[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 54 (Monday, March 22, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13778-13780]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-6818]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[I.D. 092898C]


Small Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; 
Construction of an Offshore Platform in the Beaufort Sea

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of issuance of an interim incidental harassment 
authorization.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection 
Act (MMPA) as amended, notification is hereby given that an Incidental 
Harassment Authorization (IHA) to take small numbers of ringed seals by 
harassment incidental to construction of ice roads at the Northstar 
Development in the Beaufort Sea in state waters has been issued to BP 
Exploration (Alaska) Inc, 900 East Benson Boulevard, Anchorage, AK 
99519 (BPXA).

DATES: This authorization is effective from March 15, 1999, through May 
15, 1999, or until superseded by another IHA, whichever is earlier.

ADDRESSES: The application, authorization, and environmental assessment 
(EA) are available by writing to the Acting Chief, Marine Mammal 
Division, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, 
Silver Spring, MD 20910-3225, or by telephoning one of the contacts 
listed here.
    A copy of the 8-volume final environmental impact statement (FEIS) 
or any of its separate volumes may be obtained upon written request 
from Mr. Tim Jennings, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), Alaska 
District, Regulatory Branch, P.O. Box 898, Anchorage, AK 99506-0898. 
The Corps requests that reviewers request only those volumes that are 
necessary for review.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kenneth R. Hollingshead, Office of 
Protected Resources, NMFS, (301) 713-2055, Brad Smith, Western Alaska 
Field Office, NMFS, (907) 271-5006.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) 
directs the Secretary of Commerce to allow, upon request, the 
incidental, but not intentional, taking of marine mammals by U.S. 
citizens who engage in a specified activity (other than commercial 
fishing) within a specified geographical region if certain findings are 
made and either regulations are issued or, if the taking is limited to 
harassment, a notice of a proposed authorization is provided to the 
public for review.
    Permission may be granted if NMFS finds that the taking will have a 
negligible impact on the species or stock(s) and will not have an 
unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of the species or 
stock(s) for subsistence uses and that the permissible methods of 
taking and requirements pertaining to the monitoring and reporting of 
such taking are set forth.
    On April 10, 1996 (61 FR 15884), NMFS published an interim rule 
establishing, among other things, procedures for issuing IHAs under 
section 101(a)(5)(D) of the MMPA for activities in Arctic waters. For 
additional information on the procedures to be followed for this 
authorization, please refer to that document.

Summary of Request

    On August 14, 1998, NMFS received an application from BPXA 
requesting a 1-year authorization for the harassment of small numbers 
of several species of marine mammals incidental to construction of the 
Northstar development in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea. While a brief 
description of the

[[Page 13779]]

proposed activity is provided here, a more detailed description of the 
activity and the expected impact on marine mammals can be found in the 
application and FEIS, which are available upon request (see ADDRESSES).
    BPXA proposes to produce crude oil from the Northstar Unit, which 
is located between 2 and 8 miles (mi)(3.2 and 12.9 kilometers (km)) 
offshore from Pt. Storkersen, AK. This unit is adjacent to the Prudhoe 
Bay industrial complex and is approximately 54 mi (87 km) northeast of 
Nuiqsut, a Native Alaskan community. During the period of the proposed 
authorization, the construction activity, proposed by BPXA in their 
application, was to include the construction of three ice roads: a 
first one from either West Dock or Pt. McIntyre to a gravel mine site, 
a second from a gravel mine site to Seal Island, and a third from the 
shore crossing of the pipeline following the pipeline route to Seal 
Island; the construction of a gravel island work surface for drilling 
and oil production facilities; and two pipelines, one to transport 
crude oil and one for gas for field injection. However, due in part to 
a delay in completion of the FEIS by the Corps on this action, BPXA 
notified NMFS, during the public comment period, that construction at 
Northstar would require 2 years instead of the 1 year originally 
proposed.
    In order to avoid losing an entire year of development at 
Northstar, BPXA has determined that it may legally construct the ice 
road prior to the release of the FEIS because ice road construction and 
operation do not require a permit from the Corps under either section 
10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (33 U.S.C. 403) or section 404 
of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972 as amended (33 
U.S.C. 1344). Accordingly, BPXA has requested NMFS to issue an interim 
IHA in order to authorize the incidental harassment of ringed seals 
during ice road construction, maintenance, and operation this winter 
and spring. Additional work described previously in this document will 
not be authorized prior to completion of the Corp's process under the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Comments and Responses

    A notice of receipt of BPXA's application and NMFS' proposed 
authorization was published on October 26, 1998 (63 FR 57096), and a 
30-day public comment period was provided on the application and 
proposed authorization. During the comment period, comments regarding 
this application were received from the Marine Mammal Commission, the 
Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, the North Slope Borough, BPXA, the 
Seattle Audubon Society, and Greenpeace Alaska on behalf of several 
Alaskan environmental organizations. The concerns and recommendations 
made by these organizations have been given full consideration by NMFS 
in making its determination on whether to issue an Interim IHA. NMFS' 
response to all comments will be addressed in a future Federal Register 
document regarding issuance of a full 1-year IHA.

Description of the Action

    Ice road construction is taking place during the 1998/99 winter. 
Ice roads constructed inside the barrier islands will be bottom-fast 
while ice roads offshore will be on artificially thickened floating 
ice. Island construction will be at the location of the existing man-
made Seal Island. From January through March 1999, BPXA will construct 
only the ice road from the gravel mine site to Seal Island. The main 
ice road will be supplemented with an alternate ice road. The alternate 
ice road will be oriented parallel, approximately 1,200 ft (366 m) west 
of the main ice road from the gravel reload area to Seal Island. The 
alternate ice road is necessary to continue gravel hauling during 
maintenance and repair of the main ice road.
    It is estimated that approximately 16,800 large-volume haul trips 
between the onshore mine site and a reload area in the vicinity of Egg 
Island and 28,500 lighter dump truck trips from Egg Island to Seal 
Island will be necessary to transport construction gravel to Seal 
Island. An additional 300 truck trips will be necessary to transport 
concrete-mat slope protection materials to the island.

Potential Effects on Marine Mammals

    In winter and spring, ice road construction, travel, and activities 
are expected to displace some ringed seals along the ice road corridor. 
It is expected that the noise and general human activity early in the 
season will displace female seals away from activity areas that could 
negatively affect the female and young if birth lairs were constructed 
in or near the road corridor.

Effects of Activities on Subsistence Needs

    The only marine mammal species expected to be affected by the 
construction, maintenance, and operation of the ice roads will be the 
ringed seal. While Northstar activity has some potential to influence 
subsistence seal hunting activities, the most important sealing area 
for Nuiqsut hunters is off the Colville Delta, extending as far west as 
Fish Creek and as far east as Pingok Island. Pingok Island is about 24 
km (15 mi) west of Northstar. However, since the peak season for seal 
hunting is during the summer months (although some hunting is conducted 
on the landfast ice in late spring), there is no evidence that ice road 
construction will have an unmitigable adverse impact on the subsistence 
needs for marine mammals.

Mitigation

    In order to protect ringed seals from harassment, injury or 
mortality during construction of the ice road prior to issuance of the 
requested Interim IHA, BPXA voluntarily conducted a pre-construction 
marine mammal survey and site inspection 600 ft (183 m) on both sides 
from the center of the ice road corridor from south of Egg Island to 
Seal Island using five biologists and two Inupiat seal hunters. This 
survey indicated that no seals were inhabiting the ice road corridor.
    Mitigation measures have been proposed by BPXA to reduce harassment 
takes to the lowest level practicable. Those mitigation requirements, 
which have been incorporated into the IHA, include: (1) Begin winter 
construction activities prior to female ringed seals establishing the 
birthing lair in late March to early April in order to displace seals 
away from activities that could negatively affect the female and young, 
and (2) Survey any undisturbed (unsurveyed) area(s) to identify and 
avoid ringed seal lairs by a minimum of 50 m (164 ft), if construction 
activities are initiated in previously undisturbed areas after March 
20.

Monitoring

    Monitoring will employ both marine mammal observations and 
acoustics measurements and recordings. During the ice-covered season, 
BPXA proposes to continue an ongoing (since the spring, 1997) Before-
After/Control-Impact (BA/CI) Study on the distribution and abundance of 
ringed seals in relation to development of the offshore oil and gas 
resources in the central Beaufort Sea. Collection and analysis of data 
before and after construction are expected to provide a reliable method 
for assessing the impact of oil and gas activities on ringed seal 
distribution in the Northstar construction area.
    Other winter/spring monitoring will include (1) on-ice searches for 
ringed seal lairs in areas where ice-road construction starts after 
mid-March, (2)

[[Page 13780]]

late winter aerial survey and assessment of abandonment rates for seal 
holes, and (3) acoustic measurements of gravel hauling and new ice-road 
construction sounds.
    While the monitoring plan has been reviewed by NMFS biologists, 
NMFS has determined that independent peer review is not warranted for 
the on-ice portion of the plan. This work has been underway since the 
1997/98 winter and will continue for several year. On-ice monitoring 
was reviewed in general during the May, 1998 peer-review workshop held 
in Seattle, WA and recommendations made at that workshop are reflected 
in this monitoring plan. NMFS expects however, that the open-water 
season monitoring plan will be reviewed next spring at the annual peer-
review workshop held in Seattle.

Reporting

    BPXA will provide an initial report on 1999 activities to NMFS 
within 90 days after the ice roads are no longer usable or spring 
aerial surveys are completed, whichever is later. This report will 
provide summaries of the dates and locations of construction 
activities, details of marine mammal sightings, and estimates of the 
amount and nature of marine mammal takes.
    A draft final technical report will be submitted to NMFS by April 
1, 2000. The final technical report will contain a full description of 
the methods, results, and interpretation of all monitoring tasks. The 
draft final report will be subject to peer review before being 
finalized by BPXA.

NEPA

    On February 5, 1999 (64 FR 5789), the Environmental Protection 
Agency noted the availability for public review and comment, an FEIS 
prepared by the Corps under NEPA on Beaufort Sea oil and gas 
development at Northstar. Comments on that document were accepted by 
the Corps until March 8, 1999. NMFS is a cooperating agency, as defined 
by the Council on Environmental Quality regulations (40 CFR 1501.6), in 
the preparation of this document.
    Because ice road construction does not require a permit from the 
Corps under either section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (33 
U.S.C. 403) or section 404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 
of 1972 as amended (33 U.S.C. 1344), BPXA has determined that it may 
legally construct the ice road prior to release of the FEIS. In 
addition, because ice roads are temporary structures that will 
disappear in late spring, NMFS has determined that there will not be an 
irreversible commitment of resources under NEPA.
    In conjunction with the request from BPXA for an interim IHA, an EA 
has been prepared that addresses the impacts on the human environment 
from issuance of the authorization and the alternatives to the issuance 
of an Interim IHA. As a result of the findings made in the EA, NMFS has 
concluded that the implementation of either the preferred alternative 
or of other identified alternatives would not have a significant impact 
on the human environment. As a result of that finding, a DEIS will not 
be prepared on this action. A copy of the EA is available upon request 
(see ADDRESSES).

Consultation

    Under section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), NMFS will 
complete formal consultation with the Corps on the Beaufort Sea oil and 
gas development project at Northstar. NMFS will also consult with 
itself on the issuance of an incidental harassment authorization for 
this activity. If an authorization to incidentally harass listed marine 
mammals is issued under the MMPA, NMFS will issue an Incidental Take 
Statement under section 7 of the ESA for listed marine mammals. The 
Interim IHA, however, will not result in taking any listed marine 
mammals.

Conclusions

    NMFS has determined that the impact of constructing ice roads at 
the Northstar Development in the U.S. Beaufort Sea will result, at 
worst, in a temporary modification in behavior by ringed seals. During 
the ice-covered season, ringed seals in the vicinity of the ice roads 
may be incidentally harassed due to the noise created by construction 
and may also be subject to displacement from lairs and/or breathing 
holes due to construction of ice roads and to transportation activities 
on that road. However, NMFS concludes that this harassment and possible 
displacement have been significantly mitigated due to BPXA on-ice 
surveys described previously. While behavioral modifications may be 
made by ringed seals to avoid the resultant noise, this behavioral 
change is expected to have no more than a negligible impact on a few 
individual animals. As cetaceans and species of seals other than ringed 
seals will not be in the area during the ice-covered season, they will 
not be affected. In addition, no take by injury and/or death is 
anticipated. No rookeries, areas of concentrated mating or feeding, or 
other areas of special significance for marine mammals occur within or 
near the planned area of operations during the season of operations.
    While ice road construction at Northstar has some potential to 
influence seal hunting activities by residents of Nuiqsut, NMFS 
believes that ice road construction at Northstar will not have an 
unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of ringed seals for 
subsistence uses.
    Since NMFS is assured that the taking would (1) result in no more 
than the incidental harassment (as defined by the MMPA Amendments of 
1994) of small numbers of ringed seals, (2) have only a negligible 
impact on this stock, (3) have only an unmitigable adverse impact on 
the availability of this stock for subsistence uses, and (4) result in 
the least practicable impact on the stock, NMFS has determined that the 
requirements of section 101(a)(5)(D) of the MMPA have been met and that 
the authorization can be issued.

Authorization

    Accordingly, NMFS has issued an Interim IHA to BPXA for the taking 
of ringed seals incidental to the construction, maintenance, and 
operation of ice roads at Northstar during the 1999 on-ice season 
provided the mitigation, monitoring, and reporting requirements 
described in the authorization are undertaken.

    Dated: March 15, 1999.
Hilda Diaz-Soltero,
Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 99-6818 Filed 3-19-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F