• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing January 23, 2023
Extreme Warming Ahead Even as Worst-Case Scenarios Grow ‘Obsolete’ January 23, 2023
Notley Scorches Federal Just Transition Bill as Fossil CEO Calls for Oilsands Boom January 23, 2023
IRON OXIDE: New Battery Brings Long-Duration Storage to Grids, 750 Jobs to West Virginia January 23, 2023
BREAKING: GFANZ Banks, Investors Pour Hundreds of Billions into Fossil Fuels January 17, 2023
Next
Prev

Alaska Belugas Face Redoubled Threat from Aging Cook Inlet Pipelines

April 4, 2017
Reading time: 2 minutes

tiffany terry/Flickr

tiffany terry/Flickr

 

A beleaguered clan of beluga whales faces a new threat in Alaska’s Cook Inlet, where a second mid-20th-century pipeline appears to have sprung a leak, releasing oil into water already contaminated by high levels of methane pouring from a line nearby.

Hilcorp Alaska reported the spill April 1. “At first, I hoped that news of this latest oil leak was an April Fool’s joke, because it seemed like Hilcorp couldn’t spring another leak so soon,” said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans program director for the U.S. Center for Biological Diversity. The previous leak has been releasing methane into Cook Inlet since December, at levels that scientists say endanger fish life there and which already posed a threat to the Inlet’s 340 remaining resident belugas.

  • Concise headlines. Original content. Timely news and views from a select group of opinion leaders. Special extras.
  • Everything you need, nothing you don’t.
  • The Weekender: The climate news you need.
New!
Subscribe

The two pipelines were built in the 1960s to connect gas and oil production platforms named Anna and Bruce. Both are eight inches in diameter and have lain 75 feet below the highly active waters of Cook Inlet for decades. Hilcorp acquired them, InsideClimate News reports in one of several stories covering the leak—now leaks. The company’s business strategy, the outlet says, is to “acquire and exploit,” buying end-of-life oil and gas operations “in hopes of earning any remaining profits.”

But it hasn’t gone smoothly so far. “The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission,” ICN notes, “has repeatedly cited Hilcorp for violating safety regulations for its oil and gas operations in the state.”

Several oil sheens were spotted in the area on the weekend, but Hilcorp said it had “shut in” the two pipelines, and reports suggested a later survey no longer found visible oil. Even so, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s spill prevention and response director, Kristin Ryan, conceded that “we do not know if it’s still leaking,” according to Reuters.

The gas leak may not be reparable until May, when ice in the area dissipates, ICN reports. “We’re really worried about what this means for Cook Inlet belugas with the double whammy of an oil spill and gas leak in the same season,” Sakashita said. Endangered Steller sea lion and humpback whales also live in or travel the inlet.

The Center for Biological Diversity has notified Hilcorp that it plans to sue over the ongoing gas leak, and is monitoring the new oil leak to determine whether legal action is called for.



in Methane, Oceans, Oil & Gas, Pipelines / Rail Transport, United States, Water

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

United Nations
Air & Marine

Salvage of $20B ‘Floating Time Bomb’ Delayed by Rising Cost of Oil Tankers

January 27, 2023
51
RL0919/wikimedia commons
Finance & Investment

Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing

January 23, 2023
2.2k
Weirton, WV by Jon Dawson/flickr
Clean Electricity Grid

IRON OXIDE: New Battery Brings Long-Duration Storage to Grids, 750 Jobs to West Virginia

January 23, 2023
511

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

EcoAnalytics

Albertans Want a Just Transition, Despite Premier’s Grumbling

January 23, 2023
245
United Nations

Salvage of $20B ‘Floating Time Bomb’ Delayed by Rising Cost of Oil Tankers

January 27, 2023
51
RL0919/wikimedia commons

Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing

January 23, 2023
2.2k
@tongbingxue/Twitter

Extreme Warming Ahead Even as Worst-Case Scenarios Grow ‘Obsolete’

January 23, 2023
289
Weirton, WV by Jon Dawson/flickr

IRON OXIDE: New Battery Brings Long-Duration Storage to Grids, 750 Jobs to West Virginia

January 23, 2023
511
Rachel Notley/Facebook

Notley Scorches Federal Just Transition Bill as Fossil CEO Calls for Oilsands Boom

January 23, 2023
268

Recent Posts

Sergio Boscaino/flickr

Dubai Mulls Quitting C40 Cities Over ‘Costly’ Climate Target

January 24, 2023
89
hangela/pixabay

New UK Coal Mine Faces Two Legal Challenges

January 24, 2023
46

Gas Stoves Enter U.S. Climate Culture War, Become ‘Bellwether’ for Industry

January 22, 2023
75
Jeff Hitchcock/flickr.

BREAKING: GFANZ Banks, Investors Pour Hundreds of Billions into Fossil Fuels

January 23, 2023
498

Exxon Had the Right Global Warming Numbers Through Decades of Denial: Study

January 17, 2023
226
willenhallwench / Pixabay

Ontario Greenwashes with ‘Misleading, Illegitimate’ Emission Credits

January 16, 2023
314
Next Post
NPCA Online/flickr

‘Voluntary’ Pipeline Reporting Ratchets Up Alberta Fossil Oversight

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}