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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 33 / Monday, February 22, 2021 / Notices
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RTID 0648XA418

Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental To Specified Activities; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to West Dock Facility Construction Activities Associated With the Alaska LNG
Project in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska National Marine Fisheries Service NMFS, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; issuance of an incidental harassment authorization.
AGENCY:

In accordance with the regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act MMPA as amended, notification is hereby given that NMFS has issued an incidental harassment authorization IHA to the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation AGDC to incidentally harass, by Level A and Level B
harassment, marine mammals during a particular activity West Dock facility construction associated with construction of the Alaska Liquefied Natural Gas AK LNG Project in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
DATES: This Authorization is applicable from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Leah Davis, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, 301 4278401.
Electronic copies of the application and supporting documents, as well as a list of the references cited in this document, may be obtained online at https
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/
incidental-take-authorizations-undermarine-mammal-protection-act. In case of problems accessing these documents, please call the contact listed above.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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SUMMARY:

Background The MMPA prohibits the take of marine mammals, with certain exceptions. Sections 101a5A and D of the MMPA 16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq. direct the Secretary of Commerce as delegated to NMFS to allow, upon request, the incidental, but not intentional, taking of small numbers 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 incidental take authorization may be provided to the public for review.

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Authorization for incidental takings shall be granted if NMFS finds that the taking will have a negligible impact on the species or stocks and will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of the species or stocks for taking for subsistence uses where relevant. Further, NMFS must prescribe the permissible methods of taking and other means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact on the affected species or stocks and their habitat, paying particular attention to rookeries, mating grounds, and areas of similar significance, and on the availability of the species or stocks for taking for certain subsistence uses referred to in shorthand as mitigation; and requirements pertaining to the mitigation, monitoring and reporting of the takings are set forth.
The definitions of all applicable MMPA statutory terms cited above are included in the relevant sections below.
Summary of Request On March 28, 2019, NMFS received a request from AGDC for an IHA to take marine mammals incidental to construction activities in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. AGDC submitted revised applications on May 29, 2019;
September 16, 2019; October 31, 2019, February 7, 2020; and February 25, 2020. The application was deemed adequate and complete on May 21, 2020. AGDCs request is for take of a small number of six species of marine mammals by harassment. Neither AGDC
nor NMFS expects serious injury or mortality to result from this activity and, therefore, an IHA is appropriate.
This IHA authorizes incidental take, for one year, for one discrete project West Dock facility construction. This project is part of the larger AK LNG
project for which AGDC has also requested a five-year Letter of Authorization LOA 84 FR 30991, June 28, 2019 for incidental take associated with project activities in Cook Inlet, Alaska. The larger project involves a pipeline that will span approximately 807 miles mi 1,290 kilometers km from a gas treatment facility on Alaskas North Slope, which holds 35 trillion cubic feet ft3 of proven gas reserves, to a liquefaction and export facility in southcentral Alaska.
Description of the Specified Activity AGDC plans to construct an integrated liquefied natural gas LNG project with interdependent facilities to liquefy supplies of natural gas from Alaska, in particular from the Point Thomson Unit PTU and Prudhoe Bay Unit PBU
production fields on the Alaska North Slope North Slope, for export in
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foreign commerce and for in-state deliveries of natural gas. AGDC plans to construct an AK LNG Gas Treatment Plant GTP, which they would construct with large, pre-fabricated modules that that can only be transported to the North Slope with barges sealifts.
AGDC is proposing to modify the existing West Dock causeway and associated dock heads in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska in order to facilitate offloading modular construction components and transporting them to the GTP
construction site. Vibratory and impact pile driving associated with the work at West Dock would introduce underwater sound that may result in take by Level A and Level B harassment of marine mammals in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
AGDC proposes to conduct pile driving up to 24 hours per day. Construction is expected to occur on approximately 123
days from July through October during the open water i.e., ice-free season.
A detailed description of the planned construction project is provided in the Federal Register notice for the proposed IHA 85 FR 43382; July 16, 2020. Since that time, no changes have been made to the planned construction activities other than AGDCs planned construction timeframe, which has been shifted to July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024.
Therefore, a detailed description is not provided here. Please refer to that Federal Register notice for the description of the specific activity.
Comments and Responses A notice of NMFSs proposal to issue an IHA to AGDC was published in the Federal Register on July 16, 2020 85 FR
43382. That notice described, in detail, AGDCs activity, the marine mammal species that may be affected by the activity, and the anticipated effects on marine mammals. During the 30-day public comment period, NMFS received substantive comments from the Marine Mammal Commission, the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission AEWC, the Center for Biological Diversity CBD, the Pipeliners Union 798 United Association and its members, and a member of the general public. NMFS
reopened the public comment period, at the request of the AEWC, from September 16, 2020 to November 16, 2020 85 FR 57836; September 16, 2020. During the reopened comment period, NMFS received letters from the AEWC and the North Slope Borough NSB, an additional reference from the CBD, and another comment from a member of the public. Two commenters stated that they believe that NMFS
should not authorize marine mammal take for the AK LNG project in Prudhoe
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