WASHINGTON (CN) - Twenty of the roughly 375 endangered Cook Inlet Beluga Whales freed themselves last month after they were beached near Anchorage, but the whales remain in a tight spot. They are vulnerable to the disorientation caused by underwater explosives used in the ongoing construction of a vastly expanded Port of Anchorage, an expansion that has been made without environmental analysis and with the aid of political connections and a no-bid contract that uses a questionable method of patented, underwater construction.
The Cook Inlet beluga population has plummeted by more than 50 percent over the last decade. Nevertheless, the National Marine Fisheries Service has given the Port of Anchorage official permission to harass the endangered whales with noise from pile driving and explosions at a level that causes "disruption of behavioral patterns," for a port expansion that fills in 135 acres of prime beluga and salmon habitat. Loud noise is known to injure the whales' ears and interfere with their sonar abilities.
The port's director, former governor William Sheffield, along with the president of the port expansion's primary contractor, Dennis Nottingham, have been deeply involved in raising funds for Republican groups and members of Congress. The port project has also been given a helping hand by a series of federal agencies, including the Department of Transportation's Marine Administration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Defense Department.
Sheffield has been investigated in the past on an allegation that he steered a lucrative contract to a fundraiser, and he has been instrumental in getting green lights for the Anchorage port expansion, according to groups opposed to the project.
"It's like there's pixie dust and he kind of spreads it around and everyone kind of nods in agreement," says Bob Shavelson, Executive Director of environmental watchdog group Cook Inletkeeper. "I've never seen a project that size that went through with so little scrutiny," Shavelson continued, "It didn't even get an Environmental Impact Statement."
Susan Clark of the Maritime Administration, which is managing the project, explained that the administration didn't have to get the statement because the administration's environmental assessment "resulted in a finding of no significant impact."
"We think that conclusion was wrong," said Michael Frank, a lawyer for the environmental law firm, Trustees for Alaska. He argued that a project "which is destroying the last vestiges of an important wetlands and mudflats area," clearly does have an environmental impact.
The expansion, which began in 2004 and is scheduled to finish in 2014, uses a patented, open cell sheet pile method instead of the traditional pile-supported dock. This design uses interlocking steel sheets to form a wall all the way to the sea floor, and fills the 135 acres behind the wall with gravel as a foundation for the port. It contrasts with the traditional pile design, which uses stilts.
Frank from Trustees for Alaska said the traditional pile design would be less damaging than the one being used now because the sheet design doesn't allow fish passage. This means, among other things, that the whales will be able to corral their prey and ultimately eliminate the run, which is their source of food.
No-Bid Contract