NMFS issues renewal IHA to HEX Operating for Cook Inlet natural gas activities

Federal regulators are renewing the marine mammal coverage that lets HEX Operating, LLC keep producing natural gas in Cook Inlet. The National Marine Fisheries Service, part of NOAA, grants this through what is called an incidental harassment authorization. It is a permit, not approval of a new project. It covers the disturbance to whales and other marine mammals that comes with ongoing gas production in the inlet.

The key word is "harassment." In this context it does not mean harm. The authorization only applies to activities not expected to kill or seriously injure marine mammals. If the work posed a bigger risk, the company would need a stricter permit, called a letter of authorization, instead.

The renewal goes back to an application filed under the company's old name, Furie Operating Alaska, LLC. NOAA Fisheries opened it for public comment in a March 30 Federal Register notice. To get this kind of permit, a company has to spell out how its work could affect marine mammals, their habitat, and the people who hunt them, and lay out plans to limit, monitor, and report any impact. Alaska Native and subsistence hunters who rely on these animals count as stakeholders.

That matters here because Cook Inlet is home to beluga whales and other marine mammals living right alongside active gas production.

HEX is no small player. It is the second-largest natural gas producer in Cook Inlet, Enstar President John Sims told the Alaska State Senate Finance Committee on June 9.