Attachment 15 to Northern Gateway Reply Evidence Part 1 of 2 Reply Evidence 2012 Marine Acoustic Supplement ENBRIDGE NORTHERN GATEWAY PROJECT Prepared for: Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines Prepared by: Stantec Consulting Ltd. Stantec Consulting Ltd. 4370 Dominion Street, Suite 500 Burnaby, BC V5G 4L7 Tel: (604) 436-3014; Fax: (604) 436-3752 July 2012 Attachment 15 to Northern Gateway Reply Evidence Part 1 of 2 Attachment 15 to Northern Gateway Reply Evidence Part 1 of 2 Table of Contents 1 Introduction and Background .......................................................................... 1-1 2 Marine Acoustics 2011 Technical Data Report, Parts I and II ........................... 2-1 2011 TDR—Part I .......................................................................................................... 2-1 2011 TDR—Part II ......................................................................................................... 2-1 3 Killer Whale-Specific Hearing Threshold Weighting Methodology .................... 3-1 4 Summary of Underwater Acoustic Studies and Implications for the May 2010 Application’s Assessment and Conclusions ............................................ 4-1 4.1 Background on the 2006, 2010, and 2011 Acoustic Modelling Study Technical Data Reports .................................................................................... 4-1 4.1.1 Marine Acoustics (2006) Technical Data Report ........................................... 4-1 4.1.2 Marine Acoustics Modelling Study 2010 Technical Data Report................... 4-2 4.1.3 Marine Acoustics 2011 Technical Data Report (Section 2 of this Supplement) .................................................................................................. 4-2 4.2 Conclusions Presented in the May 2010 Application ........................................ 4-3 4.3 Implications for the May 2010 Application’s Conclusions .................................. 4-4 4.3.1 Factors Influencing the Conclusions.............................................................. 4-4 4.3.2 Influence of the 2011 TDR on Application’s Conclusions for the CCAA ....... 4-7 4.3.3 Influence of the 2011 TDR on the May 2010 Application’s Conclusions for the OWA ................................................................................................... 4-8 4.3.4 Influence of the Killer Whale-specific Threshold Evaluation on the Application’s Conclusions for the CCAA and OWA ....................................... 4-8 4.4 Conclusions ..................................................................................................... 4-9 4.5 References ..................................................................................................... 4-10 List of Tables Table 4-1 Comparison of Predicted Tanker Specifications ..................................... 4-5 Table 4-2 Summary of Changes to Estimated Area of Behavioural Change Based on 120 dB Contour, Calculated in the 2006, 2010, and 2011 TDRs ...................................................................................................... 4-6 Attachment 15 to Northern Gateway Reply Evidence Part 1 of 2 Attachment 15 to Northern Gateway Reply Evidence Part 1 of 2 1 Introduction and Background Written evidence filed by various intervenors raised issues regarding the methods used in the assessment (the May 2010 Application, Volumes 6B and 8B) of potential effects from underwater noise on marine mammals, specifically: 1. Acoustic modelling was based on literature values for vessel sound source levels and may not have used appropriate surrogate levels. Modelling did not account for the effect of sound-quieting technologies. • Gitga’at First Nation—Review of the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project Submission to the Joint Review Panel and Assessment of Project Effects on Gitga’at Natural Resource Values; NEB Reference Number: A2K4X0; Section 4.2.2.1 Harassment due to vessel noise and traffic; Adobe Page 103 • Raincoast Conservation Foundation—Written Evidence of Raincoast Conservation Foundation, Part 2: Marine Impacts – Marine Mammals; Attachment E: Submission of the Natural Resources Defense Council to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project Joint Review Panel – Regarding Underwater Noise Impacts from Northern Gateway Tanker Traffic; NEB Reference Number: A2K3I0; Section V. Mitigation and Its Limits; Adobe Page 8 2. The Application does not provide the methods behind the killer whale species-specific threshold that was developed. This is required to assess the appropriateness of its use. • Raincoast Conservation Foundation—Written Evidence of Raincoast Conservation Foundation, Part 2: Marine Impacts – Marine Mammals; Attachment E: Submission of the Natural Resources Defense Council to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project Joint Review Panel – Regarding Underwater Noise Impacts from Northern Gateway Tanker Traffic; NEB Reference Number: A2K3I0; Section II. Behavioral Impacts; Adobe Page 3 and 4. This report addresses these points and is organized into the following sections: • Section 2 addresses the first point above and presents two new reports based on a field study that Northern Gateway conducted in Valdez, Alaska to improve the accuracy of the acoustic modelling parameters. The first report presents the methods for this acoustic field study. The second report uses the new source levels obtained in Alaska to re-model and to update the Marine Acoustics (2006) Technical Data Report modelling scenarios and correct a projection error in the acoustic figures presented in the May 2010 Application. Collectively, these two reports make up Parts I and II, respectively, of the Marine Acoustics 2011 Technical Data Report, which is referred to throughout this supplement as the 2011 TDR. • Section 3 addresses the second point above and presents an explanation of the weighting method used in developing the killer whale species-specific threshold. Attachment 15 to Northern Gateway Reply Evidence Part 1 of 2 • Section 4 presents: • a summary of all acoustic technical data reports associated with the May 2010 Application (i.e., previously filed and those in this supplement), and • a brief analysis of how the assessment and associated conclusions presented in the May 2010 Application are affected by 1) results of the Alaska field study, 2) an erratum pertaining to related mapping results presented in the Marine Acoustics (2006) Technical Data Report, 3) updates to the Marine Acoustics (2006) Technical Data Report modelling scenarios, and 4) the killer whale species-specific behavioural change threshold. Attachment 15 to Northern Gateway Reply Evidence Part 1 of 2 2 Marine Acoustics 2011 Technical Data Report, Parts I and II Attachment 15 to Northern Gateway Reply Evidence Part 1 of 2 Attachment 15 to Northern Gateway Reply Evidence Part 1 of 2 2011 TDR—Part I Attachment 15 to Northern Gateway Reply Evidence Part 1 of 2 Attachment 15 to Northern Gateway Reply Evidence Part 1 of 2 Northern Gateway Pipeline Project: Tanker and Escort Tug Source Level Measurement Study Valdez Alaska 2010 Prepared for: Stantec Consulting Ltd. for Northern Gateway Pipeline Project Prepared by: Alexander MacGillivray JASCO Applied Sciences 2101 – 4464 Markham St. Victoria, British Columbia, V8Z7X8 +1.250.483.3300 2010 Attachment 15 to Northern Gateway Reply Evidence Part 1 of 2 Suggested citation: MacGillivray, A. 2010. Northern Gateway Pipeline Project: Management Tanker and Escort Tug Source Level Measurement Study, Valdez Alaska, 2010. Technical report prepared for Stantec Consulting Ltd. for Northern Gateway Pipeline Project by JASCO Applied Sciences, November 2010. Attachment 15 to Northern Gateway Reply Evidence Part 1 of 2 Acronyms and Abbreviations µPa Micropascal AIS Automated Identification System AKDT Alaska Daylight Time ASD Azimuth Stern Drive propulsion CPA Closest Point of Approach dB Decibels DWT Deadweight Tons FFT Fast Fourier Transform GEM Gateway Environmental Management program GPS Global Positioning System G-S Grain-Shearing model HP Horsepower Hz Hertz kHz Kilohertz kts Knots MBSF Metres Below Seafloor OBH Ocean Bottom Hydrophone recorder PE Parabolic Equation model PSD Power Spectral Density SL Source Level SNR Signal-to-Noise Ratio SPL Sound Pressure Level TAPS Trans-Alaska Pipeline System TL Transmission Loss VHF Very-High Frequency radio VSP Voith-Schneider Propulsion Attachment 15 to Northern Gateway Reply Evidence Part 1 of 2 1. Introduction This technical report presents opportunistic acoustic measurements of a tanker and two escort tugs, which were collected by JASCO Applied Sciences in support of the Northern Gateway Pipeline (NGP) Project. Source level data presented in this report were obtained via passive acoustic monitoring of shipping traffic from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) terminal located in Valdez, Alaska. Acoustic data were collected during 19-21 July 2010 in Port Valdez and in Valdez Arm using an autonomous seabed recorder. The purpose of this study was to obtain direct measurements of tanker (193,000 DWT large crude carrier) and escort tug (VSP and ASD) source levels to verify the suitability of literature source levels used in JASCO’s 2006 (Austin et al.) and 2010 (Chorney et al.) modelling studies. The objective of this study was to obtain opportunistic acoustic measurements for the following marine operations: 1. Voith-Schneider Propulsion (VSP) escort tug at nominal transit speed 2. Azimuth Stern Drive (ASD) escort tug at nominal transit speed 3. Tanker transiting in channel 4. Tanker berthing with