NOAA proposes letting Seward cruise dock pile driving run into 2027

Seward's new cruise ship dock has 12 days of pile driving left, out of an original 203 days of in-water work. Federal regulators proposed this week giving the contractor another year to finish them.

Turnagain Marine Construction holds an authorization that allows the underwater noise from pile driving and drilling to reach whales, porpoises, seals and Steller sea lions in Resurrection Bay, either loudly enough to affect their hearing or loudly enough to change their behavior. It expires Sept. 20, and the remaining work will not be done by then. The National Marine Fisheries Service would extend it through September 2027.

The protections stay the same, with one change. The contractor no longer has to use a bubble curtain, a ring of rising air bubbles that dampens sound underwater, because it already met that requirement on the larger piles.

Trained observers still have to watch the water for 30 minutes before and after each stretch of work. Work stops if a marine mammal enters a designated zone around the site, and stops entirely if one comes within 10 meters.

The agency found the remaining work would have a negligible effect on marine mammals and would not jeopardize Steller sea lions, fin whales or humpbacks. Nobody commented when the original permit went out for public review last year.

The dock is meant to give cruise ships and passengers a safe berth during the visitor season and handle limited freight and utility service the rest of the year.

Separately, Seward saw vessel-strike concerns this summer, including a fin whale found dead on a cruise ship's bow. Those involve ship operations, not construction noise, and are outside what this authorization covers.

Comments are due 15 days after the notice publishes Sept. 8.