[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 237 (Friday, December 10, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71780-71781]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-27180]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 110104A]


Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals 
Incidental to Construction and Operation of Offshore Oil and Gas 
Facilities in the Beaufort Sea

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

ACTION: Notice of issuance of a letter of authorization.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), as 
amended, and implementing regulations, notice is hereby given that NMFS 
has issued a letter of authorization (LOA) to BP Exploration (Alaska), 
Inc. (BP) to take marine mammals incidental to the production of 
offshore oil and gas at the Northstar development in the Beaufort Sea 
off Alaska.

DATES: This LOA is effective from December 6, 2004, through May 25, 
2005.

ADDRESSES: A copy of BP's letter, a list of monitoring reports, and/or 
the LOA may be obtained by writing to the Office of Protected 
Resources, NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910, or by 
telephoning one of the contacts listed here.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kenneth R. Hollingshead (301) 713-
2055, ext. 128, or Bradley Smith (907) 271-5006.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 101(a)(5)(A) of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 
1361 et seq.) directs NMFS to allow, on 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 by NMFS and regulations are issued. Under the MMPA, the term 
``take'' means to harass, hunt, capture, or kill or to attempt to 
harass, hunt, capture or kill marine mammals.
    Permission may be granted for periods up to 5 years if NMFS finds, 
after notice and opportunity for public comment, that the taking will 
have a negligible impact on the species or stock(s) of marine mammals, 
and will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of 
the species or stock(s) of marine mammals for subsistence uses. In 
addition, NMFS must prescribe regulations setting forth the permissible 
methods of taking and other means of effecting the least practicable 
adverse impact on the species and its habitat, and on the availability 
of the species for subsistence uses. The regulations also must include 
requirements pertaining to the monitoring and reporting of such taking. 
Regulations governing the taking of marine mammals incidental to 
construction and operation of the offshore oil and gas facility at 
Northstar in the Beaufort Sea were published and made effective on May 
25, 2000 (65 FR 34014), and remain in effect until May 25, 2005. These 
regulations include mitigation, monitoring, and reporting requirements.

Summary of Request

    On October 19, 2004, NMFS received a request from BP for a renewal 
of an LOA issued on September 18, 2000 (65 FR 58265, September 28, 
2000) and reissued on December 14, 2001 (66 FR 65923, December 21, 
2001), December 9, 2002 (67 FR 77750, December 19, 2002) and December 
4, 2003 (68 FR 68874, December 10, 2003) for the taking of marine 
mammals incidental to oil production operations at Northstar, under 
section 101(a)(5)(A) of the MMPA. This latest request (BP, 2004) 
contains information in compliance with 50 CFR 216.209, which updates 
information provided in BP's original application for takings 
incidental to construction and operations at Northstar. The 2003/2004 
LOA for the taking of marine mammals incidental to oil production at 
the Northstar facility will expire on December 3, 2004. This current 
LOA is effective through May 25, 2005, when the implementing 
regulations expire. A request for LOAs after May 25, 2005 is the 
subject of a separate rulemaking action (see 69 FR 56995, September 23, 
2004).

Background

    BP is currently producing crude oil from the Nortstar facility in 
the U.S. Beaufort Sea and is injecting the natural gas into the 
formations. Northstar includes a gravel island work surface to support 
the main facilities required for drilling and oil production, and two 
pipelines connecting the island to the existing infrastructure in 
Prudhoe Bay. One pipeline transports crude oil to shore, and the other 
transports natural gas to the island for field injection. Oil 
production began in late 2001 and is ongoing. Activities under the LOA 
will include: (1) winter ice-road construction, (2) winter ice road 
traffic, (3) Northstar oil production activities, (4) environmental 
compliance monitoring, and (5) helicopter, hovercraft, tugboat and 
barge transportation of personnel, equipment and supplies.
    Impacts on marine mammals at the Northstar facility may occur 
through noise from tugs, barges, helicopters and hovercraft traffic, 
and drilling and other noise sources on the island facility. Impacts 
may also result if there is an oil spill resulting from production. 
While noise impacts on marine mammals will be low (activities on 
Northstar Island will make less noise than that from standard jack-up 
rigs, a concrete island drilling structure, or seismic activity), 
bowhead whales will likely hear the noise at distances up to 10 km (6.2 
mi) from the island. In addition, there may be some harassment, injury, 
or mortality of ringed seals during winter ice-road construction. In 
2000 (65 FR 58265, September 28, 2000) and 2001 (66 FR 65923, December 
21, 2001), NMFS estimated that noise impacts may result in Level B 
harassment of approximately 765 bowheads (i.e., the LOA authorizes up 
to 765 bowheads annually, with a

[[Page 71781]]

maximum of 1,533 in 2 out of 5 seasons, and a total of 3,585 in 5 
years), 5 gray whales and 91 beluga whales. However, since this LOA is 
effective only through May 25, 2004, no bowhead, gray or beluga whales 
are expected to be harassed.
    Year-round operations at Northstar may result in the harassment of 
up to approximately 191 ringed seals, 10 bearded seals, and 5 spotted 
seals being harassed and the incidental mortality of up to 5 ringed 
seal pups. No take is authorized for an oil spill. NMFS and BP believe 
that these estimates remain conservative since, for example, monitoring 
between November, 2001 and October, 2002 indicate that approximately 
110 ringed seals, 1 bearded seal and 10-20 beluga whales were present 
in the area and potentially may have been affected (Moulton et al., 
2003). MacLean and Williams (2003) and Moulton et al. (2003) indicate 
that Northstar production probably had little or no effect on most of 
the seals and no seals were injured or killed by activities along the 
ice road or operations at Northstar during the 2002/2003 or 2003/2004 
ice-covered seasons.

Monitoring and Reporting

    Monitoring and reporting requirements contained in the Northstar 
regulations (50 CFR 216.206) and described in the Federal Register (65 
FR 34014, May 25, 2000). Additional information was provided on 
December 21, 2001 (66 FR 65923), when NMFS issued an LOA to BP for oil 
production at Northstar. Monitoring reports are submitted annually as 
required by the regulations, and the LOA, and plans and reports are 
peer-reviewed as required regulations. A list of these reports is 
available upon request (see ADDRESSES). Recent peer-review meetings 
were held in June 2003, in Seattle, WA and in August, 2004 in 
Anchorage, AK. The August, 2004 meeting confirmed continued efforts 
begun in 2003 to convene an independent technical peer-review committee 
under the auspices of the North Slope Borough's Science Advisory 
Committee. The next open-water peer-review meeting is planned for May, 
2005 in Anchorage, AK. In accordance with the original marine mammal 
monitoring plan, BP plans to continue monitoring in the winter/early 
spring 2005 for those tasks that have not been completed.

Determinations

    Accordingly, NMFS issued an LOA to BPXA on December 6, 2004, 
authorizing the taking of marine mammals incidental to oil production 
operations at the Northstar offshore oil and gas facility in state and 
federal waters in the U.S. Beaufort Sea until May 25, 2005. Issuance is 
based on findings, described in the preamble to the final rule (65 FR 
34014, May 25, 2000), that the activities described in the LOA will 
result in the taking of no more than small numbers of ringed seals, and 
possibly bearded seals and spotted seals, and that the total taking 
will have a negligible impact on these marine mammal stocks and would 
not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of these 
species or stocks for taking for subsistence uses. NMFS also prescribed 
the means for effecting the least practicable adverse impact on these 
stocks. As the results from the monitoring program carried out since 
1999 have indicated that the determinations made in 2000 and 2001 were 
not in error, the estimated levels of incidental harassment have not 
been exceeded, and as the activity that was reviewed in 2001 (oil 
production activities) has not changed, these determinations remain 
valid.

    Dated: December 6, 2004.
Laurie K. Allen,
Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 04-27180 Filed 12-9-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S