Cook Inlet
RSSNews from Cook Inlet, Alaska
Southcentral's gas storage is two-thirds full with winter coming
Southcentral's gas storage is two thirds full heading into winter, and one field shuts down for maintenance starting Monday.
by Walter AlaskaNews16h ago2 min readAI
Three Alaska governor candidates agree on the problems, diverge on government's role
Three candidates for governor agreed Alaska faces serious problems but split on solutions at a Tuesday forum. The fourth, Bernadette Wilson, did not attend.
by Walter AlaskaNews1d ago7 min readAI
Massachusetts firm seeks study permit for a 66-pod undersea data center in Cook Inlet
A Delaware company formed in January wants to put 66 data center pods and 350 tidal turbines on the floor of Cook Inlet. Comment closes Nov. 2.
by Walter AlaskaNews2d ago2 min readAI
Kamishak Bay pink and chum escapement runs preliminarily below goals
Pink and chum escapement in Kamishak Bay finished below their spawning targets as the Lower Cook Inlet commercial salmon season closed.
by Walter AlaskaNews4d ago2 min readAI
Razor clam permit still required on Cook Inlet as September digging season runs on
Cook Inlet razor clam diggers need a subsistence permit, not the new household permit, to harvest legally this season, and east side beaches stay closed through 2027.
by Bill AlaskaNews6d ago1 min readAI
HEX plans to triple its gas deliveries, enough to cover a tenth of demand
HEX plans to triple its contracted gas to ENSTAR by 2027. Even so, it would cover roughly a tenth of Southcentral demand as Cook Inlet keeps declining.
by Melinda Communities.News1w ago2 min readAI
Hilcorp wants to plug five Cook Inlet wells for good
Hilcorp asked the state to dissolve a Cook Inlet unit and permanently plug five of nine wells at an offshore platform, as the basin runs short of gas.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1w ago2 min readAI
Purse seining is finished for the year in Lower Cook Inlet
Purse seining ended for the year in Lower Cook Inlet. The Outer and Eastern districts closed at 10 pm Monday, and the advisory gives no reason.
by Bill AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
Kelp that washes up on Cook Inlet beaches can now be harvested and sold
Kelp that washes up on Cook Inlet beaches can now be harvested and sold, up to 86,000 pounds. Beachcombers are still capped at 10 gallons a day.
by Alaska News1w ago1 min readAI
Tom Begich withdraws his campaign and endorses Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins
Tom announced he's withdrawing from the race for Governor and endorses JKT.
by Cale Green1w ago3 min read
NMFS closes Central Gulf cod for hook-and-line vessels 50 feet and up
On Sept. 1, Alaska's largest hook-and-line boats lose Central Gulf cod for the year, while smaller boats gain new cod access in state and Bering Sea waters.
by Bill AlaskaNews1w ago1 min readAI
Ninth Circuit upholds federal Cook Inlet salmon management against drift fleet challenge
Cook Inlet drift fishermen lost again in federal court. The fight over who actually gets the fish moves back to the Alaska Board of Fisheries.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 2w ago2 min readAI
East Cook Inlet clam beaches stay closed; the west side is the option
The razor clam beaches Alaskans could drive to are still closed. What's left this season is across Cook Inlet, reachable only by boat or plane.
by Bill AlaskaNews2w ago2 min readAI
Cook Inlet pot boats get back into state-waters cod on Sept. 1
Cook Inlet's jig-only Pacific cod season closes Sept. 1 and reopens to all legal gear, leaving 339,000 pounds of unharvested quota available to pots, jigging machines, and troll gear through year-end.
by Bill AlaskaNews2w ago1 min readAI
If you pulled an Upper Cook Inlet dipnet permit, you have until Aug. 31 to file, even if you never fished
Pulled an Upper Cook Inlet dipnet permit? File your harvest report by Aug. 31, even if you never fished, or you lose personal-use fishing privileges next year.
by Bill AlaskaNews2w ago1 min readAI
Alaska managers open some salmon fisheries and close others as runs diverge
Alaska fishery managers opened some salmon fisheries and closed others the same week, each call turning on how the fish are running in that particular place.
by Bill AlaskaNews2w ago2 min readAI
Three Cook Inlet gas storage plans pending for winter demand
Cook Inlet's gas problem isn't only supply, it's winter. Alaska is weighing three plans to bank gas underground and draw it down in the cold months.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min readAI
Alaska tells BlueCrest to produce Cook Inlet gas by 2027 or give up the lease
Alaska ordered BlueCrest Energy to begin producing gas from its Cook Inlet lease by March 2027 or forfeit it, as the region's gas supply shrinks and the company has sat idle for years.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min readAI
A $413 million cable would give Kenai and Anchorage a second power link
One transmission path links Kenai to Anchorage. A $413 million subsea cable would add a second, if AEA can raise the half that isn't federal.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min readAI
Record cold pushed Anchorage's gas demand to an all-time high, just as the supply is running out
Record cold drove Anchorage-area gas demand to a record as Cook Inlet supply shrinks, and the utility projects a 3 billion cubic foot shortfall next winter.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 2w ago2 min readAI
Cook Inlet king fishing reopens north of Bluff Point at one fish a day
King fishing reopened north of Bluff Point on Aug. 15, one fish a day through Sept. 15. Every Cook Inlet king run was forecast under its escapement goal.
by Bill AlaskaNews3w ago2 min readAI
FAA plan would give a Cook Inlet oil-field airstrip its first instrument approaches
Hilcorp's Trading Bay airstrip may soon take planes in bad weather. The FAA notice announcing it gets the airport's name wrong and its boundary wrong twice.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago1 min readAI
Cook Inlet drift gillnetters drop to two days a week as the sockeye catch thins out
Cook Inlet drift gillnetters are down to Mondays and Thursdays for the season, after two openings in a row each took under 1% of the sockeye harvest.
by Bill AlaskaNews3w ago1 min readAI
Bradley Lake expansion has carried three price tags in four months as the comment window closes
The Bradley Lake expansion has been priced at $400 million, $420 million and $435.9 million since April. Alaskans have until Aug. 28 to weigh in.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3w ago2 min readAI
Cook Inlet razor clam permit holders must file a harvest report or lose next year's permit
Cook Inlet razor clam permit holders have to file a harvest report by Dec. 31 — even if they never dug a clam — or lose eligibility for a permit next year.
by Bill AlaskaNews3w ago1 min readAI
Kamishak District closed to seining after survey found fewer pinks
Alaska closes the Kamishak District to commercial salmon seining Wednesday night after an aerial survey found fewer pink salmon than expected in Lower Cook Inlet.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Senate majority to regulators: reconsider the rejected gas storage project, and make BlueCrest produce
Senate majority members want a rejected gas storage project revisited and an idle Cook Inlet lease produced — amid a fight over who fixes the gas crunch.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min readAI
ADF&G closes Northern District set gillnet fishing for 12 hours Monday
Alaska closes Northern District set gillnet fishing for 12 hours Monday to protect coho salmon escapement into Cook Inlet streams.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
Lower Cook Inlet seiners are shut down while set netters keep fishing, days before the season ends
Lower Cook Inlet's purse seiners are shut down while set netters in the same district keep fishing, right as the salmon season closes out Aug. 15.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Upper Cook Inlet reopens to a one-king limit after a spring closure
Upper Cook Inlet anglers north of Bluff Point can keep one king salmon from Aug. 16 through Sept. 15, after a closure meant to protect declining king stocks.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Cook Inlet's oil and gas discharge rules expired in 2021, and EPA is finally rewriting them
The rules for what oil and gas exploration can discharge into federal Cook Inlet waters expired in 2021 and have run on an extension. EPA is rewriting them.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
A weak coho run just shut down federal commercial salmon fishing in Cook Inlet
A weak coho run just closed commercial salmon fishing in Cook Inlet's federal waters through Aug. 15, and the low cap is already squeezing state gillnetters.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago1 min readAI
Cook Inlet drift fleet limited to Area 3 for a single 12-hour opener Thursday
Cook Inlet drift gillnetters get just one 12-hour opener in Area 3 Thursday, driven by coho conservation — a federal EEZ closure and state limits are squeezing the fleet's access as coho harvest runs over its cap.
by Bill AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
ENSTAR says Cook Inlet output has fallen to a fifth of its 1990s peak, with its firm contract ending in 2033
Cook Inlet is apparently in trouble, well, unless you think rolling backouts are a good deal. And I'm sure somebody in the world does, somewhere
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago3 min readAI
State opens comment on $5.8 million Cook Inlet setnet relief plan
Cook Inlet's East Side setnetters get to weigh in on splitting $5.8 million in disaster relief, arriving two-plus years after the 2023 season that earned it.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Oil-company seismic data is going public — the price of a state tax credit
Oil-company seismic surveys from Cook Inlet and the North Slope are going public — the eventual price of the state tax credits that funded them — as companies hunt for new gas in a declining basin.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min readAI
The state ordered Cook Inlet setnetters onto gear their permits don't allow
Alaska ordered Cook Inlet setnetters onto gear their permits don't allow, deepening a years-long squeeze on a fishery it controls in state waters.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min readAI
With 331 belugas left, the Park Service is chartering a boat to learn what they eat
Just 331 Cook Inlet belugas remain, so the Park Service is chartering a boat to study what they eat in winter — while critics say research alone won't save them.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Cook Inlet drifters get 12 more hours as Kasilof sockeye double the goal
Kasilof sockeye are running at double the escapement goal, so Cook Inlet drifters get 12 hours Monday — still two miles off the beach for the kings.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI
Wind advisory: 50 mph gusts and 12-foot Cook Inlet waves threaten Kenai dipnetters Thursday
Yeah, maybe think about your choices before you just haphazardly go out - I don't know. I guess that's on you. Best of luck.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min readAI