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® ... PROTECTING THE COOK INLET WATERSHED & THE LIFE IT SUSTAINS Homer — P.O.nletKEEPE Box 3269, Homer, AK 99603 — (907) 235-4068 Anchorage — 308 G St., Ste. 219, Anch. AK 99501 — (907) 929-9371 [email protected] www.inletkeeper.org Summer 2007 Massive Coal Mine Lands Chuitna River on “Most Endangered Rivers” List I Salmon, Mercury & Climate Change …and BIG COAL! R n April 17, local groups, Native Alaskans and fishermen joined Cook Inletkeeper and otherO groups at a press conference in Anchorage to announce the Chuitna River’s selection as one CONTENTS Massive Coal Coal Mine Lands Chuitna of the nation’s top ten “Most Endangered Rivers” River on “Most Endangered Rivers” List 1 for 2007. The national river protection organiza- Inletkeeper Leads Efforts to Protect Salmon in Changing Climate 1 tion, American Rivers, annually produces the list of ANote From Your Cook Inletkeeper 2 most threatened waterbodies, and it selected the Inletkeeper to Challenge Weak Chuitna based on the imminent threats posed to it Oil & Gas Dumping Permit 3 by the proposed Chuitna coal strip mine. The Oil Tankers Finally Get Needed Tug Support in Cook Inlet 4 Chuitna coal strip mine would, if fully developed, Lower Cook Inlet Oil & Gas Project destroy over 30 square miles of prime moose and Inletkeeper Bob Shavelson addresses Anchorage Press Heeds Local Concerns 4 Conference on Chuitna Coal Mine bear habitat from a pristine watershed 45 miles A l Alaska Coal Group Takes Shape to a s Press for Sensible Energy Options 5 west of Anchorage, near the communities of k a Inletkeeper Report Helps Prompt Tyonek and Beluga on the west side of Cook Inlet. C e Better State Oil Pipeline Rules 6 n t The mine would also dump millions of gallons of e r Inletkeeper Instrumental in Federal f Pipeline Safety Law Renewal 6 mine waste into the Chuitna River and Cook Inlet o r t The Waterkeeper Alliance 6 each day, and would rely on a two mile long dock h e Fed’s Propose “Endangered” stretching into sensitive beluga whale habitat to E n Listing for Beluga Whale 7 v i service huge coal ships. Aside from the direct, r o Inletkeeper Continues Work on n Marine Debris & Clean Boating 7 long term impacts of a massive coal strip mine in m e n Impervious Cover Report Helps Cook Inlet, the project would send coal to Asia, t Gauge Climate Change Impacts 8 where antiquated power plants would produce Clean Water Week In DC - Taking Our Message to the Hill 8 mercury that flows back to Alaska fisheries. house gases of any traditional fuel source. In a Citizens Environmental Finally, Alaska possesses roughly half the nation’s state already considered “ground zero” for climate Monitoring Program 8 coal reserves, and coal produces the most green- change impacts, it makes little sense to turn back- Inletkeeper Laboratory Provides (Continued on page 2 Unique Platform for Monitoring Community 9 Inletkeeper Volunteer Spotlight 9 Inletkeeper Leads Efforts to Protect Salmon in Changing Climate World Water Day 9 Critical Salmon Science Will Drive Better Decisionmaking Inletkeeper’s Website Gets a Facelift 10 Earth Day 2007 - Helping our Next he Cook Inlet watershed is the most populat- there is little or no consistent, long-term tempera- Generation Discover Water 10 ed and fastest-growing region in Alaska; it is ture data for salmon streams in Alaska. Without Computer Recycling Keeps Toxics T Out of Our Landfills 10 also home to the state’s renowned wild salmon such basic information, it is impossible to gauge Cook Inletkeeper’s Truck & runs that are at greatest risk to the effects of cli- the health of Cook Inlet’s salmon habitats and Upcoming Cash Raffle 10 mate and land-use change. For the past five years, resources, and equally difficult to develop man- Thank You Members & Funders 11 Cook Inletkeeper has spearheaded a novel agement responses to improve watershed resilien- research program that has documented alarming cy to climate change. warming trends in local salmon streams, with sum- Cook Inletkeeper is now moving forward to mer temperatures routinely exceeding state water tackle this momentous problem. First we are quality standards established to protect spawning developing standardized, transferable protocols and migrating fish. Fisheries scientists warn that for continuous temperature data-logging to foster high stream temperatures make fish increasingly local, community-level participation in stream vulnerable to pollution, predation and disease. Yet temperature monitoring. Partners actively despite the association between warming water temperatures and reduced salmonid survivorship - (Continued on page 3 INLETKEEPER A Note From Your Cook Inletkeeper Dear Friends of Cook Inlet — he Chuitna River is a spectacular salmon stream on the west side of Cook Inlet near is published biannually by T INLETKEEPER the communities of Beluga and Tyonek. The Cook Inletkeeper, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi- Chuit, as locals call it, produces incredible king zation dedicated to protecting the Cook Inlet salmon, and supports important sport, com- watershed and the life it sustains. Subscriptions mercial and subsistence fishing opportunities. are mailed free to members and are available to In April, Inletkeeper and its supporters suc- others upon request. To become a member, cessfully listed the Chuitna as one of the or for more information, contact: nation’s ten “Most Endangered Rivers” for 2007. Why? Because a Delaware corporation Cook InletKeeper HOMER OFFICE backed by Texas investors is moving to develop Our politicians and agencies are charged P.O. Box 3269, Homer, Alaska 99603 a massive coal strip mine that will destroy the with managing our public lands and waters in 3734 Ben Walters Lane surrounding watershed and dump billions of ph: (907) 235-4068 the best interests of current and future genera- fx: (907) 235-4069 gallons of mine waste into the river each year. tions. But well-heeled corporations have “cap- Corporate developers and government tured” our decisionmakers, and they count on agencies tell us not to worry, because Alaska’s Cook InletKeeper the fact that everyday citizens are too busy with ANCHORAGE OFFICE permitting system will ensure there’s no harm. their own lives to know about or to act upon 308 G Street, Suite 219 But nothing could be further from the truth. It these outrageous rollbacks. That’s where you Anchorage, AK 99501 is a persistent myth that environmental reviews ph: (907) 929-9371 come in. Not only do we have a fundamental fx: (907) 929-1562 and permits actually safeguard the environment right to clean water and healthy salmon, but we and the people who rely on it. Coal strip min- also have an obligation to protect them for our www.inletkeeper.org ing is an inherently intensive land use. Once kids. So don’t get discouraged, get active. It’s [email protected] you destroy 30 square miles of fish, bear and our only choice. With climate change unravel- moose habitat to extract the underlying coal, ing the very biological systems that support our you can never put the egg back in the shell. INLETKEEPER STAFF planet, an active and engaged citizenry is our Bob Shavelson Laws and rules adopted in the past to provide only chance. So please take 20 minutes from Executive Director & Inletkeeper some semblance of environmental protection every week to write a letter or to call an agency Sue Mauger have been systemically dismantled. For exam- official or politician, because they cannot Stream Ecologist ple, in just four short years, the Murkowski ignore our collective voice. Edan Badajos Administration: gutted the Alaska Coastal Lab Analyst Zone Management Act, cutting citizens and Will Schlein local governments from any meaningful role in Yours for Cook Inlet, GIS & Web Specialist coastal development; neutered the biologists in Michael Allen the Alaska Department of Fish and Game by Development Director moving them to the state’s resource develop- Nancy Tappan-Eigenheer ment agency (DNR); and rammed through new Finance Officer rules that allow polluting “mixing zones” in Ingrid Harrald salmon spawning areas, despite thousands of Volunteer Coordinator comments to the contrary statewide. At the Bob Shavelson federal level, the Bush Administration changed COOK INLETKEEPER Executive Director BOARD OF DIRECTORS the definition of “fill” under the Clean Water Rob Ernst, President (Nikiski) Act so mining corporations can reduce costs by Benjamin Jackinsky, Vice President (Kasilof) using our lakes and streams as private dumping Mike O’Meara, Treasure (Homer) grounds. Nancy Wainwright, Secretary (Anchorage) Tom Evans (Nanwalek) Susan Mumma (Seldovia) Coal Mine Cont. (from page 1) Robin McLean (Sutton) Mako Haggerty (Homer) Roberta Rinehart (Anchorage) wards toward coal, especially when such invest- mounting, as Alaskans increasingly recognize John Lemons (Homer) ments would preclude interest in Cook Inlet’s the dead end road represented by a future of world class wind, tidal and geothermal energy coal. See other stories in this issue for other supplies. Opposition to the Chuitna mine is coal work unfolding across the state. PAGE 2 COOK INLETKEEPER INLETKEEPER Protecting Salmon (cont. from page 1) involved in temperature logging will bring together existing proto- tions to develop this Cook Inlet-wide network of sites. With future cols for comparison and review. We will establish a standardized funding, we will implement this monitoring design and have groups method and produce a detailed description of procedures, equip- throughout Cook Inlet help us generate the type of long-term tem- ment needed, how to deploy data loggers in the field, how to pro- perature data for salmon streams that we need to guide smarter man- gram and download data, and how to perform maintenance and agement of our fisheries resources. quality assurance measures. Having this information written for a Most importantly we will work with our Cook Inlet partners to general audience will make it easier for other Cook Inlet partners increase awareness and build local grassroots support to help and community-level groups throughout Alaska to implement tem- address the increasing threats from climate change and development perature monitoring.