Voices from the Flats – The BP Gulf Disaster Taught Us Lessons We Already Knew

By Hal Shepherd, Acting Executive Director, Kachemak Bay Conservation Society Homer, Alaska The BP Oil Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico last year should serve as a stark reminder to Alaskans just how vulnerable our fisheries and the families they support are to spilled oil.  Alaska is no stranger to such events. Cook Inlet, which supports one of the state’s premier commercial and sport fishing economies, is a clear example of what we have to lose if an uncontrollable well blowout  occurs here. Such an incident is not so difficult to imagine. Right now, two independent oil companies, Houston-based Escopeta…