Guest Opinion

March 28, 2003

Air quality issue deserves thoughtful attention of Alyeska, regulators, and Valdez residents

By John S. Devens, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council

Is Valdez air safe to breathe?

Recent weeks have seen city council presentations on this question by our group and by Alyeska Pipeline, as well as articles in local newspapers.

In the early 1990s, our council spent hundreds of thousands of dollars studying air quality and took the lead in securing the tanker vapor control systems now at the Alyeska terminal. Accordingly, I thought it might be beneficial to review the history and facts of the air quality issue as we see it today.

Terminal emissions dropped sharply after vapor control was installed. But the terminal is still a huge source of petroleum vapors, primarily from the Ballast Water Treatment Facility.

The most dangerous components of these emissions are benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene, and xylene, usually called BETX. They have been shown to cause cancer and other illnesses in humans.

The terminal is among the largest BETX emitters in the country. Its output has not been measured, but the lowest estimate is about 130 tons a year, more than five times the level EPA defines as a major source, subject to regulation. The highest estimate is 524 tons a year.

Are these emissions dangerous to Valdez residents?

To find out, we are proposing another formal study of air quality in Valdez, including the impacts of the Alyeska terminal. Both Alyeska and the city of Valdez have expressed interest in collaborating.

If studies ultimately show the terminal is endangering public health, then the next step will be to fix the problem. We’re sure that, as a good neighbor, Alyeska will embrace its responsibility to help.

Such a fix is certainly possible. In Anchorage, residents of a neighborhood near the city's port became concerned about tank farm emissions, which were running at 12 tons of benzene per year, just one-fifth of the estimated 60 tons a year produced at the terminal here. State and local authorities developed a control program in Anchorage, and benzene emissions in the port area are now less than a ton per year.

Residents here deserve clean air, too, and we will continue to work with Alyeska, the City of Valdez, and regulators to make sure they have it.

# # #

John Devens is executive director of the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council. He was mayor of Valdez at the time of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

The council is an independent non-profit corporation that promotes environmentally safe operation of the Valdez Marine Terminal and associated tankers. Its work is guided by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, and its contract with Alyeska Pipeline Service Company. RCAC's 18 member organizations are communities in the region affected by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, as well as commercial fishing, aquaculture, Native, recreation, tourism and environmental groups.