The Homer-based environmental nonprofit organization Cook Inletkeeper continues to protest a contentious Cook Inlet oil and gas sale, saying that the federal government is not being transparent about potential environmental impacts of the sale nor providing Alaskans the opportunity to weigh in.
According to reporting by the Alaska Beacon, Lease Sale 258 was originally held at the end of 2022 and drew one bid from Hilcorp, the dominant oil and gas operator in Cook Inlet. Further development was blocked by a lawsuit filed by environmental groups, and in 2024, a federal judge ruled that the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s initial review of the sale violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to adequately assess climate impacts to Cook Inlet’s ecosystem, including the Cook Inlet beluga whale population. The court ordered a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement and suspended Hilcorp’s lease.
In November, Cook Inletkeeper launched a petition against BOEM urging the agency to publicize the SEIS for Lease Sale 258. Although SEIS processes traditionally include public hearings and comment periods, BOEM finalized the SEIS in December without any public involvement. The federal government affirmed the sale on Dec. 22 and said that no changes were needed in the leasing plan.
According to a Dec. 23 press release from Cook Inletkeeper, that SEIS was “conducted with a serious lack of transparency” and breached standard practice by omitting public input opportunities. Additionally, the release states, plaintiffs on the original case, including Inletkeeper, were not notified of the publication as is customary courtesy.
“The court required BOEM to redo the environmental review precisely so the agency could correct its earlier failures,” Cook Inletkeeper co-executive director Loren Barrett said in the release. “The court ordered the review be done properly — not to cut out Alaskans — and any proper review incorporates current public comment.”
Cook Inletkeeper asserts that Alaskans deserve the chance to weigh in on Lease Sale 258 and the eleven subsequent offshore oil and gas lease sales planned for the Cook Inlet over the next seven years. Inletkeeper alleged BOEM’s failure to gather adequate public input violated NEPA and called the agency’s decision to remove Alaskans from the process “unacceptable.”
“BOEM cannot claim to follow NEPA while refusing to hear from the people who live here,” Barrett said. “The public deserves a real say in decisions that will irreparably shape the future of Cook Inlet. This is our home, and we’re not letting it be carved up behind closed doors.”
Lease Sale 258 is the first of twelve new drilling opportunities in the Cook Inlet under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. According to the press release, BOEM is refusing to conduct NEPA reviews on six additional lease sales mandated under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
On Nov. 20, BOEM announced the new Outer Continental Shelf 5-year plan, which proposes five additional sales between 2027 and 2031. In a move that Cook Inletkeeper Communications Director James Currie called “telling,” the 60-day comment period, which is restricted to governors and affected local governments, opened on Nov. 24 and will close on Jan. 23.
“It represents a deliberate plan to hold this during a time when fewer people are going to work, and when people would rather spend the days with family and friends — rather than fretting about the industrialization of this place we call home,” Currie said in the release.
Despite these apparent efforts to limit participation, Inletkeeper says they remain committed to ensuring Alaskans have a voice on Lease Sale 258 and all subsequent decisions impacting the region, adding that BOEM’s refusal to involve community members is “a very bad sign” for the eleven upcoming lease sales scheduled in the Cook Inlet before 2032.
“BOEM’s decision to conduct the whole process in secrecy represents the federal government’s new approach to cutting the public out of decisions about our waters, and favoring the billionaire class and giant corporations over the people who call this place home,” Bridget Maryott, Inletkeeper’s second co-executive director, said in the release. “All citizens should be angry and concerned for our right to control what happens in our own backyard.”
Aside from Lease Sale 258, the first of the proposed Cook Inlet oil and gas sales, “Big Beautiful Cook Inlet 1,” is scheduled to take place in March 2026. For the entire schedule of lease sales planned, visit BOEM’s website.
