by Sue Mauger | Jan 19, 2023 | Climate Change, Energy & Alaska, Lease Sale 258
Nowhere is the disconnect between energy policy and climate impacts more evident than in Cook Inlet. In the same waters covered in last month’s federal Oil & Gas Lease Sale 258, federal fisheries managers closed the highly-lucrative Pacific cod fishery in...
by Ben Boettger | Dec 7, 2022 | Climate Change, Energy & Alaska, Homer Electric Association
The energy prospects on the horizon in December 2022 are very different from those of December 2021, and in December 2023, the picture is likely to be different once again. With action and engagement, we can make it a much brighter one. Mitigating the destruction...
by Ben Boettger | Dec 1, 2022 | Energy & Alaska, Homer Electric Association, Local Economies
We who care about climate action often fool ourselves into only seeing two paths ahead: “topdown”and “bottom-up.” We pivot between too-small individual behavioral changes and too insurmountableinstitutional changes without seeing the local and regional actions in...
by Sue Mauger | Dec 1, 2022 | Climate Change, Energy & Alaska, Lease Sale 258
It’s easy to feel alone in the conviction that now is the time to stop developingnew oil & gas leases in Alaska. In 2022, we’ve seen Congress mandate that Lease Sale 258 in the federal watersof Lower Cook Inlet move forward before the end of the year; and the...
by Bridget Maryott | Nov 30, 2022 | Clean Water, Climate Change, Energy & Alaska, Healthy Habitat
With the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), we saw steps forward on climate and clean energy but also steps backward, burdened with expanded oil & gas leasing and fast-tracked mining in Alaska. Linking clean energy development to decades of continued...
by Ben Boettger | Sep 16, 2022 | Climate Change, Energy & Alaska, Lease Sale 258, Oil & Gas
80% of Southcentral Alaska’s electricity is generated by natural gas turbines, and about a third of our electric bills go to fueling them. All this gas is extracted from beneath or around Cook Inlet, and for decades this local market has grown increasingly...