Anchorage to assess Beluga whale listing

The Municipality of Anchorage has hired attorney William Stelle of law firm K&L Gates LLP to coordinate the municipality’s response to the National Marine Fisheries Service designation of critical habitat for the Cook Inlet beluga whale, the beluga whale sub-species that NMFS listed in 2008 as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

With the critical habitat area lapping against the Anchorage shoreline, the municipality has some concerns about the impact of the Beluga whale listing on a number of municipal activities, Municipal Manager George Vakalis told Petroleum News Jan. 6.

“The problem that we have is that we have so many different entities within the government itself that have permits to operate and discharge, that actually conduct operations in the water, that we wanted someone with expertise to assist us through the (critical habitat) comment period,” Vakalis said.

Stelle, who has already been assisting the Anchorage Water and Waste Water Utility with its water discharge permitting, will now assist the municipality with storm drain permitting and with any issues that arise from ship movements, dredging and construction activities at the Port of Anchorage. He will make sure that the municipality’s comments on the critical habitat designation address appropriate topics and will also guide the municipality through the process of dealing with the beluga whale listing, while also developing a strategy for the municipality as the situation moves forward, Vakalis said.

The municipality has also requested that the public comment period for the critical habitat designation be extended and that hearings on the critical habitat be held in Anchorage, Vakalis said.

But the real issue is the Beluga whale listing itself, rather than the critical habitat, he said.

“The thing that is really most substantial is the endangered species classification, because regardless of where the critical habitat is, you’re still going to have to mitigate, whatever it is that you do, so it does not harm the beluga whale,” Vakalis said.

—Alan Bailey