If HB 82 advances in the Alaska legislature, lateral drilling technology combined with fracking could open up vast portions of Kachemak Bay (blue "Subject Area" in image above). DNR is blunt about the larger plan - they want to fundamentally change the way Alaska treats areas closed to drilling, like Kachemak Bay, by sneaking underground into the closed areas. Lateral drilling technology allows companies to drill six miles or more into closed areas from oustide platforms.

Our region needs renewable, sustainable energy like tidal, hydro, geothermal, and wind. The extraction and burning of fossil fuels threatens our way of life--they are not the future.

Tell our Reps NO.

Each new development would bring with it the potential for harm and toxics, both unintended and as a part of normal petroleum industry operations. Fracking and other unconventional production techniques, such as fracture acidizing, are a threat to marine wildlife and coastal communities. To get more oil out of old wells, oil companies use toxic chemicals at high pressures to force oil out of subsea rock, producing large volumes of waste contaminated with chemicals that are known carcinogens or pose other health hazards. Note- the industry considers the millions of gallons of toxic wastewater dumped into Cook Inlet under a loophole in the Clean Water Act as a part of normal operations.

Kachemak Bay was closed to oil and gas exploration and development in 1976, with local area fishermen concerned about impacts to crab, shrimp, herring, salmon and other sea creatures, leading the way. The ecosystem in the Kachemak Bay Critical Habitat Area is still  vulnerable to irreparable harm from oil and gas development. HB 82 is a sneaky way to try to get round this very clear legal prohibition and is designed to accommodate BlueCrest Energy's operations, which drills subsurface oil wells under the seafloor from an onshore site near Anchor Point and is seeking to expand natural gas operations.

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