NEAH BAY — What kind of environmental impacts will happen if the Makah tribe once again hunts gray whales off this northern tip of the North Olympic Peninsula?

That will be the primary question asked in three meetings Wednesday at the Makah reservation in Neah Bay, Thursday in Port Angeles and Oct. 11 in Seattle.

The three public comment sessions are preliminary steps in a process led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

No decision on whether the Makah can resume whaling is expected for at least a year — longer if there are more lawsuits from anti-whaling activists, which is likely.

The tribe’s last successful whale hunt was in May 1999.

The Makah killed a 30-ton gray whale, striking it with harpoons and then killing it with a gunshot to the back of the head.

“We want to hear comments on the biological and environmental aspects of a [whale] hunt,” said Brian Gorman, NOAA spokesman.

“And this won’t be an opportunity for people to make statements in a auditorium setting.”

Whaling meetings

THE NOAA HEARINGS this week and Oct. 11 are workshops, not public forums for comments for or against Makah whaling exercise.

There will be no podium for participants.

Those attending the sessions will be broken up into study groups that will be asked to make recommendations for an environmental impact study.

The schedule:

* Wednesday — Neah Bay’s Makah Tribal Council Community Hall, 81 Third Ave., from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

* Thursday — Vern Burton Memorial Community Center, 308 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles, from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Thursday.

* Tuesday, Oct. 11 — In Seattle at South Lake Union Park, 860 Terry Ave. North, from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.