NMFS issues Apache Cook Inlet LOA

Nearly two years after Apache Corp. applied to the National Marine Fisheries Service for letters of authorization for the disturbance of marine mammals from offshore seismic surveying in Alaska’s Cook Inlet, and some four months after the company finally called it quits on its Cook Inlet oil and gas exploration, the federal agency has issued regulations enabling letters of authorization for the seismic work. The regulations are valid for five years, should Apache elect to resurrect its Cook Inlet efforts.

Apache had previously conducted offshore Cook Inlet seismic surveying under the terms of incidental harassment authorizations, approvals that while simpler to obtain than a letter of authorization only covered single years. Given that each annual authorization application triggered a consultation and a biological assessment for the potential impacts of the surveys on protected beluga whales in the inlet, Apache had become frustrated with the unpredictable timeframe for the review and approval process. So, instead, the company had applied for letters of authorization, a form of authorization more complex to obtain than an incidental harassment authorization but which lasts for five years following a single consultation, assessment and public review process.

Before departing Alaska Apache had also expressed its frustration with the lengthy and unpredictable timeframes involved in obtaining other federal permits such as U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permits for the laying of offshore seismic recording nodes.

- ALAN BAILEY