The Observer, March 2005

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Council seeks better oil-spill planning for the ‘downstream’ areas

The citizens’ council has launched a drive to help improve the plans that will guide the response if another big crude-oil spill in the Sound should threaten the “downstream” communities on the Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak Island.

While existing oil-spill response plans go into great detail about what would be done inside Prince William Sound, they provide little specific information about how to respond outside it. This is despite the fact that oil from the Exxon Valdez spill, which serves as the model around which response strategies are constructed, traveled almost 500 miles from Bligh Reef, reaching points as distant as the western beaches of Kodiak Island and the eastern shoreline of the Alaska Peninsula.

To start the process, the council has produced a 23-page report on the problem, coupled with a 61-page draft plan for oil-spill response in the downstream communities.

“One of the lessons of the Exxon Valdez is that your response can’t be any better than your plan,” said John Devens, executive director of the council. “We need to be sure we have the plans in place that will guarantee a better response for our downstream communities than we had in 1989.”

The recent Selendang Ayu spill at Unalaska highlights the need to plan for protecting areas outside Prince William Sound. While the council’s draft plan is focused primarily on crude oil spills in the Sound, it could also help guide the response to spills of fuel oils, as was the case with the Selendang Ayu.

The council’s report and plan cover such issues as the timeline when oil might reach the downstream communities, as well as the personnel and equipment that would be needed for the response.

The report reviews what equipment is already available for downstream response, and finds the picture far from bleak. For the most part, the necessary equipment is available, with one significant exception: secondary storage. This refers to the large barges used to store oil recovered during skimming operations. During the Exxon Valdez response, the shortage of secondary storage limited how much of the spilled oil could be cleaned up.

The council hopes regulatory agencies such as the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Coast Guard will incorporate the draft plan into their contingency plans for Kodiak, the Kenai Peninsula, and Cook Inlet after further development with public input.

“This is a good plan from the council,” said Kodiak fisherman Al Burch. Burch is executive director of the Alaska Draggers Association and a member of the citizens’ council board of directors. “It should significantly increase protection for downstream communities like ours.”

The downstream response report and draft plan, along with contact information, are available on the council web site, www.pwsrcac.org.