Cooper Freeman

Lawsuit challenges permit for mine site construction on west side of Alaska’s Cook Inlet | Alaska Beacon The permit allowing a new road and an expanded airstrip fails to protect key habitat for endangered Cook Inlet belugas, the lawsuit says.

The Johnson Tract gold mine would devastate the only known winter feeding grounds for critically endangered Cook Inlet belugas, one of Alaska's great brown bear areas, the largest seabird nesting colony in Cook Inlet, and so much more.

But they have to go through us. NO gold mines.

bit.ly/3H7bQ9I

We filed a lawsuit against a major Alaskan gold mine exploration project to protect the critically endangered Cook Inlet belugas and defend against acid mine drainage into Lake Clark National Park, Alaska Maritime National Refuge, and critical habitat for the beluga whales.

bit.ly/3FkkMIo

Mining is an environmental and human rights nightmare. Battery recycling can ease that. Battery recycling provides economic, national security, and environmental benefits. But the United States is playing catch-up to Asian countries, particularly China.

Mining is an environmental and human rights nightmare. Battery recycling can ease that.

grist.org/energy/minin...

#EV #Batteries #Solar #Energy #Mining #Climate

Anchorage judge rules state’s brown-bear killings are unconstitutional Alaska has killed more than 200 bears as part of its "intensive management" program intended to help a caribou herd.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s decision to kill almost 200 brown bears in order to boost a struggling caribou herd violated due process and was unconstitutional, an Anchorage Superior Court judge ruled Friday.

(From @alaskabeacon.com)

Alaskan officials to seek investors in Japan as Trump touts LNG Alaskan state representatives will visit Japan this month to court investors for a natural gas project President Donald Trump says could pump trillions of dollars into the U.S., but Japanese energy firms remain sceptical of the project's feasibility.

Another desperate trip to Japan by AK state officials in search of the elusive investor for the $44 billion AK LNG pipeline that makes no financial or climate sense.

A wise state would take this money and invest in renewable energy and public education, but that is not what we have.

bit.ly/4hfkBLl

Episode 144 | Fighting Back: Alaska's Stand Against Trump's Environmental Blitzkrieg Cooper Freeman works to protect Alaska’s wildlife, lands and oceans. Before joining the Center for Biological Diversity, he worked with Alaskan Native Tribes

My current take on Alaska in the age of Trump II and our path towards "dewilding."

bit.ly/3XSxHam

Had this enforcement-refusal been in place during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon, BP would not have been forced to pay the $100 million in fines that it did to clean up the Gulf of Mexico and save birds.

These kinds of local, artisanal businesses are the future of the Tongass, not going back to clearcutting old-growth trees for export. And they're mutually exclusive. The old-growth forests of the Tongass are the heart of the ecosystem and so important for mitigating climate change.

When did I miss the news that Mary Peltola is running for governor in 2026?

Let's be clear, the Forest Service's Tongass Assessment is neither complete nor deep, and they have "studied" very little. It appears hastily thrown together with lots of outdated and incorrect info. It's far from an adequate scientific foundation for one of the planet's most important forests.

E&E News: Q&A: Alaska governor talks gas, ANWR, environmental critics The Republican said the state is poised to develop its energy resources under President Donald Trump.

subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...

Gov. Dunleavy thinks Alaska's gas is "low carbon" 🤦

"...that gas has been recycled for almost 50 years on the North Slope. We know the content, we know the amount it's recycled back into the basin when that gas is then piped down through the pipeline — that carbon could be extracted from that gas."

E&E News: NOAA fisheries monitors face regular harassment in Alaska, study says The agency study found women are harassed twice as often as men, while less than half of all incidents are reported.

NOAA Fisheries observers in Alaska face regular harassment; women twice as often as men.

This is unacceptable.

Importantly, we rely on these observers to document bycatch of imperiled marine mammals and fish.

Intimidation may not be unintentional.

This system is broken.

bit.ly/3CujVDL

Alaska tribes, green group take aim at planned bottom-trawling study in northern Bering Sea • Alaska Beacon A study that would use commercial-style trawl gear in a part of the Bering Sea where bottom trawling is banned has sparked criticism.

This is why we won't stop fighting against bottom trawl research in the largely undisturbed Arctic, especially because so many marine mammals up there are co-evolved to feed on the shallow sea floor and depend upon a healthy benthic ecosystem for their survival.

alaskabeacon.com/2024/02/08/a...

And the contents on the deck from a 2017 NOAA trawl survey on the west Florida shelf, including sponges and myriad reef fish.

Here's what NOAA bottom trawl fisheries research really looks like - this photo is from a 2021 NOAA survey in the Gulf of Mexico - nets full of sponges, reef fish, etc.

2024 Bottom Trawl Survey in Photos Ever wonder what life is like when your office is a large floating marine laboratory? Our photo gallery highlights some of the incredible sights and scenes from the 2024 Bottom Trawl Survey season.

NOAA doing a job here trying to make its bottom trawl fisheries research look innocuous.

Rather, bottom trawl research, especially year after year in the same location, can cause real damage, downgrading ecosystems and reducing biodiversity.

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/gallery/2024...

New Orleans has received twice as much snow as Anchorage this winter Less than 4 inches of new snow has fallen in Anchorage since the beginning of December.

The dissonance between the reality of this headline and Trump's Alaska Executive Order aspiring to declare open season on oil and gas development in the state makes my head explode.

www.adn.com/alaska-news/...

True

UNLEASHING ALASKA'S EXTRAORDINARY RESOURCE POTENTIAL – The White House By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:  Section 1.

Not at all unexpected, but still surreal to see. It's an order to bring about an all out plunder upon Alaska.

This is such a horrific vision for Alaska.

It could spell the end for Alaska's caribou, salmon, polar bears, walrus, and so much more.

We say NO.

www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Initial Rescissions Of Harmful Executive Orders And Actions – The White House By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as

So long (again) Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area (EO 13990), which among other important things, closed this critical marine region to the use of commercial trawl fishing gear that makes contact with the seafloor (i.e. "pelagic" pollock trawling and bottom trawling).

bit.ly/4anXFrm

Staff or Senior Attorney Salary Range: Staff Attorney: $69,000 - $85,000; Senior Attorney: $85,000 - $125,000 Location:  This is a remote position. Applicants residing anywhere in Alaska strongly preferred and will be given p...

We're hiring for an experienced attorney fired up to hold the line against the oncoming Trump onslaught up here in Alaska.

Come join our team or share with your friends!

biologicaldiversity.bamboohr.com/careers/111

USDA buys $50M worth of Alaska pollock The recent buy is just the latest influx of cash to Alaska’s seafood industry from the federal government.

While Northern fur seals moms struggle to rear and nurse strong young pups on St. Paul island, their main food source, Alaskan pollock, is over-harvested and being bought up by taxpayer dollars to bail out the industry. Its annual catch was raised for 2025.

alaskapublic.org/news/economy...

Change in annual average temperature for the 50-years 1975-2024 for the 13 NOAA/NCEI climate divisions. Change in excess of 6ºF on the North Slope to just over 2ºF in central and southern Southeast Alaska.

Updated 50-year change of annual temperature for the Alaska climate divisions, now for 1975-2024. Largest changes are in the North Slope and West Coast divisions and driven by, you guessed it, sea ice loss. Data from NOAA/NCEI. #akwx #Climate #ClimateChange @climatologist49.bsky.social

Yesterday was a good day for the Arctic Refuge.

Arctic Win: Interior Department Denies Lease Extension for ‘Liberty’ Offshore Drilling Project in Alaska Center for Biological Diversity: ANCHORAGE, Alaska— The Department of the Interior published a decision today denying an extension of offshore oil and gas leases for the Liberty Unit in the Beaufort S...

BREAKING: The Liberty Unit - the only offshore oil and gas leases fully in federal waters in the Arctic Ocean - is DEAD!

It'd be impossible to clean up an oil spill in the Arctic Ocean. The bowhead whales, polar bears, and ice seals can sleep a little easier tonight.

bit.ly/402Gffn

Biden’s missed chance to safeguard America’s oceans President Biden has failed to protect America’s ocean ecosystems, despite his professed goal of protecting 30 percent of the nation’s oceans by 2030, due to his prioritization of local …

"Astonishingly, the U.S. is the only Arctic coastal nation that still has no permanently protected Arctic Ocean waters. Russia, Canada, Norway and Greenland all have established permanent Arctic marine protected areas."

Important op-ed from my friend Rick Steiner.

thehill.com/opinion/5057...

Protect Bears and Wolves in Alaska The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is once again taking aim at wolves, brown bears, and black bears — right on the borders of Denali and Lake Clark national parks. Tell Alaska take bears and wolve...

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game wants to kill up to 80% of wolves, brown bears, and black bears from roaring helicopters right on the borders of Denali and Lake Clark national parks.

We must urge Alaska to reject this proposal and take bears and wolves out of the crosshairs. Take action ⬇️

One of my favorite solar energy statistics is that during the ENTIRE month of December, Fairbanks receives the same solar energy as Tucson, AZ, does by 8:30 a.m. on Dec 1st. (Computed using USCRN solar data from NCEI.) @alaskawx.bsky.social