Guest Opinion

Aug 16, 1999

Despite problems, vapor control system makes Valdez terminal safer, healthier

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

We have listened with interest, and some frustration, to the continuing debate about the safety of the Tanker Vapor Control System at the Alyeska terminal in Valdez. We are interested because the successful operation of this system is important for public health in Valdez. We are frustrated because the debate is not contributing much to a public understanding of the actual safety status of the system.

Allegations about fire and explosion hazards at the vapor control system have been designed to get attention, and because of further condensation in news stories they may have convinced some people that it is in grave danger of blowing up. We at the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council believe the vapor control system is not in grave danger of blowing up. Our volunteers, staff and expert consultants have spent thousands of hours examining and researching air quality and vapor control issues in Valdez. Our representatives have physically visited the Valdez Marine Terminal and the vapor control system dozens of times, and closely observed its construction and operation.

Risk in an industrial facility cannot be eliminated, and it has not been eliminated at the vapor control system in Valdez. A serious industrial accident could happen. But criticisms of the system’s safety should be measured against the huge health and environmental benefits to citizens and workers that the system has brought.

Before the vapor control system began operating a year and a half ago, 45,000 tons of crude oil fumes escaped from oil tankers into the air around Valdez annually as a result of loading operations. That made the Valdez terminal by far the largest emitter of such fumes in North America, and responsible for nearly half of all such emissions nationwide. The fumes from tanker loading included an estimated 450 tons of the carcinogen benzene annually, which polluted the air breathed by Alyeska workers and Valdez citizens. Throughout the early 1990s, we urged Alyeska to build a system to capture these vapors, and urged the EPA to require such a system. The system finally was built.

The risk of catastrophic accident during tanker loading operations at the marine terminal has existed since crude oil started flowing to the terminal’s berths in 1977, because the fumes forced out of the ships’ tanks during loading are flammable when mixed with oxygen. The difference is that these crude oil vapors are now routed through a “hard piping” system, rather than released to the atmosphere. Recent allegations about safety at the system describe flaws and glitches in the construction of the system and they challenge the adequacy of inspections and operator training. Many of the specifics contained in these allegations are true. The Tanker Vapor Control System has had its full share of snafus, break-downs and maintenance problems. We have monitored these closely.

Where we differ from those making the allegations is in our interpretation of how these facts affect the safety of the system. We believe the system’s operation and maintenance are improving as the people performing these tasks gain experience and knowledge. We believe the heightened regulatory and corporate attention being paid to problems at the vapor control system is making it a safer system. We still agree with the assessment of the Safety Review Panel we sponsored in June, 1998, that “the design, equipment, operation, maintenance, training, documentation, and other key elements of the Tanker Vapor Control System are of a quality to render the system safe from all reasonable risk of catastrophic fire and explosion.”

We are convinced the addition of vapor controls lessened, rather than increased, the threat of fire and explosion related to loading tankers. History has recorded fires and explosions in many loading operations that lacked vapor controls, and fewer in operations with vapor controls. The health and environmental benefits of capturing tanker loading emissions in Valdez are great, and certainly warrant the effort to iron out current problems at the vapor control system in Valdez.