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Schantz & Archibald: Good resource development depends on strong regulations

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Archibald and Schantz

By Board President Robert Archibald and Executive Director Donna Schantz

Nothing can change the damage that resulted from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Since our creation, the Council’s goal has always been to try to ensure it never happens again, at the same time making sure we are prepared with a strong response system in case prevention measures fail. We know that the more you tackle challenging issues and prepare ahead of time, the greater the likelihood of reducing the potential damage.

Our volunteers and staff put in countless hours fulfilling our mandates outlined in the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and our contract with Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.

While much work continues to be done, we are still seeing concerning trends in the loss of experienced personnel, high attrition rates, and budget and staffing cuts in industry and the associated regulatory agencies. The Council has been raising concerns about the diminishment of agency oversight at the Valdez Marine Terminal for over a decade. We hope that a review of the adequacy of the present regulatory oversight of terminal operations, currently being conducted by the federal Government Accountability Office, will highlight any deficiencies that need to be addressed. And, while we are encouraged by Alyeska’s response to our 2023 report “Assessment of Risks and Safety Culture at Alyeska’s Valdez Marine Terminal,” we diligently continue to try to move all its recommendations forward.

We know that a strong regulatory structure benefits development in our state. It also is the cornerstone of protection for our people, communities, economies, and environment. After years of regulatory diminishment, we now need to see the actions necessary to not only stop the cutbacks, but also then restore these agencies to the levels put in place based on lessons learned from the 1989 oil spill.

While the Council is always ready to listen to what industry and regulators are willing to share with us, we will also continue to closely watch what they do. And that is what we are here to do: we listen, we watch, and we advise. We sometimes say that “Trust, but verify” is our unofficial motto. We want to trust that the problems we are speaking out about will be addressed, but will not stop our inquiries and our work until we can verify that they have been.

We know that industry and regulatory agencies have the same goal in mind as the Council: the safe transportation of oil through our region. Our role in that shared goal is defined by and dependent on citizen engagement. We must watch what is happening – the decisions being made, risks being assessed, safety measures implemented – and never be afraid to speak up. Those with the most to lose from oil pollution must have a voice in the decisions that can put their livelihoods and communities at risk. We will continue to work hard to be that voice.

Analysis of weather conditions will help improve spill response

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How to read a wind rose: This graphic, referred to as a “wind rose,” helps researchers visualize average wind direction, frequency, and speed. This rose represents all of the data for June 2020. The bars point toward the direction the wind is blowing from, the length represents the frequency of wind from that direction, and the color indicates wind speed. This particular rose shows that winds during June 2020 were generally from the west and some were from the east. The strongest winds came from the west and were between 10 to 20 knots (approximately 11.5 to 23 miles per hour).

A new study will help responders plan for the effects of weather on an oil spill. Dr. Rob Campbell, a researcher at the Prince William Sound Science Center, has been working with the Council to collect data about ocean currents, wind direction and speed, wave direction and heights, and other information from two buoys in Prince William Sound.

The buoys have been in place since 2019, and have collected enough information to begin to analyze trends. Dr. Campbell recently analyzed the nearly two million pieces of information.

Dr. Campbell found that the air and water temperatures generally followed a typical annual cycle for a subarctic region. Highest temperatures were seen in August, and the lowest in February. There were a few deviations, however:

  • During the summers of 2019 and 2020, the region experienced a marine heatwave, referred to by locals as “The Blob.” These unusually warm temperatures matched what was occurring in the Gulf of Alaska.
  • Late 2020 brought impacts from a La Nina event. La Nina is a climate pattern associated with cooler temperatures in the Pacific Ocean.

Regional temperatures increasing

Temperature data has been collected in the region since 1908. Dr. Campbell was able to compare this historical data with data from the buoys to confirm a warming trend of approximately 5 degrees Fahrenheit over the last 114 years.

Surface temperatures trending warmer in winter, cooler in summer

Interestingly, in the last few years Port Valdez has experienced cooler than average temperatures at the water’s surface during summer. This appears to be related to melting glaciers, which have been melting much faster in the Gulf of Alaska region than the rest of the world. Most of this melting happens between May and October. Cold water from the Lowe River and Valdez Glacier Stream flows into the port, cooling the water’s surface.

How does this affect oil spill prevention and response?

Understanding how factors such as wind, waves, currents, and temperatures are behaving and changing can help responders better prepare for an oil spill, and make sure spill contingency plans are tailored to real conditions in the region. Real-time weather data can also provide valuable information during a spill response.

Full report:

Find more details about the analyses in Dr. Campbell’s report: Port Valdez Weather Buoy Analysis 2019 – 2023

Whittier community engages with on-water oil spill response training

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Several adults watch boats in the distance. The boats are a variety of smaller vessels, mostly fishing vessels, and one larger brightly colored vessel named the Ross Chouest. Lines of oil spill boom are attached to the smaller vessels in pairs, forming a "u" shape.
Members of the public watch vessels practice pulling oil spill boom in proper formation. This formation would be used to collect oil during an oil spill.

The Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council held a tour for locals to observe the annual oil spill response training for fishing vessels in Whittier, Alaska, on Sept. 30, 2024. This has been an annual event since 2016, rotating through several communities in the region, though it was postponed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Whittier community was invited to join the council from 11:30 to 2 p.m., on a Stan Stephens Cruises vessel to observe the training. Over 90 members of the public participated in the event, including students from the Whittier Community School.

Whittier resident, Chase, age 12, stated about the event, “There are so many people participating and wanting to learn on this boat, learning about this to help protect our environment. Plus watching all those boats do their job in helping protect the environment. I think it’s pretty cool.”

The local fishermen and women participating in the training are contracted by the Ship Escort Response Vessel System, also known as SERVS, to respond in the event of an oil spill from a Prince William Sound tanker or the Valdez Marine Terminal. SERVS is Alyeska Pipeline Service Company’s oil spill removal organization and coordinates annual spill response exercises in multiple Southcentral Alaska communities, including Whittier.

This Council event helps keep communities informed on what oil spill prevention and response measures are in place in Prince William Sound and downstream communities, especially those involving their local fishers. Whittier residents learned about oil spill response technology, tactics and how this program helps Alyeska operate safely in Prince William Sound. Narrators from both the Council and Alyeska were on board to describe the activities so that participants could better understand the training. We would like to thank our partners, Alyeska/SERVS and Stan Stephens Glacier & Wildlife Cruises, for helping to support this event.

“I think that’s very cool for [students] to see people from their community taking part in an activity like this,” said Whittier school teacher Jennifer Childress. “Knowing what a special and important place Prince William Sound is, it’s important to have people be trained and ready to go in case an awful event like an oil spill happens. To have local people involved in that and as a teacher to have students see that they could have a place in that and be a part of that as they get older, is very important.”

Alyeska’s contracted fishing fleet is the backbone of their oil spill response system. It is essential to the system operating as it was designed to do and part of what makes the Prince William Sound system world-class. These contracted vessels and their crews help ensure the most comprehensive oil spill response measures are in place for both open water and nearshore resources. A major lesson of the Exxon Valdez oil spill was that incorporating local mariners into the spill response system helps ensure a quick, efficient and effective response.

Since the inception of SERVS after the Exxon Valdez spill, the Council has been highly supportive of local fishers and mariners being trained annually with the best available technology to prepare for oil spills. Whittier mariners have the most intimate knowledge of, and connection to, the waters in and around Whittier. Their involvement would help protect the most sensitive areas, such as hatcheries and spawning streams, from spilled oil.

Whittier school student, Ana, 12, said about the event, “I think it’s good to protect our marine wildlife and [this event] creates awareness.”

The Council has held previous fishing vessel oil spill response training tours in Valdez, Seward, Cordova and Homer. The Council hopes that through such programs communities will understand the importance of oil spill prevention and having the most robust response strategies in place in the event of a spill.

”It’s especially important for local fishing vessels to participate in the system,” said Kathy Shea, one of several representatives from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s Spill Prevention and Response Division on board the tour. “They know the water, they’re out here fishing on a regular basis and they rely on the ocean for their livelihoods. They want to pass down a clean environment to their families in the future, so having them on our team is hugely advantageous for spill response.”

Several photos of the event are available through the following link: Whittier fishing vessel training tour 2024 (Dropbox)

Additional photos are available for use on request by contacting Brooke Taylor at brooke.taylor@pwsrcac.org or 907-301-3784.

The Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council, with offices in Anchorage and Valdez, is a federally mandated, independent nonprofit corporation whose mission is to promote the environmentally safe operation of the Valdez Marine Terminal and the oil tankers that use it. The council’s work is guided by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, and its contract with Alyeska Pipeline Service Company. The council’s member organizations are communities in the region affected by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, as well as commercial fishing, aquaculture, Alaska Native, recreation, tourism and environmental groups.

 

Modern technologies changing oil spill response

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Lessons learned during the pandemic here to stay

This image shows how closely oil spill responders must work during some drills and exercises. The responders in the photos are 2-3 feet apart, which was restricted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Responders often work in close proximity during oil spill response drills. Pandemic precautions restricted many of these activities. In this photo, responders guide oil spill boom off of the response vessel Valdez Star as a distant fishing vessel tows the boom into position.

The Council’s newest annual report on drills and exercises highlights lessons learned during the pandemic and recent changes due to new technologies.

Large drills continue to take advantage of video-conferencing platforms. Meetings are held online. Documents and other data are shared through online collaboration tools.

“While the Council supports responders having as much local knowledge as possible, modern communication technologies mean some positions in the response can fully function from a remote location such as Anchorage,” says Roy Robertson, drill monitor for the Council, and author of the report.

Online learning during fishing vessel training

Alyeska’s Ship Escort Response Vessel System, or SERVS, conducts annual training for crews of local fishing vessels, who are contracted to respond in case of a spill. Before the pandemic, part of the training was held in a classroom, part was hands-on experience with equipment on dry land, and finally, crews would practice deploying equipment on the water.

Since the pandemic, the classroom sessions have been held online.

Hands-on equipment training increased in 2023

Technology can’t take care of everything. Responders still need to know how to set up and use oil spill boom, run skimmers, and communicate effectively during an emergency.

Unfortunately, crew members were not able to safely work with equipment over the last few years due to pandemic precautions. Restrictions hit two specific tactics particularly hard: nearshore response and sensitive area protection.

“Nearshore response” is a set of maneuvers used by fishing vessels to intercept the leading edge of an oil spill as it approaches a shoreline. These tactics are designed to redirect oil and collect it.

“Sensitive area protection” also happens near a shoreline. The difference is that these tactics are designed for a specific location such as a fish hatchery, cultural site, or wildlife congregation area. These tactics are planned out in advance and are designed to keep oil from contaminating the location.

Both of these tactics involve crew members being close together, so they were not regularly practiced from 2020-2022. In 2023, however, these exercises were held regularly.

Other oil spill response highlights from the report

New oil spill response barges: Over the past few years, Alyeska and the Prince William Sound shippers have been replacing oil spill response barges. These barges are stocked with response equipment and have large cargo tanks for storing collected oil. Some of the barges were up to 40 years old. The latest new barge is a replacement for the Allison Creek, which arrived in Prince William Sound in April. Read more about the Allison Creek from Alyeska. The new barges are almost identical, so training on one vessel is applicable to all.

Most likely scenario for spill from terminal: Three of five exercises at the Valdez Marine Terminal involved an area called “Drainage 58.” This is considered the most likely route that a large oil spill from the East Tank Farm would flow downhill toward Port Valdez.

Recommendations for improvement

While many of the drills and exercises went smoothly, observers did find room for improvement. Find more details in the full report: 2023 Annual Drill Monitoring Report

Report archive

Previous annual drill reports (2002-present) are available on the Preparedness Monitoring page.

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