Beluga Whales and the Cook Inlet Areawide Oil and Gas Lease sale
In 1998 The Alaska Division of Oil and Gas (DOG) proposed an areawide lease sale offering 815 tracts for lease in Cook Inlet. On June 8, 1998, in response to DOG's preliminary best interest findings, the Federal National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) recommended deletion of 68 tracts (plus two off limits to surface entry) because of declining Cook Inlet beluga whale populations and conflicts of oil development with important beluga habitat.
Cook Inlet Keeper and other organizations brought suit against DOG's parent agency, Alaska State Department of Natural Resources (DNR), because DOG failed to acknowledge NMFS recommendations in its final "Best Interest Finding" (BIF)- a finding that the lease sale was in the best interests of the State of Alaska. The court ordered DNR not to offer any of the 70 tracts for lease without court approval.
The Cook Inlet beluga population is a small isolated island population with a distinct genetic makeup. The historic population may have numbered around 1150 animals, now somewhere between about 250 and 450 animals survive. Between 1994 and 1998 the population is estimated to have declined by 50% (Moore, et al, 1999).
On November 19 and 30, 1999 NMFS modified their recommendations, incorporating information from Alaska DOG and additional distribution data from the NMFS Marine Mammal Laboratory. NMFS added 56 more tracts, but did not require withdrawal of any of the now 126 tracts from the sale. However, NMFS asked that no offshore exploration or development occur on any of the 126 tracts (on 19 'Category II' tracts NMFS asked that no exploration or development take place between April 1 and November 1). Keeper and others won the removal of all of these 126 tracts totaling over 600,000 acres.
The 4.3 million acre areawide lease sale is offered each May until 2005.
Moore, S., D. Rugh, K Shelden, B. Mahoney and R. Hobbs, 1999. Synthesis of available information on the Cook Inlet stock of beluga whales. unpublished provisional information. National Marine Mammal Laboratory, National Marine Fisheries Service, Seattle, WA. 22pp.
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Last modified 02 October 2006