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

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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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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

By Robbi Mixon | September 3, 2020

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 […]

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.

Pebble Redux: The Bears of Amakdedori | Full Film Now Online

By Cook Inletkeeper | July 8, 2020

There are few icons of wilderness as powerful as the bears of southwest Alaska. With thousands of them living wild on the Alaska Peninsula, they play crucial roles as ecosystem curators and economic drivers, drawing wildlife lovers from all over the world who support the region’s lucrative sustainable bear viewing industry.  Once regarded as untouchable, […]

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. […]

Alaskans Thank Goldman Sachs for Move Away from Fossil Fuels in the Arctic

By Bob Shavelson | January 28, 2020

UPDATE – FEBRUARY 3, 2020. Today, Goldman Sachs responded to the letter (see below) from over 550 Alaskans applauding its decision to stop funding fossil fuel projects in the Arctic. In a short letter, Goldman Sachs Chairman & CEO David Solomon wrote “climate transition is a critical priority” for the company. While this of course […]

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 […]

Gov. Dunleavy is failing Alaska

By Bridget Maryott | January 3, 2020

December 30, 2019 Bob Shavelson The revelation that Gov. Mike Dunleavy parroted corporate talking points in his efforts to lobby the Trump administration to open the Pebble Mine should concern every Alaskan who cares about wild salmon and strong local economies. And it reveals a disturbing trend that ignores the rule of law and poses […]

Letter from the Director

By Cook Inletkeeper | December 20, 2019

As we approach solstice anticipating the returning light, I’ve been laughing about the notion that this is the slow time of year. The to-do list here at Cook Inletkeeper is longer than ever – there is no off-season to protecting what we love. This month we are fighting the repeal of the jetski ban in […]

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 […]

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 […]

The Deliberate Disaster

By Cook Inletkeeper | July 16, 2019

Throughout his campaign for Governor, then later in defense of his sweeping cuts to kids, the elderly and rural Alaska, Mike Dunleavy has talked a lot about an “honest budget.” In fact, that’s what he calls it on the official state web site: An Honest Budget. Most Alaskans alarmed at the Dunleavy budget cuts, and […]

Update: Pebble Keeps Feeding the Swamp to Push Dead-End Mine

By Cook Inletkeeper | May 2, 2019

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 […]

The Donlin Gold Mine Gas Pipeline

By Bob Shavelson | February 20, 2019

Act NOW to Protect Salmon Habitat – Comments Due March 22 BACKGROUND:  The proposed Donlin mine along the banks of the Kuskokwim River in southwest Alaska would be a massive open gold mine.  To power the facility, Donlin plans a 315 mile-long natural gas pipeline from Cook Inlet through the Skwentna, Yentna and  Kuskokwim drainages. […]

Kids or Corporations?

By Bob Shavelson | January 31, 2019

Alaska is the most profitable oil and gas province in the world. Yet under current forecasts, Alaska is staring down the barrel of a $1.6 billion deficit for the coming fiscal year. Governor Dunleavy came into office promising to cut expenses to balance our budget.  But even if he fired every state employee, he’d still wouldn’t be […]

We are DONE with the Debate

By Cook Inletkeeper | December 7, 2018

ADD YOUR NAME to demand that Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy return the Climate Change Task Force information and action plan documents to the official state website. There is no debate. Our national reports read loud and clear: Alaska is warming faster than the rest of the planet and the cost of doing nothing grows every day. Alaska should […]

Stand For Salmon: The Long View

By Cook Inletkeeper | October 31, 2018

Written by Sue Mauger, Science Director We live in, play around and benefit from a salmon landscape. Wild salmon unite and define us as Alaskans. We pride ourselves in living differently up here, but we are making the same mistakes that others made across the world when they chose incompatible development over salmon. Stand for […]

Exxon Says “No” Salmon on Ballot Measure 1

By Cook Inletkeeper | October 26, 2018

ExxonMobil has donated a total of $1 Million to vote “No’ for salmon on Ballot Measure 1. In 2017, Exxon Mobil Corporation earned 2nd place on the Fortune 500 list, making it the largest privately-owned oil and energy company in the world. Exxon enjoyed profits over 19.7 BILLION dollars. Or, enough to cover the $507.5 million […]

Why are Native Corporations misleading their shareholders?

By Bob Shavelson | October 19, 2018

For the past 23 years, Cook Inletkeeper has worked hard for clean water and healthy habitat in Cook Inlet and around Alaska.  When we worked alongside residents in Tyonek and Beluga to prevent a coal company from Texas from mining through 14 miles of salmon streams on the west side of Cook Inlet, we witnessed […]

SALMON EXPERTS URGE ALASKANS TO SUPPORT BALLOT MEASURE 1

By Cook Inletkeeper | October 17, 2018

Today Cook Inletkeeper released a statement from 58 retired state and federal agency scientists and managers who strongly support the Stand for Salmon Ballot Measure 1. Taken together, these experts have more than 1500 years’ experience managing and overseeing salmon and salmon habitat In Alaska. “Exxon, Pebble and the other corporations are smothering Alaskans with […]

It’s Salmon Season!

By Cook Inletkeeper | July 26, 2018

You might hear us talk a little bit about salmon around here. We love them, it’s true. Because, of course, we all live in one of the last strongholds of wild salmon on earth. That’s right, on THE-PLANET. Stop and think about that for a moment… The conquest of human beings across this continent over […]

Court Spanks DNR for Violating Alaskans’ Rights to Protect Wild Salmon

By Bob Shavelson | May 14, 2018

Alaskans are pushing the Stand for Salmon Initiative because we know our permitting system favors big corporations over everyday Alaskans concerned about fish habitat protection. Here’s a perfect example. In 2009, a group of Alaskans filed an application with the Alaska DNR to reserve water in a stream on the west side of Cook Inlet […]

The largest corporations on the planet are attacking your right to clean water

By Cook Inletkeeper | August 18, 2017

Why is a women’s group attacking clean water safeguards?The answer tells a larger story about how massive corporations have bought our government and our politicians. And it’s on prominent display in the Last Frontier. In 2015, the Obama Administration adopted a long-needed rule to clarify the Clean Water Act’s wetlands protection provisions.  Over the years, […]

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