Coastal Zone Management

In October, Alaska Federation of Natives delegates voted unanimously to endorse a citizens initiative proposed earlier this month that is the result of a coalition of municipal and state officials to bring coastal management to the primary ballot by fall of 2012 if the Alaska Legislature fails to act first. The U.S. Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), passed by Congress in 1972, encouraged coastal and Great Lake states to take over some of the regulation that had been previously in the hands of the federal government, making the rules tougher if they wanted. The Program, however, expired last July largely due  to the conflicting approach to managing the Program and politicking of Governor Sean Parnell’s administration and after the Alaska Legislature failed to renew it this year, first in its regular session and then in two special sessions.

            Last February, for example, the state told a judge in a lawsuit it brought in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., seeking to overturn a federal agency's listing of the Cook Inlet beluga whales under the Endangered Species Act, claiming that the state is perfectly capable of protecting the beluga itself, in part, because of the Alaska Coastal Management Program (CMP). The challenge, one of many pursued by the Parnell administration over environmental decisions by the federal government, sought to forestall potential restrictions on oil drilling and other development in the Inlet.

            In the lawsuit, the state asked the federal court to throw out the beluga listing, saying the federal government overstepped the law because belugas were recovering already and the state had adequate protections. Ironically, as part of documents belatedly filed with the Court, the Alaska attorney General, admitted to the Court that the state had lost the conservation and enforcement tools provided in the (CMP) four months ago.

Right now, Alaska is the only coastal state without a federal coastal management plan. The program is designed to guarantee state and local participation in federal decision making on coastal issues.