The Ohmsett dispersant test tank is a 2.6-million-gallon open-air saltwater test tank on the Atlantic seacoast and operated by the U.S. Minerals Management Service. It was created to test mechanical oil spill recovery equipment. Crude oil can be put on ocean water in the Ohmsett tank and sprayed with dispersants with little risk of release to the natural environment. In the early and mid-2000s, the Council sent representatives to observe…
A fishing vessel pulls oil spill boom during a recent drill. On June 12 and 13, an oil spill drill conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard and hosted by Alyeska tested oil spill contingency plans for the Valdez Marine Terminal. During the drill, the council put aspects of its own internal spill readiness plan to the test. The fictional drill scenario involved a power outage at the Valdez Marine Terminal, a ruptured line leading to one of the loading…
By JESSICA RYAN Kachemak Bay Research Reserve A Homer student demonstrates the use of absorbents to soak up oil. Fifth and sixth grade students from Fireweed Academy, a charter school in Homer, created the first ever student-led public Discovery Lab program on the topic of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, titled “25 Years After the Spill”. Fireweed Academy students are known to engage in the old adage “learn by doing.” The students learned about the…
The council’s home on the web has recently undergone a major redesign. The new site is designed to help us keep you better informed about our work. The last major upgrade of the website was done in 2006. Visitors to the site will encounter a number of new features: You can now subscribe to news and announcements by email or RSS feed. To subscribe by email, enter your email address at the bottom of any page on the site. An RSS feed subscription…