Cook Inlet

Escopeta Oil Co. is facing a $15 million federal fine after transporting a jack-up oil rig to Alaska. Steve Sutherlin, Escopeta's strategic officer, says the company has 60 days to appeal the fine under the customs regulations. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is fining Escopeta for violation of the Jones Act by transporting the jack-up rig from Texas, using a foreign-flagged vessel. Sutherlin says the company is reviewing its options. The rig is drilling in Cook Inlet and the fine will not affect operations.

The upper level trough responsible for gray skies and accumulating snow for areas of the Interior and Slope continues to very slowly lift out of the state into Canada.  It is taking it's sweet time, so expect more scattered light snow shower activity over the eastern Interior with accumulations up to an inch in spots.  Highs will be in the upper 20's and 30's for the Interior and North Slope. The west coast also stands a chance of occasional light precipitation, most of it falling as snow from the Lower Kuskokwim up to Wainwright.  Clouds will continue to roll into the SW coast of the state with light rain or snow showers by afternoon.  This activity is associated with a weak occluded front that wraps around dying low pressure moving eastward into the Bering Sea.  Highs will be in the 30's.  Sunshine looks likely for Kodiak with increasing clouds tonight as the front approaches.

The newest addition to the Cook Inlet oil and gas scene -- a huge, mobile jack-up exploration rig -- was maneuvering into place Wednesday afternoon. Escopeta said its jack-up rig should be positioned over oil and gas leases off the Kenai Peninsula by 5:00 p.m. Wednesday. It's been a long, delayed journey for the Houston-based energy company, which is a few months behind its original schedule. “The birds are flying south now, and we actually planned to do the project when the birds were flying north,” said Escopeta strategic officer Steve Sutherlin.

Work continues this holiday weekend on a laying a fiber-optic cable across Cook Inlet. Crews based on the IT Intrepid, a telecom cable-laying ship, have been placing line under the water since last month with cable in shallow areas being buried.  Their work began in Homer, the starting point for GCI’s “Project Terra - Southwest.” Workers have now reached the halfway mark, between Homer and the Lake Iliamna area, on the opposite shore.   ...

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game says the subsistence, personal use and sport fisheries for Tanner Crab will open July 15 in Cook Inlet and the North Gulf Coast, including Kachemak Bay. The department says permits are required, but are free and available at Fish and Game offices in Anchorage, Soldotna and Homer, and at the Fish House in Seward. The department says the bag and possession limit for legal-sized male Tanner crab is five. Crabs must be 5-and-a-half inches or greater in carapace width.

The Anchorage Fire Department responded to a 9-1-1- call at about  8:00 o'clock Friday evening about a person on a raft in Cook Inlet being in distress. Fire officials say the man was in an inflatable raft and was being swept out by the tide while trying to paddle to Fire Island. AFD launched a rescue boat and picked up the man and his raft and took him back to the Port of Anchorage. Officials say he was not injured and they say they are glad he was wearing a life jacket.

For most, the Turnagain Arm bore tide is an Alaskan phenomenon to watch from a safe distance -- say, a highway pullout on the shoulder of the Seward Highway. But for Scott Dickerson and his friends, Cook Inlet's tidal bore -- one of the world's most extreme -- begs to be surfed. It’s hard to describe what that feels like, says Dickerson, a Homer-based photographer, entrepreneur and pioneer of Alaska’s surfing scene who has surfed the bore tide several times in the past week.

The State Medical Examiner's Office has released the names of the five commercial clam diggers who died in Cook Inlet. Officials say the bodies of 42 year-old Roberto Ramirez, 34 year-old Jose A. Sandoval, 36 year-old Avelino Garcia, 24 year-old Jose Revera, and 31 year-old Ramon Valdiva were found in Cook Inlet. According to Alaska State Troopers, 42 year-old Noel Garcia, another man in their work party, said the 22-foot aluminum skiff was overloaded and began taking on water due to windy conditions and rough seas.

A fund is now in place to help the families of five clam diggers who were found dead in Cook Inlet earlier this week. Speaking from Portland, Ore., Frank Dulcich, president and CEO of Pacific Seafood Group, which oversees Pacific Alaska Shellfish, says his company is heartbroken and devastated to lose the men. Dulcich says he's not releasing the employees' names – though he did say three were from Oregon and two from California. Nor would he speculate on what caused the men to end up in the frigid waters of Cook Inlet.