News Release Archives

Board of Directors met in Anchorage

by

The Council’s Board of Directors met in Anchorage on January 26 and 27, 2023. 

Final agenda and meeting materials: Board of Directors Meeting, January 2023

The Council conducted regular business during the meeting, including updates from Council ex officio members, staff, and committees. Other topics included on the agenda were:

  • An activity report by Alyeska Pipeline Service Company on the Valdez Marine Terminal and Ship Escort Response Vessel System operations.
  • An update on State of Alaska Article 4 oil discharge prevention and contingency plan regulations from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s Spill Prevention and Response Division Director Tiffany Larson.
  • A report on how to evaluate the integrity of liners integral to the effectiveness of the secondary containment systems around the tanks at the Valdez Marine Terminal; the liners are intended to hold oil in the event of a spill until clean up can occur.
  • A report on data analyzed from Council weather buoys in Port Valdez from 2019-2021.
  • An update and discussion on changes proposed by the Alaska Regional Response Team to the Regional Stakeholder Committee process during an oil spill.
  • A presentation on aerial forage fish surveys conducted in Prince William Sound in June of 2022.
  • A review of materials created to support the Council’s dispersant use position, updated in September 2022.
  • A summary by Council staff of incidents (e.g., oil spills, fires, malfunctions causing shutdowns, navigational closures, tanker/escort incidents) at the terminal, on Ship Escort Response Vessel System tugs and barges or on associated tankers that occurred in 2022.
  • The appointment of new representatives to the Cordova District Fisherman United and City of Cordova seats, as well as creation and appointment of a temporary recreation seat on the Council’s board of directors.

Council board meetings are routinely recorded and may be disseminated to the public by the Council or by the news media.

 

Council updates position on dispersant use during an oil spill

by

Prevention and mechanical recovery should remain primary options

A vessel sprays water as practice for applying dispersants during an oil spill drill.
A vessel sprays water as practice for applying dispersants during an oil spill drill.

The Council’s Board of Directors has updated the organization’s position on use of chemical dispersants in the event of an oil spill in the Prince William Sound and the Exxon Valdez oil spill region. The updated position states that dispersants should not be used on Alaska North Slope crude oil spills in the waters of our region.

Chemical dispersants are substances applied to floating oil slicks that break the oil into smaller droplets that disperse into the water column.

The Council has long endorsed mechanical recovery as the primary tool to clean up an oil spill. Unlike dispersant use, mechanical recovery with booms and skimmers removes oil from the water. Conditions in Prince William Sound often limit the feasibility of dispersant application and dispersants have not been demonstrated to be effective in marine environments with similar temperatures and salinity levels to those found in the Sound. Uncertainty exists over the toxicity caused by adding chemical dispersants to an oil slick and the long-term effects of dispersants application are not well understood. The known harms and potential risks caused by dispersants, in addition to a lack of proven effectiveness and safety, preclude the Council from supporting dispersants.

Oil spill prevention remains the Council’s top priority because once oil is spilled there will always be adverse impacts to human health and the environment. In the event of an oil spill in our region, mechanical recovery and containment of oil spilled at sea should remain the primary response method. The Council also recommends that oil spill response research and development should focus on enhancing and improving mechanical recovery technologies and methods.

The Council’s previous position on dispersant use was adopted in 2006, after years of promoting research and testing to increase knowledge about dispersants and the environmental consequences of their use. In the intervening years, the Council has continued to track developments and analyze peer reviewed scientific literature from around the world regarding the use of dispersants. Discussion and work to develop this update have occurred over the past year, with the final approval taking place at the directors’ meeting in Seward, Alaska, on September 23, 2022.

Details

Further materials on the evidence and rationale supporting the position update are currently being finalized by the Council for publication in early 2023.

PDF of news release: 

PWSRCAC Dispersant Use Position Press Release 

Board of Directors met in Seward

by

Glacier near Seward, Alaska. Photo by Linda Robinson, July 2010The Council’s Board of Directors met in Seward on September 22 and 23, 2022. 

The Council conducted regular business during the meeting, including updates from Council ex officio members, staff and committees. Other topics included on the agenda were:

  • An activity report by Alyeska Pipeline Service Company on the Valdez Marine Terminal and Ship Escort Response Vessel System operations.
    A review of new designs for the replacement of the floor, and a system to limit corrosion within the floor, for one of the crude oil storage tanks at the Valdez Marine Terminal.
  • An update from Council staff and contractors and Alyeska staff on the monitoring of repairs and next steps resulting from snow and ice damage to tank vents at the Valdez Marine Terminal in February and March 2022.
  • Introduction and remarks from Interim Alyeska President Betsy Haines.
  • A video based on field trials for a recent Council study on passing messenger lines to disabled vessels, the first crucial step in setting up a tow line between a rescue tug and a tanker in distress.
  • Discussion to potentially update the Council’s 2006 position on use of dispersants in our region during an oil spill.
  • A report on the availability of out-of-region equipment that would be needed in the event of a major oil spill in our region.
  • A review and assessment of the Council’s Peer Listener Training Program and similar programs nationwide that promote peer-to-peer community support, specifically after disasters such as an oil spill.
  • A report on plankton sampling done throughout Port Valdez in 2021, to understand how these populations varied to improve the monitoring of invasive species.
  • A presentation on marine bird surveys conducted in Prince William Sound in March of 2022.

 Council Board meetings are routinely recorded and may be disseminated to the public by the Council or by the news media.

 

Skip to content