Staff news

Council staff visited Eleanor Island in central Prince William Sound this past August to look for residual oil from 1989’s Exxon Valdez oil spill. While several staff experienced the Exxon Valdez spill first-hand, many had never seen the oil other than in photographs and in small sample jars collected each year and displayed in our offices.

The group was accompanied by David Janka, owner of Auklet Charters. Each year, Janka visits several beaches in the Sound where oil can still be found. He documents the locations and collects samples which he shares with the council.
This area of Prince William Sound was hardest hit with oil.

Alicia Zorzetto, who joined council staff in January, says she remembers the spill only vaguely, as she was 6 years old at the time. The images of the dead animals on TV were memorable because they were scary for a young kid. Later, her environmental politics classes in college discussed the spill through an historical lens.

“It’s one thing to study in a classroom, and then to come here and see and imagine what the fishermen and the locals had to go through, it’s like looking into a little part of our dark history,” said Zorzetto.

The experience was a reminder that the council’s mission to promote environmentally safe transportation of oil in Prince William Sound is an important one.

“We live with oil, we need oil, and we appreciate our oil industry and all it does for our state,” said Mark Swanson, the council’s executive director, “but we really have to be mindful that a lot of protection is required to make sure we don’t have another spill because the consequences just don’t go away.”

Anna Carey, project manager assistant for the council, has taken a position with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. She will replace Vince Kelly.

Her new position, titled “Environmental Program Specialist III,” is in the department’s Industry Preparedness Program’s Marine Vessels section. She will be working with oil spill contingency plans, and says she hopes her duties at the new job will keep her in contact with the council.

“We look forward to continuing to work with her in support of our mission in her new capacity,” said Mark Swanson, executive director for the council.

Carey joined the council in May of 2011. She provided support to project managers and the council’s Terminal Operations and Environmental Monitoring, Port Operations and Vessel Traffic System, Legislative Affairs, Board Governance and Long Range Planning committee volunteers and their projects. She also managed several projects including the review of fire protection assets at the Valdez Marine Terminal.

Carey helped monitor Port Valdez for invasive species such as tunicates and European green crab. The council is concerned that these two species, among others, could arrive in oil tanker’s ballast water, which is discharged into Prince William Sound before loading North Slope crude at the Alyeska terminal in Valdez. Invasions like this can harm valuable native species such as salmon.

Carey also helped with outreach and education presentations in the Valdez schools and for several youth education programs during summer months.

Her last day with the council was September 13. The council is currently in the hiring process to fill the vacancy.

Former Coast Guard commander Stephen Rothchild has been hired as administrative deputy director for the council. Rothchild began work in the Anchorage office on April 1.

He replaced Stan Jones, who retired after 17 years with the council.

“We are delighted to have someone with Steve’s knowledge of Prince William Sound taking over this position,” said Mark Swanson, executive director of the council, “Stan will of course be a hard act to follow, but Steve is so easy going and brings such a great skill set, I’m sure everyone will enjoy working with him.”

Rothchild comes to the council from Juneau where he has been a tour boat captain for the past several years.

In 2008, Rothchild retired from the Coast Guard after 23 years, ten of those years stationed in Alaska. While in Alaska, he spent time as captain of Coast Guard Cutters Sweetbrier and Sycamore in Cordova.

His career experiences include a broad mix of management, vessel operation, strategic planning, and leadership roles.
Patience Andersen Faulkner, council representative for the Cordova District Fishermen United, remembers Steve and his family from his days in Cordova fondly.

“Steve brings with him great skills working with communities,” Andersen said, “In Cordova, he led a crew of Coast Guard recruits who joined in and became part of the Cordova/Prince William Sound community.”

Rothchild combines his familiarity of Prince William Sound with his management skills to fill the critical role of administrative deputy director at the council. He oversees staff administration, provides media relations and public information for the council, and leads the Anchorage staff office.

“Steve’s leadership on the Sycamore was reflected in his crew’s involvement and engagement with Cordova and Prince William Sound residents,” Faulkner said, “I know he will be bringing those relationship and leadership skills to the council.”

Rothchild is a native of New York City. He graduated in 1985 from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix.

His first taste of Alaska was as a senior Coast Guard academy cadet on a vessel patrolling fisheries in the Bering Sea and Bristol Bay during the summer. As his last duty with the service, he patrolled king crab fisheries on board the Munro, which had just moved to Kodiak.

Rothchild and his wife, Mimi, will be finishing their relocation to Anchorage this summer and are looking forward to learning all about what Alaska’s only big city has to offer.

By ALICIA ZORZETTO
Council Digital Collections Librarian

Five council staff members participated in U.S. Coast Guard sponsored training on how to manage emergencies such as oil spills. The training events took place in late March and early April.

The training focused on the Incident Command System, a standardized emergency management structure first developed in the early 1970’s to manage rapidly moving wildfires, later adopted to manage all types of emergencies and incidents.

During an oil spill, this management system provides the framework for federal, state and local representatives to work with the spiller, and other resource providers, to respond in a highly organized and somewhat standardized manner.

Council staff along with other attendees from the government and private industry reviewed the basic incident command system principles used to manage an effective response to an incident.

Learn more:  What is an Incident Command System or Unified Command?