Polar bears can’t go to court, but we can
We just sued the Biden administration for issuing a regulation that allows oil and gas companies to harass Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears and threaten their health and survival.… Read More
Alaska News Brief June 2020: Endless pressure, endlessly applied
I came to Trustees as a staff attorney in 2007 and recall how excited we all were when Valerie decided to return to Trustees in 2011. For the last nine years, I have had the incredible fortune to work with her and learn how to become a more effective advocate. And on her last day, true to her course, she left us all with the powerful words of Brock Evans, “Endless Pressure, endlessly applied.”… Read More
More Studies Will Not Save the Beluga Whale
For decades Trustees for Alaska has been fighting to protect the Cook Inlet beluga whales and succeeded in gaining endangered species listing in 2008. A new recovery plan falls short in helping the species.… Read More
Cook Inlet Beluga Whale Remains Listed
With the New Year approaching, we (and the Cook Inlet beluga whales) have one more thing to celebrate. On Nov. 21, 2011, the Federal District Court in Washington, D.C. rejected the State of Alaska’s lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries … Read More
Cook Inlet Beluga Whales Listed As Endangered
Cook Inlet’s beluga whales were listed as an endangered species last week. The decision gained national attention for both its political significance and its environmental implications. Lost in most of the media coverage, however, was the fact that Trustees for … Read More
Beluga Whales Win Another Stay of Oil and Gas Leasing in Cook Inlet
Cook Inlet beluga whales have rapidly declined over the last 10 years. Scientist estimate that the population has dropped from over 1,000 individuals in 1990 to between 270 and 350 last year. While much of this decline can be attributed … Read More
Settlement Negotiated on Cook Inlet Dredging
In August 1999, Trustees for Alaska successfully negotiated an agreement with the US Army Corps of Engineers to protect Cook Inlet beluga whales from the effects of a massive dredging project in the Knik Arm of the inlet. Earlier this … Read More
70 Tracts of Cook Inlet Areawide Not For Sale
On April 23, 1999 Trustees for Alaska, successfully argued in State Superior Court for the temporary stay of the sale of 70 tracts in the Cook Inlet Areawide Lease Sale. The 70 tracts in question are critical beluga habitat. The … Read More
Cook Inlet Beluga Whales Threatened
A coalition of conservation groups, a former whale hunter, and Trustees for Alaska filed a petition on March 3, 1999, asking the federal government to list Cook Inlet’s beluga whales as an endangered species noting that the Cook Inlet beluga … Read More