00 Enrolled HR 8                                                                                                           
01 Opposing the designation by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of 3,016                                
02 square miles of upper Cook Inlet and Kachemak Bay as critical habitat for beluga whales.                                
03                                         _______________                                                                 
04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:                                                                       
05      WHEREAS the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration designated 3,016                                     
06 square miles of upper Cook Inlet and Kachemak Bay as critical habitat for beluga whales; and                            
07      WHEREAS the designation failed to adequately consider the economic effects a                                     
08 critical habitat designation would have on shipping, oil and gas exploration and production,                            
09 mining, and all other forms of economic activity in the inlet; and                                                    
10      WHEREAS the National Marine Fisheries Service has stated that the additional                                   
11 regulatory oversight will cost only an additional $600,000 over the next decade; and                                  
12      WHEREAS the cost estimate does not factor in the extra costs that existing and future                          
13 operations may have to pay to meet unnecessary new regulatory burdens; and                                            
14      WHEREAS scientists in the National Marine Fisheries Service have concluded that                            
15 the primary reason for the population decline was the unsustainable subsistence harvest in the                          
01 1990s; and                                                                                                            
02      WHEREAS a cooperative harvest management plan was put into place in 2000; and                                  
03      WHEREAS scientists predicted signs of recovery of the beluga whale population                                  
04 would take five to seven years after a cooperative harvest management plan was instituted;                            
05 and                                                                                                                   
06      WHEREAS, in 2005, the population of beluga whales was 278, and in 2010, the                                  
07 population was 340, which is a four percent increase a year; and                                                        
08      WHEREAS there is little evidence that human activity has harmed the beluga whale's                               
09 environment, migration, or ecology; and                                                                               
10      WHEREAS there is little evidence that commercial or sport fishing is harming the                               
11 beluga whale population; and                                                                                          
12      WHEREAS the commercial and sport fishing industries could be gravely threatened                                
13 by a critical habitat designation because the beluga whale's primary food source is fish; and                         
14      WHEREAS lost development opportunities because of critical habitat designations                                
15 could ultimately lead to lost revenue to the State of Alaska and to local governments; and                            
16      WHEREAS all three members of Alaska's Congressional delegation and Governor                                    
17 Sean Parnell are opposed to the critical habitat designation; and                                                     
18      WHEREAS designation of broad areas of municipal, commercial, and industrial                                    
19 interest, without any known or identifiable link between activities in those areas and the                            
20 conservation status of the Cook Inlet beluga whale, is contrary to the public interest; and                           
21      WHEREAS the conservation benefits, which are entirely uncertain and speculative,                               
22 are outweighed by the costs and impediments posed by critical habitat in this instance in most,                       
23 if not all, of the proposed designation area;                                                                         
24      BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives opposes the designation by the                                
25 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of 3,016 square miles of upper Cook Inlet                             
26 and Kachemak Bay as critical habitat for beluga whales.                                                                 
27      COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of                              
28 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and                          
29 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of                                  
30 Representatives; the Honorable Gary F. Locke, United States Secretary of Commerce; Dr.                                  
31 Jane Lubchenco, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, United States                                    
01 Department of Commerce; Kaja Brix, Director, Protected Resources Division, Alaska Region,                               
02 National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; the                                 
03 Honorable Dan Sullivan, Mayor of the Municipality of Anchorage; the Honorable DeLena                                    
04 Johnson, Mayor of the City of Palmer; the Honorable Verne E. Rupright, Mayor of the City of                             
05 Wasilla; the Honorable Larry DeVilbiss, Mayor of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough; the                                     
06 Honorable James C. Hornaday, Mayor of the City of Homer; the Honorable Pat Porter, Mayor                                
07 of the City of Kenai; the Honorable Peter A. Micciche, Mayor of the City of Soldotna; the                               
08 Honorable David R. Carey, Mayor of the Kenai Peninsula Borough; and the Honorable Lisa                                  
09 Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young,                                    
10 U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.