For more information, please visit these pages on this Web site:
Ballast Water Treatment Facility
Reconfiguration of the Valdez Marine Terminal
Fact Sheet: Ballast Water Treatment Facility
Ballast Water Treatment Facility Air Pollution
Public Education Campaign
December 2006: A new ad was published December 10 in the Anchorage Daily News, the Valdez Star, and Petroleum News. (pdf/921KB)
November 3, 2006, News Release: Citizens' council postpones public information campaign on Valdez air pollution
Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council is launching a public information campaign to persuade the chief executives of BP, ExxonMobil, and ConocoPhillips to cut the emissions of hazardous air pollution from the Alyeska tanker terminal in Valdez. Please see documents and links below for more information.
News Release, November 2, 2006: Citizens group mounts campaign to end hazardous air pollution from Valdez tanker terminal (also available: pdf version of news release)
PWSRCAC ad/open letter, scheduled for initial publication Nov. 5, 2006, (postponed--see Nov. 3 news release above) by PWSRCAC regarding air pollution from Ballast Water Treatment Facility at the Valdez Marine Terminal (pdf/501KB)
Text only of PWSRCAC ad/open letter (pdf/20KB)
Letter and status report from Al Bolea, BP - October 26, 2006 (pdf/2.1MB)
Letter from ExxonMobil - October 26, 2006 (pdf/54KB)
These letters express commitment to Alyeska’s current plan to update the Ballast Water Treatment Facility, but they do not provide specifics as to funding or scheduling (Alyeska’s plan is clearly marked “preliminary” and is still in the engineering stage). Consequently, the council considers these owner letters to be inadequate responses to its repeated requests for a letter or letters stating specifics from the major facility owners (BP, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil). The council wants a letter from the owners stating a firm commitment to both schedule and finances needed for installing hazardous air emission controls at the facility by the end of 2008. Although the owner letters focus on the 80s and 90s tanks (which emit potentially explosive vapors), the Environmental Protection Agency, in modeling emissions from this facility, has found that the dissolved air flotation (DAF) cells and biological treatment tanks (BTTs) are large sources of hazardous air pollutants, including the carcinogen benzene. In addition to the 80s and 90s tanks, the council wants emissions from the DAF cells and BTTs addressed in any modifications made to the facility.
PWSRCAC Valdez Air Quality & NESHAP OLD Project History (pdf/69KB)
Responses
Council wants oil producers to fund air pollution cleanup, KTUU article, Nov. 2, 2006
Council tries to clean air in Valdez, Anchorage Daily News article, Nov. 3, 2006
Related Links
BLM Environmental Assessment: Proposed Modification of the Ballast Water Treatment Facility for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System at the Valdez Marine Terminal (Joint Pipeline Office Web site)