DEC drafts permit for 374,400 gallons a day of seawater discharge at Kasitsna Bay lab

A marine research station across Kachemak Bay from Homer would be allowed to discharge up to 374,400 gallons of seawater a day under a preliminary draft state permit.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation prepared the permit for the Kasitsna Bay Laboratory, near Seldovia. It covers flow-through seawater from the lab's aquaria. The discharge would go into Kasitsna Bay.

NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science owns the lab. The University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences operates it in partnership with the agency. The station has served as an Alaska field site since the late 1950s.

What happens next

The applicant's 10-day review ran July 16 through July 29. "Following the closure of the 10-day applicant review period, DEC will prepare a draft permit and fact sheet for a formal 30-day public review period," the department said in its notice.

The notice did not give a date for the opening of that comment window. It says the permit documents are available through DEC's Wastewater Discharge Authorization Program webpage and at the department's offices in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau. Marie Klingman is the department's contact for the permit, listed in the notice as individual Alaska Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit AK0062304.