Environmental Assessment on Issuance of Incidental Harassment Authorizations for the Port of Alaska Modernization Program, Petroleum and Cement Terminal in Cook Inlet, Alaska.

In response to the Port of Alaska’s (POA) request, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) NMFS proposes to issue an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA or Authorization) to the POA, under the MMPA. This Authorization would allow the POA to take, by Level B harassment and Level A harassment, small numbers of marine mammals, incidental to construction of the POA’s proposed Petroleum and Cement Terminal (PCT) for the Port of Alaska Modernization Program (PAMP) in Knik Arm, Cook Inlet, Alaska. NMFS has determined that the taking of marine mammals incidental to the proposed project would have a negligible impact on the affected species/stock, be of small numbers, and not have an unmitigable impact on subsistence use. No significant effects would occur from the proposed action (i.e., issuance of the IHAs).