HJR 40: Opposing the proposed designation by the National Marine Fisheries Service of 3,000 square miles of upper Cook Inlet, the mid-inlet, all of the inlet's western shores, and Kachemak Bay as critical habitat for beluga whales.
00 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 40 01 Opposing the proposed designation by the National Marine Fisheries Service of 3,000 02 square miles of upper Cook Inlet, the mid-inlet, all of the inlet's western shores, and 03 Kachemak Bay as critical habitat for beluga whales. 04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 WHEREAS the Endangered Species Act requires economic effects to be taken into 06 account for critical habitat designations and areas may be excluded from critical habitat if it is 07 determined that the benefit of such exclusion outweighs the benefit of specifying such areas 08 as critical habitat; and 09 WHEREAS the National Marine Fisheries Service has proposed declaring 3,000 10 square miles of upper Cook Inlet, the mid-inlet, all of the inlet's western shores, and 11 Kachemak Bay as critical habitat for beluga whales; and 12 WHEREAS scientists in the National Marine Fisheries Service have concluded that 13 the sole reason for the population decline was the unsustainable subsistence harvest in the 14 1990s; and 15 WHEREAS a cooperative harvest management plan was put into place in 2000; and
01 WHEREAS scientists predicted signs of recovery of the beluga whale population 02 would take five to seven years after a cooperative harvest management plan was instituted; 03 and 04 WHEREAS, in 2005, the population of beluga whales was 278, and, in 2009, the 05 population was 321, a four percent increase a year; and 06 WHEREAS the State of Alaska has given notice of its intent to sue challenging the 07 Cook Inlet beluga whale Endangered Species Act listing; and 08 WHEREAS there is no evidence that human activity has harmed the beluga whale's 09 environment, migration, or ecology; 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 will have to pay to meet unnecessary new regulatory burdens; and 14 WHEREAS a critical habitat designation in Cook Inlet will hurt community and 15 economic development; and 16 WHEREAS permitting and construction projects will suffer costly delays, and 17 economic development could be curtailed; and 18 WHEREAS the proposed Knik Arm Bridge, Port Mackenzie, tourism, and vessel 19 traffic will be negatively affected; and 20 WHEREAS infrastructure development in Cook Inlet for resource development and 21 energy projects could be threatened by critical habitat designations; and 22 WHEREAS the Port of Anchorage receives 90 percent of all the goods coming into 23 Alaska and would be negatively affected by a critical habitat designation; and 24 WHEREAS military deployments from the Port of Anchorage, military flight 25 patterns, and military operations could be negatively affected or limited with no benefit to 26 beluga whales; and 27 WHEREAS environmental lawsuits will add significant delays and millions of dollars 28 to the cost of economic development projects in the Cook Inlet area; and 29 WHEREAS decades of safe and environmentally responsible oil and gas production, 30 vessel transportation, community development, commercial, sport, and subsistence fishing, 31 and other economic activity in Cook Inlet have taken place without harming Cook Inlet
01 beluga whales; and 02 WHEREAS future oil and gas exploration, development, and production could be 03 gravely affected by critical habitat designations; and 04 WHEREAS southcentral Alaska energy needs have been met predominantly through 05 responsible oil and gas production in Cook Inlet for nearly 50 years while beluga whale 06 populations thrived; and 07 WHEREAS the Municipality of Anchorage may have to spend a minimum of 08 $400,000,000 to meet unnecessary new wastewater treatment requirements that would come 09 with a critical habitat designation, causing utility bills for customers of Anchorage Water and 10 Wastewater to, at a minimum, triple; and 11 WHEREAS there is no evidence that commercial or sport fishing is harming the 12 beluga whale population; and 13 WHEREAS the commercial and sport fishing industries will be gravely threatened by 14 a critical habitat designation because the beluga whale's primary food source is fish; and 15 WHEREAS lost development opportunities because of critical habitat designations 16 could ultimately lead to lost revenue to the State of Alaska and to local governments; and 17 WHEREAS all three members of Alaska's congressional delegation and Governor 18 Sean Parnell are opposed to the critical habitat designation; and 19 WHEREAS designation of such broad areas of municipal, commercial, and industrial 20 interest, without any known or identifiable link between these activities and the conservation 21 status of the Cook Inlet beluga whale is contrary to the public interest; and 22 WHEREAS the conservation benefits, which are entirely uncertain and speculative, 23 are outweighed by the costs and impediments posed by designation of critical habitat in this 24 instance in most, if not all, of the proposed designation area; 25 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature opposes the proposed 26 designation by the National Marine Fisheries Service of 3,000 square miles of upper Cook 27 Inlet, the mid-inlet, all of the inlet's western shores, and Kachemak Bay as critical habitat for 28 beluga whales; and be it 29 FURTHER RESOLVED that the State of Alaska requests a more robust economic 30 analysis be completed by the National Marine Fisheries Service before finalizing any critical 31 habitat designation.
01 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of 02 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and 03 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of 04 Representatives; the Honorable Gary F. Locke, United States Secretary of Commerce; Dr. 05 Jane Lubchenko, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, United States 06 Department of Commerce; Kaja Brix, Director, Protected Resources Division, Alaska Region, 07 National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; the 08 Honorable Dan Sullivan, Mayor of the Municipality of Anchorage; the Honorable John C. 09 Combs, Mayor of the City of Palmer; the Honorable Verne E. Rupright, Mayor of the City of 10 Wasilla; the Honorable Talis Colberg, Mayor of the Matanuska Susitna Borough; the 11 Honorable James C. Hornaday, Mayor of the City of Homer; the Honorable Pat Porter, Mayor 12 of the City of Kenai; the Honorable Peter A. Micciche, Mayor of the City of Soldotna; the 13 Honorable Dave Carey, Mayor of the Kanai Peninsula Borough; and the Honorable Lisa 14 Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, 15 U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.