Month: January 2013

From Alyeska: Alyeska fire brigade wins top awards at state event

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• Submitted by Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. Communications

Alyeska Pipeline Service Company’s Fire/Rescue Brigade won the overall skills competition at this year’s Alaska Fire Conference. This is the 13th consecutive year the brigade was named overall winner. The competition took place September 22 in Sitka.

Alyeska Firefighter Kurtis Carnahan conpetes in the fire extinguisher event. Photo courtesy of Alyeska Pipeline Co.

The Alaska Fire Conference is an annual meeting of agencies such as the Alaska State Firefighters Association, the Alaska Fire Chiefs Association, the Alaska Fire Standards Council and the Alaska Arson Investigators Association. This year marked the conference’s 50th anniversary.

Taught by local and national instructors, conference attendees received more than 280 hours of hands-on fire training.

“This annual event offers a unique training opportunity for our team as it allows them to interact and train with other state-wide departments,” said Valdez Terminal Director Scott Hicks. “This event also provides an opportunity to demonstrate and share how to prepare and respond to an event, as well as learn new strategies and techniques for emergency response.”

For more than 20 years, members of the Alyeska brigade have attended the conference. The conference is not mandatory for Alyeska employees, but is supported by the company and benefits Alyeska as a whole.

“Here at Alyeska, we are very fortunate and extremely grateful to have this dedicated team on the terminal,” Hicks said. “Our team has done an exceptional job of utilizing operational discipline tools for their task identification, procedure development and then training to those standards.”

Conference attendees from fire departments all over the state attended the Sitka event. Photo courtesy of the Alyeska Pipeline Co.

Alyeska’s competition team is comprised of both Alyeska technicians and Doyon Universal Services fire team employees who serve on the brigade at the Valdez Marine Terminal. This year, brigade members in attendance were Chief Sean Wisner; Captain Jennifer Stubblefield; Captain Chris Steeves; Lieutenant Justin Major; Lieutenant Kurtis Carnahan; Firefighter Brandon Reese and Firefighter Greg Matthieu.

Alyeska had 100 percent participation in all conference training exercises and competition events. Several Alyeska brigade members took first place in categories such as ladder raise, make and break, bunker gear and self-contained breathing apparatus. As a result of teamwork and dedication, Alyeska’s team was named overall winner.

“Each brigade member who attended the conference and participated in the competition represented Alyeska in the highest regard,” Wisner said. “These individuals showed a level of camaraderie that is unprecedented in the fire service.”

Ocean science festival held in Cordova, coming to Valdez

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By KARA JOHNSON
Education Director, Prince William Sound Science Center

This past September, on a rainy, windblown Saturday, 215 diehard science enthusiasts braved the elements to attend the Prince William Sound Science Center’s Ocean Science Festival in Cordova. The festival was an opportunity to get a behind the scenes look at ocean research being conducted in Prince William Sound.

Dr. Richard Lee of the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography in Savannah, Georgia gave the keynote presentation about oil spill dispersants. Katrina Hoffman, chief executive officer and president of the science center, shared information about Gulf Watch Alaska, the long-term monitoring program funded by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council to study the effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill on the Gulf of Alaska’s ecosystem.

Researchers invited children and adults to explore and investigate their tools of the trade through hands on demonstrations, activities and informative displays.

The Oil Spill Recovery Institute showed off tools for finding oil such as an autonomous underwater vehicle and an oil spill surveillance balloon.

Science center fisheries biologists set up a demonstration to show how scientists use sonar to measure and track fish populations such as herring in Prince William Sound. Oceanographers from the science center were on hand with live plankton and nets used to collect the plankton.

Science center educators demonstrated a mini Remotely Operated Vehicle and gave visitors a chance to drive the vehicle through a set of underwater challenges.

Visitors competed against each other in the H2Olympics and Plankton Races. These activities helped demonstrate water properties such as adhesion, cohesion and density, giving students a better understanding of the challenges that must be overcome when designing ocean science equipment.

Visitors learned about basic water quality monitoring and the science center’s Headwaters to Oceans Monitoring Network program which collects water quality and weather data from all over Prince William Sound.

Staff from the council was on hand to talk about the ShoreZone Coastal Inventory and Mapping Project which documents the biology and geology of Alaska’s coast. ShoreZone coastal mapping data is used for oil spill contingency planning, conservation planning, habitat research, site development evaluation and recreational opportunities.

The Alaska Ocean Observing System demonstrated their system of web-cameras and weather data which streams to the internet from over 3,000 stations throughout Alaska. The system provides up-to-date data such as temperature, wind speed and direction to the public.

The Coast Guard was on-hand to demonstrate navigational aids. The Herring Research and Monitoring Program had information about their research to improve predictions of herring populations.

There were also informational booths from Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Alaska Pacific University, Alaska Sea Grant, Cordova Clean Harbors, University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Science, and the US Forest Service.

The science center will be bringing the festival to the Valdez Convention Center on Friday March 8, 2013 from 6pm-8pm.

For more information, please visit the science center on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PWSSC
Funding for the festival is provided in part by the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council, Alaska Ocean Observing System, Prince William Sound Science Center and Oil Spill Recovery Institute.

Council hires librarian to manage document collection

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The council welcomed a new staff member, Alicia Zorzetto, to the Anchorage office on January 10. Zorzetto accepted the position of Digital Collections Librarian, and will be working in the Anchorage office.

Zorzetto has a master’s degree in information and library sciences from the University of Toronto and a master’s in political science from McMaster University in Ontario. Zorzetto has experience managing digital library collections, most recently serving as a systems librarian for the Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Technology and Engineering. Zorzetto also served as a reference librarian at York University’s Leslie Frost Library.

Zorzetto moved to Anchorage in early January from Ontario, Canada. She coached and played basketball for many years, and hopes to resume coaching once she settles into life in Alaska.

Zorzetto will take over management of the council’s document management system. The council has an ever-growing collection of approximately 25,000 digital and physical documents, images and audio-visual files related to the council’s mission. Zorzetto will help improve organization of the current system and develop a plan for managing future documents.

Highlights of recent council activities and news, January 2013

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Small leak in loading arm at Valdez Marine Terminal

On November 8, Alyeska informed the council that one of four loading arms on Berth 4 at the Valdez Marine Terminal had developed a small leak, characterized as a “weep.”

New loading arms on Berth 4 were installed this past summer. In response to council inquiry, Alyeska and regulators told the council that the problem appeared to be from an installation defect.

Berth 4 was able to continue operation with the three remaining arms; however, loading was restricted to a lower flow than normal. An Alyeska employee was assigned observe the operational arms to watch for any more weeps.

An inspection of the three remaining arms showed similar wear on two of those three arms due to the defect, but not to the extent of the weeping arm.

Following a thorough inspection and correction of the installation defect, Berth 4 was placed into service with three of the four loading arms in operation.

Permanent repairs of the fourth loading arm is expected to be completed this spring or summer.
Berth 5 has a different design and does not have this problem.

No oil reached Prince William Sound waters from this leak.

Volunteers receive prestigious state travel award

Council volunteers Marilynn and Pete Heddell were presented with the “Spirit of Alaska” award by the Alaska Travel Industry Association on Oct 11.

This annual award is presented to an individual or business that has demonstrated exceptional efforts to support a local community, charity or other organization outside the travel industry. Association members submit nominations and an awards committee selects a winner.

The association cited the Heddells’ commitment to fostering a business friendly environment in Whittier, their public service for numerous organizations and councils in and around Whittier and Prince William Sound, and their mentoring of many local kids through their business.

Marilynn has represented the City of Whittier on the council’s board of directors since 1996. Pete has been a member of the council’s Port Operations and Vessel Traffic System committee since 2000.

Whales, marine debris, waves and invasive species were topics at council’s annual Science Night event

In December, the council hosts Science Night, an annual event with presentations on topics related to marine science in Prince William Sound and Gulf of Alaska.

This year saw nearly 70 attendees at the event.

Jan Straley of the University of Alaska Southeast gave a talk titled “Weaving Through the Food Web with Whales and Fish (or, The Shenanigans of Recovering Whale Populations).

Kate Morse of the Copper River Watershed Project spoke about their Marine Stewardship Expedition program this past summer. During the trip, youth collected and inventoried marine debris in Prince William Sound.

Tobias Schwörer, of the Institute of Social and Economic Research, spoke about work for the council studying the economic impacts of marine invasive species.

Maria Kartezhnikova talked about the effects of waves on transferring cargo at the Valdez Marine Terminal. Kartezhnikova is a student at the University of Alaska Anchorage and did this study as part of her master’s program.

Council volunteer Roger Green and staffers Joe Banta, Anna Carey and Jeremy Robida talked about the council’s efforts to monitor Port Valdez for invasive European green crabs. After off-loading crude oil at a refinery, oil tankers take on ballast water to help stabilize the ship during travel. Invasive species such as green crabs can hitch a ride and invade Prince William Sound when that water is released before the tanker takes on more crude oil.

Next year’s Science Night event will be held in early December.

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