Policy Forum, Power the Future, and Americans for Prosperity- Alaska Chapter – waged an out-and-out war to […]
Featured photo: Michael Melford The Army Corps of Engineers began their public hearings in Naknek, AK on Monday for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement regarding the proposed Pebble Mine Plan. At the same time that residents from rural Alaska make arrangements to speak out at these public hearings, our State Legislature in Juneau is proceeding […]
Since Pebble reared its head more than 15 years ago, its supporters have told many lies.
Our conclusion: the Pebble EIS is a bad joke. It’s incomplete. It’s unscientific. And for every Alaskan who cares about Bristol Bay, it’s wholly unacceptable.
The proposed Pebble mine in southwest Alaska stands out for a variety reasons, including the fact it would be the first large-scale, open pit mine in the headwaters of the Bristol Bay – the richest sockeye salmon fishery in the world. But with the recent release of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the […]
I attended a presentation this week in Homer by Mark Hamilton, Vice President of External Affairs and mouthpiece for the Pebble mine, and it was remarkable on a couple fronts. First, the tone. Hamilton spoke down to the crowd like a seasoned used car salesman, highlighting only the possible benefits of the Pebble Mine, and […]
