Inletkeeper Blog
Alaska’s “Awful 8”: Standing for Business As Usual
In Inletkeepers’ blog series, ‘The Corporate War on Salmon’, our Advocacy Director, Bob Shavelson, examined the campaign disclosure of so-called ‘Stand For Alaska’ to reveal that this supposed ‘broad statewide coalition’ is backed by an elite who’s who of corporate...
Pebble Redux
re·dux: /rēˈdəks,ˈrēˈdəks/adjective, brought back; revived. Late last year one of Cook Inletkeeper’s 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...
Urgent Climate Action
Gov. Walker's Climate Leadership Team is collecting public comment for a draft policy response to the causes and impacts of climate change. Comment before JUNE 4 Have you heard about " The Blob"? It's a monsterous meterological phenomenon that super heated North...
Court Spanks DNR for Violating Alaskans’ Rights to Protect Wild Salmon
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...
The Corporate War on Salmon – Part IV
Most working Alaskans consider $500,000 to be a lot of money. And of course, it is. But not when you’re a giant multinational oil company. British Petroleum recently dropped $500,000 to try to stop the Stand for Salmon ballot initiative, which would update Alaska’s...
Pebble: When NO means NO
Since day one, your opposition to the Pebble open pit mine in the headwaters of the richest sockeye fishery in the world has run strong. You showed up to public hearings, you wrote comments, you voted at the ballot box. The message was always clear: the risks are too...
The War on Alaska Salmon: Conflicts of Interest & Corporate Influence Infect Wild Salmon Protection
Your right as an Alaskan to wild, healthy salmon is under assault. These are strong words, and we don’t take them lightly. But the fact remains that large corporations are now woven into the very fabric of our government and our society, and their corporate DNA is...
What the Frack?! State Protects Oil Corporations, Hides Fracking Info from Alaskans
Did you ever get slapped for doing the right thing? That’s how Cook Inletkeeper feels after the Alaska Oil & Gas Commission (AOGCC) recently announced its final rule on whether Alaskans should get public notice and an opportunity to comment on hydraulic fracking...
The Corporate War on Salmon: Part 2
Recent filings with the Alaska Public Offices Commission reveal the many corporations and trade groups opposed to the Stand for Salmon Initiative, which is the ballot measure sponsored by Alaskans to update our 60-year old fish habitat laws. No one should be surprised...
Alaska’s Corporate War on Salmon
These Corporations Have Rigged the Salmon Protection System By Bob Shavelson, Advocacy Director I’ve been working on water quality and salmon habitat issues in Alaska for over 20 years. And over all this time, I’ve learned a few painful but obvious lessons. First,...