Cook Inlet
RSSNews from Cook Inlet, Alaska
Local organizations and topics
Numbers are stories in the last 30 days.
Have a story from Cook Inlet? Send a tip
Week of Jul 20
Cook Inlet Tribal Council wants input on next winter's heating help
Cook Inlet Tribal Council is taking comment through Aug. 24 on how it'll run heating assistance next year — the help that covers fuel bills through an Alaska winter.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Week of Jul 13
Alaska House ties 19-19 on gas line bill, killing it for now
Alaska House deadlocked 19-19 on the Alaska LNG bill July 16, stalling gas supply plans as Cook Inlet production declines toward 2027 shortages.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
DNR opens comment on mining camp proposed near Farewell Airport
Alaska Earth Sciences seeks state permission for a temporary mining support camp near Farewell Airport, with public comments due July 30.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Murkowski, Schatz introduce $800M bill for Native children and families
Senators Murkowski and Schatz introduced an $800 million bill to fund Native children and families, with nearly $500 million flowing directly to tribal governments starting immediately upon passage.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago3 min read
Strong sockeye at China Poot, but clammers now need a permit before heading out
Alright! So China poot this weekend, who's in??!
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Fish Creek sport fishery closes today; dipnet opening possible if counts hold
Fish Creek sport fishery closes today, but Alaska residents could dipnet sockeye starting late July if ADF&G counts exceed 35,000 salmon in coming days.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
The $100 million question inside Alaska's gas-line bill
Should Hilcorp pay the oil tax ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips already do? It's worth $100M-plus a year — but critics warn taxing Cook Inlet's gas supplier could backfire.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Week of Jul 6
Mat-Su sockeye opens up — but the kings stay closed
Two Mat-Su sockeye fisheries just opened, with a few early fish already in the inlet — while kings stay closed across the Susitna and beyond, hatchery spots aside.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
More from Cook Inlet
Anchorage Planning and Zoning Commission to weigh shop-house and self-storage ordinances
Anchorage's Planning and Zoning Commission will vote on making homes easier to build in commercial zones while restricting large parking lots and self-storage facilities.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Anchorage won $191 million for the port that feeds Alaska
Anchorage won a record $191M from the federal government, all of it going to rebuild the port that brings in 90% of Alaska's food and fuel — and to keep those costs off Alaskans' bills.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Deshka king run collapse forces Cook Inlet closures amid allocation fight
The Deshka king run is projected to come in at under half its minimum goal, and ADF&G is closing fisheries to save what's left.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Week of Jun 29
Anchorage planners say 30-foot R-1 height cap would undermine housing overlay
Anchorage planners say a 30-foot height cap for R-1 zones would block three-story buildings the Missing Middle Housing overlay is meant to enable.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
Anchorage weighs selling a fire-damaged lot below market to a housing nonprofit
Anchorage votes July 7 on a below-market sale of a fire-damaged lot to a housing nonprofit: a blight fix to some, a fairness question to others after the bid failed.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
One place near Anchorage where you can still keep a king
ings are closed across the Mat-Su and Northern Cook Inlet — except Eklutna Tailrace, a stocked fishery where you can still take one home while the wild runs stay shut.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Alaska's development bank meets behind closed doors on the Arctic Refuge, a mining road, and a port
Alaska's state investment bank meets privately July 8 on its biggest bets — Arctic Refuge oil, the Ambler mining road, Port MacKenzie — with public money on the line.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
The road rebuild behind Spenard's makeover
Anchorage is planning to rebuild Chugach Way — the road running through the heart of Spenard's revival, where old strip clubs and gas stations are becoming new housing.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Coming up
Kenai/Soldotna Fish and Game Advisory Committee Meeting
Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center, 33398 Ski Hill Road, Soldotna, AK 99669
Meeting
Alaska Board of Fisheries Meeting - Lower Cook Inlet Proposals
Meeting
Lower Cook Inlet Area Finfish Board of Fisheries Meeting
Meeting
Board of Fisheries Lower Cook Inlet Finfish Meeting
Meeting
Lower Cook Inlet Finfish Regulatory Meeting
Hearing
About Cook Inlet
Cook Inlet is a tidal estuary on Alaska's south-central coast, reaching from Anchorage to the Gulf of Alaska. Its waters hold offshore oil and gas platforms, commercial salmon and cod fisheries and an endangered population of beluga whales.
Natural gas from Cook Inlet fields supplies Southcentral homes and utilities, and how long that supply can last is a recurring question, along with gas storage, state leases and spill plans for the platforms. Fisheries managers set limits for drift and set gillnets, seines, cod boats and sport anglers, and the east side setnet fleet has faced years of restrictions. Razor clam closures and coho limits also return.
The inlet borders Anchorage and the Port of Alaska, Kenai Peninsula towns such as Kenai, Nikiski and Homer, and the Susitna River and Mat-Su Valley at its head. The Alaska Board of Fisheries and state oil and gas regulators make many of the decisions that govern its fisheries and fields.
More from Cook Inlet
A Knik Arm bridge easement survives — and so does the debate
Anchorage kept a Knik Arm Crossing easement on a port plat — a small vote that keeps alive a long-debated bridge backers call vital resiliency and skeptics call unfunded.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Week of Jun 22
Dipnetting the Kasilof? Record and clip before you stash your fish
Record and clip each salmon before it goes in your cooler, or risk a summons like the Wasilla man cited at Kasilof on June 27.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Matanuska Electric offers free EV chargers to local businesses, but hosts pay install costs
MEA is giving away EV chargers to Mat-Su hosts — but only the box is free; the host pays to install it, and the co-op pockets three years of charging data.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Alaska's gas-pipeline bill now carries a tax on Hilcorp and others
A permanent tax on pass-through oil companies like Hilcorp is riding inside Alaska's gas-pipeline bill — and it kicks in by 2028 whether the pipeline gets built or not.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
Seward gives its kids more time to catch a king
Kings are scarce across Alaska, but Seward's kids just got bonus weeks at a lagoon stocked just for them — fish raised to be caught, by anglers under 16 only.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Beluga Fire triggers nightly FAA flight restriction near Anchorage
FAA restricted airspace over the Beluga Fire northwest of Anchorage nightly through June 28 to protect firefighting aircraft from the surface to 2,000 feet.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Cook Inlet Razor Clam Harvest Now Requires a Permit
Cook Inlet razor clam diggers must now get a permit before heading out this summer, and face a December 31 reporting deadline or lose eligibility next year, even if they never dug a clam.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
On the Kasilof, Alaska is opening the sockeye floodgates and holding the line on kings
On the Kasilof, Alaska is opening the sockeye floodgates and rationing the kings on the same water — a tidy snapshot of where the salmon stand. Grab a dipnet.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min read
Trump Wildlife Pick Wants Fewer ESA Lawsuits — Alaska Is Ground Zero
Trump's wildlife nominee says the Endangered Species Act drowns in lawsuits — and nowhere does that fight bite harder than Alaska, where polar bears and belugas sit atop the oil patch.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Kenai, Russian River Sockeye Bag Limit Jumps to 6 Fish Thursday
Red fish, blue fish, me fish, you fish
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Anchorage housing resource fair Friday at Mountain View Library
Anchorage brings housing agencies, the DMV, and homeless services to Mountain View Library on Friday, June 26, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., walk-in and free.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
Federal regulators renew HEX authorization for Cook Inlet marine-mammal harassment
Federal regulators renewed HEX Operating's permit to incidentally harass marine mammals during natural gas work in Cook Inlet through September 2027.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago1 min read
The $16 Gas Promise Comes With Fine Print
The gas line's headline $16 price is firm — until you notice it's quoted in the wrong unit, climbs with inflation before any gas arrives, and gets policed by a commission missing half its top staff.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Week of Jun 15
NMFS issues renewal IHA to HEX Operating for Cook Inlet natural gas activities
Federal regulators renewed a permit letting HEX Operating produce natural gas in Cook Inlet while monitoring disturbance to beluga whales and other marine mammals that share the inlet.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Silver Bay applies for a dock right in front of competitor Snug Harbor
Silver Bay is putting a dock right in front of Snug Harbor's waterfront on the Kasilof. Competition is the substance.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
Senate passes gas-line bill; Dunleavy immediately calls lawmakers back to rewrite it
Special session concludes without passage of a gasline bill, and now the question is if this is an end to negotiations or if they'll continue tomorrow. The Governor thinks they're close.
by Cale Green4mo ago3 min read
Anchorage Assembly votes Tuesday on an $859K Eklutna River study
The Anchorage Assembly's $859K Eklutna study isn't a small procurement — it's part of a decades-long fight over fish, hydropower, and tribal claims.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min read
NOAA Fisheries declined to list Gulf of Alaska Chinook under the ESA
NOAA decided Gulf of Alaska Chinook don't qualify for ESA listing — even as Chinook closures pile up across Alaska systems.
by Bill AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min readFrom 
Dunleavy called a second special session over the unresolved LNG tax bill
Long Friday in Juneau: LNG tax bill stuck, second special session called, two vetoes overridden, three failed. Round three starts Saturday.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min readFrom 
Cook Inlet's salmon season opens June 22 — and could slam shut early
Cook Inlet's salmon season opens June 22. The last two years so many reds came back they went uncaught — and the rule behind that is still on the books.
by Maggie AlaskaNews4mo ago2 min readFrom 
Federal fishery disaster relief of $99M headed to Alaska after years of waiting
Alaska took four of every five dollars in the nation's fishery-disaster aid — and none of it has reached anyone yet, with 13 more disasters still in line.
by Walter AlaskaNews4mo ago3 min readFrom 
Chugach and Glenfarne Alaska LNG signed a non-binding LOI — a step, not a contract
Chugach and Glenfarne signed a non-binding letter of intent. The pipeline still hasn't broken ground. One of many Chugach hedges.
by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Chugach is pursuing four hydroelectric projects to hedge against Cook Inlet gas decline
Chugach's gas-to-renewables shift has its first concrete entries: four hydro projects on four Southcentral creeks, 52 MW total.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read
Alaska's biggest utility may start importing the gas its own region once exported
Then on the sixth day, god said: "Let there be LNG" And it was goooooood
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 4mo ago2 min read