Introduction

About the Council

The Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council (PWSRCAC) is an independent non-profit corporation guided by its mission: citizens promoting environmentally safe operation of the Alyeska Pipeline marine terminal in Valdez and the oil tankers that use it.

The council is immediately accountable to those it represents: the people and groups with the most to lose from another catastrophic oil spill in Prince William Sound. They include communities and interest groups in a region stretching from the sound itself to Kodiak Island to lower Cook Inlet—all areas that were touched by oil from the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The council's 18 member organizations include representatives from communities, aquaculture, commercial fishing, environmental, Alaska Native, recreation, and tourism groups.

The council’s influence depends on the quality of its analytical work on oil transportation safety, not on regulatory powers or political connections.

2008 Recertification Application to the U.S. Coast Guard (pdf/441KB). This document references our Annual Reports and our Contract with Alyeska. Audit Reports and Financial Statements are also available online.

2005 Recertification Application to the U.S. Coast Guard (pdf/121KB)

Responsibility

The council has an ongoing responsibility to sponsor accurate scientific research that monitors the environmental impacts of the Valdez Marine Terminal and tankers. The council regularly retains experts in various fields to conduct independent research on issues related to oil transportation safety.

PWSRCAC is unique in having no mission except promoting environmental safety and informing the public about it, while industry and government must manage competing missions.

Industry must balance the need for environmental protection against the pressure for profits, while government agencies are always subject to political pressure to promote economic development and minimize the regulatory burden on industry. The citizens’ council, by contrast, is relatively free from political and financial pressure. The council's advisory role and its diverse, community-based board largely insulate it from direct lobbying and other usual forms of political pressure.

The 1989 Exxon Valdez experience demonstrated that the oil industry could learn from people who live and work in the region affected by the terminal and tanker operations. A moral imperative also emerged from the Exxon Valdez spill: those people with the most to lose from oil pollution must have a voice in the decisions that put their livelihoods and communities at risk.

Structure

The council's structure and responsibilities stem from two documents:

Contract with Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.: The first document is a contract with Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., which operates the trans-Alaska pipeline as well as the Valdez terminal. Although this contract guarantees annual funding for the council, it also ensures absolute independence from Alyeska as long as oil flows through the trans-Alaska pipeline.

Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90): The second guiding document is the federal Oil Pollution Act of 1990. In the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, Congress mandated citizens’ councils for Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet. The purpose of these councils is to promote partnership and cooperation among local citizens, industry and government, and to build trust and provide citizen oversight of environmental compliance by oil terminals and tankers. Congress identified complacency on the part of the oil industry and government regulators as a root cause of the Exxon Valdez spill.

Alyeska/PWSRCAC Contract

Valdez Marine Terminal oil storage tanks-PWSRCAC photo

In February 1990, PWSRCAC and Alyeska signed a contract ensuring for PWSRCAC absolute independence from Alyeska, access to Alyeska facilities, guaranteed annual funding, and assurance that the contract would last as long as oil flowed through the trans-Alaska pipeline.

Under the terms of its contract with Alyeska, the council reviews, monitors, and comments on various aspects of the company's operations:

Oil spill prevention and response plans
Environmental protection capabilities
Actual and potential environmental impacts of terminal and tanker operations

The council comments on and participates in monitoring and assessment of environmental, social, and economic consequences of oil-transportation activities, including comments on the design of measures to mitigate the impacts of oil spills and other environmental effects of terminal and tanker operations.

The contract also calls for the council to increase public awareness of Alyeska's oil spill response, spill prevention and environmental protection capabilities, as well as the actual and potential environmental impacts of terminal and tanker operations.

The contract states that the council may work on other related issues not specifically identified when the contract was written.

The council was initially funded at $2 million a year. The funding is renegotiated every three years; current Alyeska funding is approximately $2.8 million a year.

Although the council works closely with and is funded by Alyeska, the council is an independent advisory group. The contract is explicit: "Alyeska shall have no right . . . to have any degree of control over the formation or operation of the corporation . . ."

Alyeska/PWSRCAC Contract (pdf/3MB)

Oil Pollution Act of 1990

Oil residue from Exxon Valdez spill in 1989 at Herring Bay, Prince William Sound, 2005-photo by Jim Payne, Payne Environmental Consultants, Inc.

See our Fact Sheet on OPA 90. (pdf/69KB)

The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) requires Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. to establish and fund a citizens’ advisory group.

The council's contract with Alyeska pre-dates OPA 90, but the similarities in the powers and duties given the council in the two documents are not coincidental. Many people involved in the establishment of the council also actively promoted citizen involvement provisions in the federal law.

The Act established two demonstration projects in Alaska--one in Prince William Sound, the other in Cook Inlet--designed to promote partnership and cooperation among local citizens, industry and government, and to provide citizen oversight of environmental compliance by oil terminals and tankers. PWSRCAC is certified as the program for Prince William Sound.

The Act allows an alternative, pre-existing organization to fulfill the requirement for a citizen group and our council has done so for Prince William Sound since 1991. Each year, the U.S. Coast Guard assesses whether the council fosters the general goals and purposes of the Oil Pollution Act and is broadly representative of the communities and interests as envisioned in the Act.

As the council for Prince William Sound pursuant to the Act, we have duties similar to those laid out in our contract with Alyeska. But the responsibilities under the Oil Pollution Act are somewhat broader, as they encompass all aspects of the North Slope crude oil transportation system through Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska.

OPA 90: Terminal and Tanker Oversight and Monitoring (Legal Information Institute Web site)

OPA 90: Prince William Sound Provisions (Legal Information Institute Web site)

Entire OPA 90 document (pdf/337KB)