Agencies extend permit comment period

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Alaska Department of Environmental Protection are extending the public comment period for new general permits they are developing for waste discharges from geotechnical survey operations in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. The agencies say that, in response to requests from the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission and the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, they are delaying the deadline for submitting comments on the proposed permits from Jan. 27 to Feb. 19.

Oil companies often conduct offshore geotechnical surveys to characterize the nature of the seafloor in an area of planned drilling or offshore infrastructure construction. A general permit for offshore discharges would allow a company to conduct a survey without infringing the U.S. Clean Water Act, provided the discharges from the survey remain within specified limits and provided that the company notifies the relevant agency of intentions and obtains agency approval for the survey to go ahead.

The state permit, which would apply to state waters, the waters within three nautical miles of the coastline, comes as a result of the state taking over from the EPA the permitting in Alaska of discharges into U.S. waters. The EPA retains discharge permitting authority for waters of the federal outer continental shelf.

EPA and ADEC are closely coordinating the public outreach process for their proposed permits. Chris Foley from ADEC told Petroleum News that the eventual permits will be similar to each other but, because of differences between federal and state regulations, will contain some different stipulations.

—Alan Bailey