A Kachemak Bay tribal leader had an opinion piece published in the Washington Post this week. Native Village of Nanwalek tribal government Chief John Kvasnikoff wrote to urge President Joe Biden to cancel federal oil and gas lease sales scheduled for Southern Cook Inlet.
Kvasnikoff said that “the path to the future must not sacrifice our lands, our waters or our people.” He said the previous administration rushed through an incomplete environmental review for Lease Sale 258 in just four months, and that the Biden Administration has the clear legal authority — and a compelling moral responsibility — to take the waters of Lower Cook Inlet off the auction block.
Kvasnikoff says there is now a fork in the road, with one path leading to more oil development and the pollution, climate change and unsustainable development that accompanies it, or, the other path, which he says is developing Cook Inlet’s world-class renewable energy resources.
He wrote, “With smart investment, our volcanoes and tides and winds could produce clean and sustainable energy — and the jobs needed to harness it — for years to come.”
We have a link to Kvasnikoff’s op/ed in the Washington Post here.
