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A lawsuit challenging petroleum exploration in Alaska's Cook Inletwas filed Tuesday by four groups, including an Alaska Nativevillage, that claim seismic testing will harm endangered belugawhales. The plaintiffs are the Native Village of Chickaloon, NaturalResources Defence Council, Center for Biological Diversity andCenter for Water Advocacy. They claim the National Marine Fisheries Service improperly issuedexploration permits to Apache Alaska Corp. for high-intensityseismic exploration. "Each year, there are fewer and fewer of these whales left," TarynKiekow, an NRDC attorney, said in an announcement of the lawsuit."Oil and gas drilling activities expose Cook Inlet beluga whales toearsplitting underwater noise that threatens their survival. Allthat noise in the marine environment makes survival impossible forthese endangered whales." National Marine Fisheries Service spokeswoman Julie Speegle saidfrom Juneau the agency would have no comment. "Because it's a legal matter, we cannot comment," she said. Beluga whales, which can reach 15 feet (4.5 metres) long, turnwhite as adults and feed on salmon, smaller fish, crab, shrimp,squid and clams. In late summer, belugas often can be spotted fromhighways leading from Anchorage, chasing salmon schooled at streammouths. From the 1980s on, the Cook Inlet population declined steadily froma high of about 1,300, and the loss was accelerated between 1994and 1998 when Alaska Natives harvested nearly half of the remaining650 whales. Belugas have not bounced back despite a hunting ban. Asurvey in June counted just 284 whales. The U.S. federal government declared Cook Inlet belugas endangeredin 2008. The state of Alaska fought the decision and said thelisting would hurt economic development at the Port of Anchorage,the largest port in the state, as well as oil and natural gasdevelopment off the Kenai Peninsula. The endangered species listing in November was affirmed by afederal judge, who rejected the state arguments that belugasalready are protected by other environmental laws and that thefisheries service failed to consider state conservation programsdesigned to improve the habitat and food supply of belugas. The lawsuit says Apache intends to explore for offshore oil and gasfor 160 days a year using airguns that produce some of the loudestunderwater sounds short of dynamite. The lawsuit claims the noise is known to compromise foraging andother vital behaviour of whales, and that it can affect speciesover great distances. The noise will be on top of already high levels of noise fromindustrial traffic and pollution, according to the lawsuit. The groups claim the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission recommendedagainst authorization for exploration, and that NMFS violatedfederal environmental law with its finding that seismic surveyswould cause no significant impact. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as IPL Tattoo Removal Machine Manufacturer , Acne Removal Machine Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits IPL Beauty Equipment.
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