The Observer, December 2003
Alyeska shows performance improvement in less surprising follow-up drill
By Tony Parkin
Project Manager
The state’s second unannounced oil-spill drill this year in Port Valdez went better than the first, with improved performance by Alyeska Pipeline’s Ship Escort/Response Vessel System, or SERVS.
The drill was not, however, a total surprise. The SERVS manager was included in drill planning, as was a representative from Alaska Tanker Company, which also participated in the drill. As an oil spill can happen at any time, the council believes it is important that unannounced drills are truly unannounced in order for a real response test to take place.
The second drill started at 6 a.m. on Sept. 30. The scenario was the same as for the first surprise drill in June: A tanker develops a leak in the vicinity of Gold Creek, approximately four miles west of the city of Valdez. Three SERVS task forces are mobilized to capture the spilled oil with skimmers and suck it into storage barges.
Participants in the Sept 30 surprise drill check the flow rate from a TransRec oil skimmer. Flow rates are monitored so the tankerman can control the proper loading of the barge. The follow-up drill went better than the first surprise drill in June. Photo by John Engle, Alaska Dept of Environmental Conservation.
Since the first drill on June 4, SERVS and its response contractors had been training intensively, and the effort appeared to pay off on Sept. 30. Barges were skimming and simulating the collection of oil within two hours of the drill’s start. This was a marked improvement from the first drill, when the same actions took eight hours.
One area still needing improvement was decontamination, which refers to the process of making sure cleanup workers don’t carry oil from the ‘hot zone’ into uncontaminated areas. On occasion, workers were observed leaving the hot zone and entering uncontaminated areas in full protective clothing that would have been covered in oil.
Another council concern had to do with staffing levels. Alyeska had a fishing vessel exercise scheduled in Cordova the same day as the “unannounced” drill. That exercise was canceled because it could have drawn Alyeska’s resources below the level needed to respond to the drill scenario. This suggests that, if a real spill should coincide with an Alyeska exercise, the company might have trouble responding promptly and effectively to the spill.
Overall, however, this drill went well. Lessons learned from the June 4 drill appeared to be implemented and there is now a procedure for planning and conducting unannounced drills.
The citizens’ council has recommended to the Alaska Department of Environment that it call an unannounced drill focusing on personnel availability and decontamination procedures.