Review begins for coastal management program

The Division of Coastal and Ocean Management of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources is conducting a series of stakeholder workshops in Anchorage in a re-evaluation of the Alaska Coastal Management Program. The first two workshops took place on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, and two more sessions are scheduled for Oct. 8 and Oct. 15.

The division announced the re-evaluation in February in response to issues arising from changes made to the program in 2003. The re-evaluation began with a stakeholder meeting in June, followed by a public comment period that ended Aug. 15. The division aims to review public comments in the current series of workshops, and eventually determine whether changes are needed to existing state coastal management statutes.

Proposed statute changes would need to be presented to the governor before being submitted to the Alaska Legislature at the beginning of its 2009 session.

Comments received by the division this summer fell into four categories: the objectives and oversight of the state coastal management program; the so-called “DEC carve out,” in which permitting done by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation was removed from the ACMP process; the interaction between the Alaska Coastal Management Program and the enforceable policies of individual coastal districts; and the operation of the coastal management program process.

- Alan Bailey