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WATER POLICY CONSULTING, LLC
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Emily Murray, NBITWC Vice President |
(This months President's Column article was written by Emily Murray - Vice President of the Norton Bay Inter-Tribal Watershed Council.)
The Norton Sound and Bering Strait region has one of the most pristine and cleanest shorelines in Alaska. We have fifteen communities who depend on the sea mammals and the fish that migrate to the fresh water rivers to spawn. Not only do we rely on the resources but also those who buy our commercial fishermen's catch and the crabbers who sell to the market state and worldwide. Scientists can tell you that there are various kinds of birds that nest along the cliffs and there are bird sanctuaries to protect the breeding grounds.
More.
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What's New On Our Blog?
The Pebble Mine and Water
Setting the stage for one of the biggest conflicts between tribal and public water interests and the extraction industry in Alaska, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers has reinvigorated the proposed Pebble Mine permitting process located near Bristol Bay. The paradox surrounding the permitting process, however, is that the Federal government has already decided that the impacts of the Mine on Salmon Resources are unacceptable.
More.
More Arctic ship traffic could affect the region's marine mammals
The findings of a new study just published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, says that expected growth in Arctic ship traffic, as Arctic waters become increasingly ice free in summer months thanks to climate change, is likely to affect marine mammals in the region. In particular, the study found that marine mammal populations near features that concentrated ship traffic into narrow lanes, such as the Bering Strait, were more vulnerable than populations elsewhere.
More.
Oil Spill Response in the North Bering Sea
The dramatic increase in shipping traffic in just the past few years as well as the federal government's proposal to dramatically increase Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas drilling in the North Bering Sea Region (NBSR), has substantially increased the risk that oil spills possess to the health and welfare and marine habitat that the Arctic Native communities located in the area rely upon for subsistence uses. In addition, because the Villages have the most experience and local knowledgeable of their communities and subsistence resources that would be on the front line of any oil spills occurring in the NBSR, they are therefore the most capable of planning for and responding in the quickest fashion to such spills.
More.
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2011 Flood Golovin, AK |
Local Climate Change Adoption Planning Update
During the months of June and July, consultants for the Native Village of Elim and the Norton Bay Inter-Tribal Watershed Council conducted the following LCCAP projects:
1) Draft a fact sheet addressing and c
onsulted with the Native Villages of and City Councils for Golovin, Shismaref & Teller about the process for developing Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plans and applying through the State or independently to the upcoming FEMA FY2018 Pre-Disaster Mitigation Planning Grant Program
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2) Met with the
City of Teller regarding and made final edits of the Climate Risk Assessment Update to the City's Hazard MItigation Plan after the city reviewed and commented on the draft;
4) Worked with the Tribes to develop resolutions for p
artnering with the Alaska Response Company (ARC) for oil spill response training and equipment available for deployment; and Identifying and applying for funding. To this end, the NBITWC & the Elim tribal council adopted resolutions in support of the U.S. Coast Guard's renewal of ARC's, Alternative Planning Criteria plan Pathway to Protection, Also, developing an outline of the certification and administrative process for developing oil spill response teams in the North Bering Sea area of Alaska;
5)
Worked with NBITWC and several villages to apply for funding under the newly released, BIA - Tribal Resilience Program in order to develop regional Integrated Water Management and Ocean and Coastal Resiliency plans. If awarded, t
he funding would be available to the NBITWC, for projects that incorporate science, traditional knowledge and technical information in preparing for extreme events and harmful environmental trends that impact tribal subsistence resources, economies, infrastructure, and human health and welfare.
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Council on Environmental Quality Calls for "Streamlining" National Environmental Policy Act
The Council on Environmental Quality is updating its implementing regulations for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
This update will cover all aspects of what CEQ is calling the "procedural provisions" which include a number of "streamlining", "efficiency", and "effectiveness" measures, such as concurrent multiple agency reviews and relying on previous analyses, time and page limits, public participation, definitions of terms, preparing documents, etc. The CEC may also address obsolete regulations and revising regulations related to mitigation.
The 60-day comment period that will end August 20th. Submit comments, identified by docket identification (ID) number CEQ-2018-0001 through the Federal eRulemaking portal. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. More.
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Water & Climate Newsletter | Water Policy Consulting, LLC | hal@waterpolicyconsulting.com | www.waterpolicyconsulting.com
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