The Alaska District, United States Army Corps of Engineers Publishes Revised Draft Port of Nome Modification
As the Arctic becomes warmer, new threats are emerging in this fast-paced era of global change. Kawerak encourages the public to comment on the “Integrated Feasibility Report and Environmental Assessment” draft, and the “Finding of No Significant Impact and Port of Nome Modification” draft released by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
The Kawerak Marine Program hosted multiple workshops regarding the challenges and concerns regarding marine traffic and shipping. The workshops, attended by Bering Strait Region community members, have repetitively revealed the following themes concerning vessel traffic:
- There should be no discharge into our ancestral waters
- The potential impacts from an oil spill are of great concern
- Shipping should not impact marine wildlife
The Port of Nome Modification Feasibility study is 792 pages which include the Draft Report, and 404 (b) (1), Geotechnical, Hydraulic, Economics, Cost Engineering, Real Estate, Correspondence, Essential Fish Habitat Determination, and FWS Letter appendices.
Links to the study are below and are listed on Kawerak’s Marine Program webpage. Comments are due by June 7, 2019.
https://www.poa.usace.army.mil/Library/Reports-and-Studies/
“Marine mammals, especially seals, tend to congregate around the Port of Nome causeway and breakwater in the fall, and the Outer Basin is a popular place for subsistence hunters (Kawerak, Inc., 2017).”
Page 67, Port of Nome Modification Feasibility Study Nome, Alaska
Contact: Austin Ahmasuk, Marine Advocate
(907) 443-4368 or e-mail: aahmasuk@kawerak.org
Press Release Dated May 16, 2019
