According to the Anchorage Daily News, the state of Alaska gave notice Friday to a U.S. District Court that the Alaska Coastal Management Program is no more.
The state's notice came four months after the program's official demise, and it takes away a point of support for the state's active legal challenge to a federal agency's listing of Cook Inlet beluga whales as an endangered species.
The state has also used the coastal-zone program in support of other wildlife-related lawsuits against the federal government, none of which have reached District court.
The state's lawsuit was filed in February, and at that time, Gov. Parnell cited the coastal zone management program as a reason that Alaska could be counted on to manage its own resources while protecting wildlife.
But the Legislature didn't renew the program last session, and it expired July 1. The governor was cool on the program when it came up for renewal, saying that some versions of the re-up gave local communities too much control.
But critics of letting the program lapse say its absence removes one of the only tools Alaska communities had to require local and state review of activities on federal land and offshore.
Two weeks ago, elected officials from Juneau, Kenai and Kodiak said that if the Legislature fails to enact a coastal-zone management program next year, they would pursue establishing one through a ballot initiative.
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