Cook Inlet General Oil and Gas NPDES Permit
Cook Inlet RCAC responded in 2006 to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) call for comments on the Proposed Cook Inlet General Oil and Gas National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit saying that the permit makes no effort to reduce concentrations or volumes of pollutants discharged into the Inlet. The permit is required for any discharges associated with oil and gas exploration, development, and production activities in Cook Inlet and applies to existing as well as new source discharges. Under the draft permit, producers could increase the levels of contaminants discharged, but the Cook Inlet RCAC contends that EPA should be working with the producers to reduce discharges instead.
Although stopping short of requesting “zero discharge” for all facilities in this permit cycle, Cook Inlet RCAC stresses that the proposed permit limits and mixing zones should be reevaluated and recalculated to ensure that the total concentrations and pollutant loadings do not increase from the current permit and that every effort be made to move toward zero discharge. Recent successful efforts by some Cook Inlet operators to re-inject drill fluids and cuttings and produced water discharges have shown that re-injection is feasible. To re-emphasize the position, council members also passed a resolution stating that they oppose the issuance of a permit that would allow more pollution to be discharged than is currently permitted and that Cook Inlet RCAC supports the goal of zero discharge.
Our comments also strongly supported the inclusion of environmental monitoring associated with new exploration and existing large dischargers in Cook Inlet and provided recommendations on EPA’s proposed ambient monitoring program for Cook Inlet. Since then, Cook Inlet RCAC has met with oil industry operators and state and federal agency personnel to provide advice on how to best develop a monitoring program that would fulfill the potential requirements of the permit and dovetail with planned, on-going, and historical studies. |
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Ballast Water/ Non-Indigenous Species (NIS) |
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Ballast Water/Non-Indigenous Species
In 2006, through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Cook Inlet RCAC received funding to develop a ballast water sampling project for ships transiting the North Pacific. We developed agreements with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) and ship owner Marathon Oil Company to sample and analyze ballast water originating in Japan and transiting the North Pacific to Nikiski. In July, SERC scientist Dr. Greg Ruiz, and USF&WS’s Gary Sonnavil met with the ship's captain, chief mate, and chief engineer to evaluate the ballast tanks and plumbing to develop a plan for sampling during a trans-Pacific voyage. Sampling onboard the vessel will begin in the spring of 2007 to evaluate the type and abundance of species that might survive as passengers in ballast water. |
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