Permanently Withdraw Lower Cook Inlet from Offshore Leases
Join us in asking to remove Lower Cook Inlet from all future oil & gas leasing
Take Action
Do we want new infrastructure in Cook Inlet for 40 years of oil and gas?
Do we want a 19% chance of 1 or more large oil spills in Lower Cook Inlet?
Do we want the industrialization of Lower Cook Inlet with drilling rigs, underwater pipelines, and associated increased traffic and tankers in the Inlet?
Do we want a transition to renewable energy to invest in a future that avoids the worst impacts of the climate crisis?
Alaskans have spoken out against oil and gas development for decades, most recently standing up with almost 93,000 Americans to say no to Lease Sale 258. We will stand up for the future we want again and ask to remove Lower Cook Inlet from all future plans.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has thrown us a curve ball. While it is heralded as the most impressive climate legislation ever, the poison pill of more oil & gas leasing in exchange for wind energy is hard to swallow. The coastal communities of Cook Inlet and the Gulf of Mexico deserve better. While the IRA requires Lease Sale 258 to be held before the end of 2022, Inletkeeper will be working with our partners this fall to push for concrete mitigation measures in case there turns out to be industry interest in the Lower Cook Inlet lease.
Add your voice and help us spread the word! Share it on social media with a photo of what you love about Cook Inlet, send it to friends, or have friends & family sign on the next time you're together.
What's the risk?
Pollution
Companies will be allowed to directly discharge drilling waste into Cook Inlet
Impacts to landscape
Difficult to quantify, but installed platforms, discharge, increased boat traffic, and noise in a pristine area
Impacts to Wildlife
Disturbance to migratory birds, marine mammals, and fish
Oil Spills
The current draft EIS predicts a 19% chance that one or more large (more than 42,000 gallons) oil spill will occur. Sea conditions, ice, temperatures, high waves, large tides and currents would hinder clean-up efforts.
Do you want to do more?
If you want to speak up and call for #NoNewLeases you can also sign national petitions like the one that the League of Conservation Voters has here.
If you want to speak up on both Cook Inlet and the Gulf, you can sign both our petition AND the local petition in the Gulf of Mexico. We know many of us stand in solidarity with other communities that are devastated through oil and gas development. The Gulf of Mexico remembers the Deepwater Horizon like the Gulf of Alaska remembers the Exxon Valdez. Here!
Support our work
Oil and gas lease sales have been on the horizon for years, but we are now approaching the edge of the waterfall. Stopping oil & gas leasing before it gets a foothold in Lower Cook Inlet is imperative. We need you with us today to protect what we all love and value about this fantastic place. Lower Cook Inlet has created a regenerative economy based on world-class tourism. This area is prime fishing grounds for our commercial and sport fleets. Boats fish in the exact locations where the oil industry wants to install platforms and pipelines - pipelines like the one that just had a catastrophic leak in California. Not to mention the Lease Sale area would be some of the same waters where our endangered beluga whales live.
The impacts from climate change are here. Meanwhile, federal oil & gas lease sales - the proposed one in Lower Cook Inlet - move forward. Alaska is reeling from warming temperatures as permafrost thaws and ice melts across the state. These are the same waters where the federal government closed the Pacific cod fishery because of the impacts of climate change. Yet this proposed lease sale would occur in these same waters. It’s up to all of us to say “no” to more oil and gas production with its increased carbon emissions and toxic discharge, making the lands and waters uninhabitable for generations to come.
