The Regulation of Seismic Exploration in the United States

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has issued four 1-year Letters of Authorization to the U.S. Navy to take marine mammals by harassment incidental to their military readiness activities associated with the routine training, testing, and military operations of Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active sonar within the northwest Pacific Ocean and the north central Pacific Ocean. These Authorizations are effective from August 15, 2015, through August 14, 2016.

Click here to read NMFS’ Federal Register notice of this action.

The international union for Conservation of Nature is calling for Applications from independent experts to serve on the IUCN’s Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel (WGWAP).

The Panel has provided independent scientific and technical advice and recommendations on ways to minimize impacts on western gray whales from oil and gas development offshore Russia’s Sakhalin Island, just north of Japan, for the last 10 years.

IUCN is now seeking to recruit between 6-10 experts to serve on the Panel for a 15-month period from 1 October 2015 to 31 December 2016.

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has issued regulations under the Marine Mammal Protection Act to govern the unintentional taking of marine mammals by the U.S. Navy incidental to training and testing activities conducted in the Mariana Islands Training and Testing Study Area. These regulations allow NMFS to issue a Letter of Authorization for the incidental take of marine mammals during the Navy’s specified activities and timeframes. These regulations also set forth the permissible methods of taking; set forth other means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact on marine mammal species or stocks and their habitat; and set forth requirements pertaining to the monitoring and reporting of the incidental take. These regulations are effective August 3, 2015 through August 3, 2020.

The National Research Council’s Ocean Studies Board, which is part of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, has convened a committee that will conduct a workshop and review the present scientific understanding of cumulative effects of anthropogenic stressors on marine mammals with a focus on anthropogenic sound. The committee will assess current methodologies used for evaluating cumulative effects and identify new approaches that could improve these assessments. The committee will examine theoretical and field methods used to assess the effect of anthropogenic stressors for:

• Short or infrequent exposure in the context of other known stressors (i.e. multiple stressors, both natural and anthropogenic); and

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has received multiple requests for authorization under the Marine Mammal Protection Act to take marine mammals incidental to conducting geophysical survey activity in the Atlantic Ocean. NMFS requests and invites information, suggestions, and comments on the applications. Comments and information must be received no later than August 28, 2015.

The take authorization applications include an application from Spectrum Geo Inc., followed by revised versions on November 25, 2014, May 14, 2015, and July 6, 2015; an application from TGS–NOPEC Geophysical Company on August 25, 2014, followed by revised versions on November 17, 2014, and July 21, 2015; an application from ION GeoVentures on September 5, 2014, followed by a revised version on June 24, 2015; and an application from TDI-Brooks International, Inc. on October 22, 2014.

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has sent out the following notice:

“The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is pleased to announce the upcoming availability of an updated version of “Draft NOAA Guidance for Assessing the Effects of Anthropogenic Sound on Marine Mammal Hearing: Acoustic Threshold Levels for Onset of Permanent and Temporary Threshold Shifts” for a second 45-day public comment period. The changes to the updated version of this document are based on recent science and comments from the initial public comment period (December 2013-March 2014). The public comment period for the Guidance will open Friday, July 31.

The U.S, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has published a Record of Decision for proposed oil and gas WPA Lease Sale 246, which is scheduled for August 19, 2015. The proposed lease sale is in the Gulf of Mexico’s WPA off the states of Texas and Louisiana. Proposed WPA Lease Sale 246 is the fourth WPA lease sale scheduled in the OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012–2017. In making its decision, BOEM considered two alternatives to the proposed action, the potential impacts as presented in the WPA 246 and 248 Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, and all comments received throughout the National Environmental Policy Act process. The Western Planning Area 246 and 248 Supplemental EIS evaluated the environmental and socioeconomic impacts for proposed Western Planning Area Lease Sale 246.

The following statement was recently posted by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences:

“STATEMENT OF TASK

Committee on Environmental Science and Assessment for Ocean Energy Management

The National Research Council’s Ocean Studies Board and Board on Earth Sciences and Resources will establish a committee to provide ongoing assistance to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in its efforts to manage development of the nation’s offshore energy resources in an environmentally and economically responsible way. The committee will meet regularly to:

• convene experts from academia, industry, and other organizations to provide independent, technical input on issues of interest to BOEM’s environmental studies and assessment programs, and potentially other programs;

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service MFS has issued an Incidental Harassment Authorization to SAExploration, Inc. to take, by harassment, small numbers of marine mammals incidental to a marine 3-dimensional ocean bottom node seismic survey program in the Beaufort Sea, Alaska, during the 2015 Arctic open-water season. This IHA is effective July 1, 2015, through October 15, 2015. NMFS’ Federal register notice of this IHA includes NMFS’ responses to several comments by the Marine Mammal Commission on the proposed IHA.

Click here to read NMFS’ Federal Register notice of this IHA.

The National Research Council of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences has sent out the following notice:

“The National Research Council’s Ocean Studies Board and Board on Earth Sciences and Resources are soliciting nominations for individuals to serve on the Committee on Environmental Science and Assessment for Ocean Energy Management. This committee is sponsored by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).

BOEM has asked the National Research Council to convene a standing committee to provide scientifically credible, independent, and objective perspectives and information on issues of relevance to BOEM’s environmental assessment and studies programs and to facilitate and support discussions on those issues. Please see the attached document for the Statement of Task.