Cooper Freeman
cooperfreeman.bsky.social
Cooper Freeman
@cooperfreeman.bsky.social
1.1K followers 430 following 58 posts
Alaska director, Center for Biological Diversity. Working to protect Alaska and Arctic wildlands, oceans, and wildlife.
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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
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.
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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
Lawsuit Aims to Protect Cook Inlet, Belugas from Water Pollution, Noise
Center for Biological Diversity: Gold Mining Exploration Threatens Lake Clark National Park, Beluga Critical Habitat
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Reposted by Cooper Freeman
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)
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.
www.ktoo.org
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
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.
bit.ly
Reposted by Cooper Freeman
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.
The last time the Forest Service studied the Tongass this deeply, the movie Titanic was hitting the screens. A few things have changed since then.

(From CoastAlaska)
Forest Service seeks feedback on Tongass National Forest assessments
The last time the Forest Service studied the Tongass this deeply, the movie Titanic was hitting the screens.
www.ktoo.org
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."
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
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.
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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...
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.
alaskabeacon.com
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.
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...
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.
www.fisheries.noaa.gov
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/...
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.
www.adn.com
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...
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.
www.whitehouse.gov
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
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
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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...
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.
alaskapublic.org
Reposted by Cooper Freeman
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