Petition on tight deadline for Coastal Zone management

• Communities, boroughs, even industries, need coastal program for better input, sponsor says
By Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune

Mako Haggerty

Mako Haggerty has an analogy for why citizen involvement is necessary when accidents or plans impact a coast line. On Jan. 25, 1997 a Crowley barge load of 12,500 tons of solid urea capsized in Kachemak Bay. The plan was to tow it up the inlet.
“They were going to bring it through the area where we were fishing for cod, right through the thick of the cod gear on the 25 fathom curve, upside down and dragging it with its cleats, chains and cables,” Haggerty said. “I walked into that room where they were talking over their plans, and I told them if they dragged it along that 25 fathom course, it would take out a majority of the cod pots.”
The fact that a local fisherman was there to lend his perspective served as good advice. “Because of the warning, they changed their course with very little damage to the cod gear. Everybody won, they got the barge up the bay with very little damage to the cod gear.”
That’s just an analogy, but illustrates how local knowledge can save the day. That’s the idea behind reviving the Coastal Zone Management Program. It gives concerned locals a similar opportunity, or a seat at the table when officials start talking about a development project, said Haggerty, who is one of the sponsors of a statewide initiative that aims to put the question before voters in the November general election. The effort has a fast-paced deadline to gather nearly 30,000 signatures of valid voters by Jan. 17.
Alaska has 38 percent of U.S. Coastal waters, yet is the only one of 34 states that isn’t part of the federal Coastal Zone management Act program, Haggerty points out. The Alaska Legislature and Gov. Sean Parnell failed to agree on conditions for extending the coastal program, and it sunset on July 1, 2011.
The Alaska Sea Party formed to restore the program. It is a statewide grassroots organization comprised of municipal leaders like Kenai Peninsula Borough Assemblyman Haggerty, Juneau Mayor Bruce Botello and Sen. Beth Kertula, as well as concerned citizens. They allied for the purpose of promoting the ballot initiative. Sponsors, including the North Slope Borough, which kicked in $150,000, are helping to finance the endeavor.
“When individuals take a look at this, they will see the advantages. Even corporations have advantages under the program. I support industry, but I still want a seat at the table, even if they go ahead and develop,” he said.
One example currently in action now is the permitting underway for PacRim’s Chuitna coal project. If a coastal zone management program were place, Beluga and Tyonek residents would have a “more robust way to weigh in.”
“As it is now, they can sit outside the door, not at the table. Someone might come out and ask what you think just out of generosity, but they don’t have to do that. They (locals) are not allowed inside the room. They have to just sit outside and wait to see what is decided on a dock or a pipeline,” Haggarty said.
The plan outlined by the new CMP in the petition calls for a 13-member board made up of nine members of the public and four commissioners. The commissioners are heads of the Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Commerce and Economic Development, the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Department of Fish and Game. In the past oversight was placed under DNR. But under the new plan, it would be under DCED.
“Commerce and Economic Development is a more objective home for coastal management,” Haggerty said. “The governor isn’t compelled to bring this back because they likely feel they have more power without interference from local governments.”

Historic work
When Alaska signed up under the federal CZMA, localities were grouped according to their mutual interests. Bristol Bay villages, logging communities in southeast, and the North Slope Borough where oil and gas issues dominate the ecologic-economic discussions all worked out their own plans under the federal program.
Homer’s Kachemak Bay was grouped with communities on the waters of Cook Inlet. All currently are managed by the Kenai Peninsula Borough Coastal Management Program. Efforts began on it in the mid 1970s, and it was adopted by the Borough Assembly in June 1990. The program allows the borough to provide local input and guidance to state and federal agencies involved in issuing permits or managing land and coastal resources. The program also provides an information base and policies to assist the borough in managing borough land and resource use decisions. Former Homer Mayor Gary Williams was in charge of the program until he retired in June, at the same time the program was cancelled. Now Tom Dearman runs the program. This is a time of heavy action from Anchorage based on oil and gas development in the inlet, he said.
A problem encountered now at the borough level without state buy-in for a Coastal Zone Management is that the borough is bypassed in some instances for permitting input. “Since we don’t have that questionnaire now, the questions needed to be answered for permitting isn’t there. For example, one was an archeological study they didn’t know was needed,” Dearman said.
“We have our own, but we need the state to be part of it in order for it to be approved,” Haggerty said.
One strong criticism of the program is that even if regions make a decision about wanting or not wanting a specific development project to occur, the state’s desires can trump them. This happened on the Beaufort Sea under the Tony Knowles administration; it happened on logging in southeast under Bill Sheffield and it happened under Frank Murkowski.
The new plan spells out what is enforceable in the information sheet available on the website www.alaskaseaparty
“Enforceable policies are legally binding policies applicable to public and private coastal activities. Policies include standards that apply in all coastal areas of the state (statewide standards) and local enforceable policies that are unique to each coastal district. Coastal district enforceable policies in effect as of June 30, 2011 will be incorporated into the new program. New regulations reviewed and approved by the Coastal Policy Board will include new statewide coastal program standards,” reads the ACMP Packet.
The new initiative differs from the prior program. Rather than consolidating all decision-making in a single resource agency as was done under the prior program, the initiative creates the Alaska Coastal Policy Board to oversee development and implementation of the new program, including approval of regulations and local coastal management plans. The Coastal Policy Board will bring local coastal district and state representatives together and ensure statewide input into the development and implementation of the coastal program.
Opponents of the measure may believe that the plan would stymie development or commerce. But in reality, the plan would help through one-stop shopping of permitting and review, Haggerty said.
Activities proposed or permitted by a state or federal agency would be reviewed as they are now.
For more information on the petition, contact Assemblyman Haggerty at 399-4133.