Hometown, Alaska: Cook Inlet Environment

Tue, March 30, 2010
Posted in Hometown, Alaska

Cook Inlet surrounds Anchorage on three sides, providing us with salmon, Alaska’s largest port, wildlife such as beluga whales, and oil and gas. It’s also where we get rid of sewage and other pollution. Some of the discharges to the inlet are unique. Few other communities in the United States lack secondary sewage treatment systems, and nowhere else in America are oil drilling platforms allowed to discharge their waste in the ocean. Do these practices have any impact on the environment?

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Call 550-8433 (Anchorage) or 1-888-353-5752 (statewide) during the live broadcast (2:00 – 3:00pm)
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HOST: Charles Wohlforth, independent journalist and Alaskan author

GUESTS:

Alli Harvey, sustainable communities coordinator, Alaska Center for the Environment
Brett Jokela, assistant general manager, Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility
Bob Shavelson, executive director, Cook Inletkeeper
Jason Brune, executive director, Resource Development Council for Alaska

LIVE: Wed, March 31, 2010 at 2:00 p.m.

REPEAT: Wed, March 31, 2010 at 10:00 p.m.

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Comments

One Response to “Hometown, Alaska: Cook Inlet Environment”

Charles Wohlforth on March 31, 2010 at 10:54 pm

A listener, Emily, sent in a question during the show, which we didn’t have time to answer. I’ve asked both guests to respond, and I will include their comments here. –Charles

Emily’s question:

“I have a question about the potential impacts on Cook Inlet from the proposed Chuitna Coal Strip Mine, I’ve heard it’s going to mine directly through an active salmon stream, and am wondering about the impacts to the fisheries… Aren’t there regulations against this?”

Response from Bob Shavelson:

“There is no law or rule in Alaska which prohibits mining through a salmon stream, and according to PacRim Coal’s planning documents, they will mine directly through 11 miles of a salmon stream that supports coho, king and dolly varden, and which feeds the high value fisheries of the Chuitna River on the west side of Cook Inlet. The Alaska Department of Fish & Game has the discretion to stop such short-sighted development, but there’s no example in Alaska where ADFG – or DNR or any other agency – has stopped a large mining or oil and gas project simply due to fish impacts. There’s good information about this area and the impacts from the proposed coal strip mine at http://www.chuitna.org, and more information about mining through Alaskan salmon streams at http://www.obviouslaw.org.”

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