The Observer, May 2008
State to scrutinize oil-facility risk
How public will participate is still to be determined:
Alyeska Pipeline’s Valdez tanker terminal and other Alaska facilities that handle natural gas and crude oil will come under the regulatory microscope when a state-chartered risk assessment study starts this summer.
As the Observer went to press, the state Department of Environmental Conservation was still reviewing proposals from contractors interested in conducting the two-year study, budgeted at $4.1 million.
The state’s request for proposals cites recent leaks and corrosion problems in the North Slope oil fields as reasons for launching the project, and says the study’s goals are both environmental and economic: “The infrastructure must be maintained to protect Alaska’s environment and to ensure uninterrupted oil and gas production and revenue flow.”
The study will “identify those infrastructure items, components, systems, and hazards that demonstrate the greatest probability for a failure which would lead to negative impacts to overall safety, the environment, or reliability,” the proposal request says.
The study will not cover oil tanker operations in Prince William Sound or Cook Inlet, nor will it address risks of terrorism or sabotage.
The citizens’ council is charged by its funding contract with Alyeska and by federal law with overseeing operations at the Valdez terminal, though the council’s purview does not extend to the trans-Alaska pipeline or production facilities on the North Slope.
The state will require the winning contractor to establish a process for participation by groups like the citizens’ council, as well as by the general public. What that process will be, however, isn’t specified in the proposal request and won’t be known until a contractor is chosen, according to Betty Schorr, a program manager in the state Division of Spill Prevention and Response.
“We’re not sure how it will work,” said John Devens, executive director of the citizens’ council. “But we’ll certainly be involved. We support any process that will produce useful information about the safety of a critical facility like Valdez tanker terminal and we feel like we will have some valuable input to offer the contractor.”
For more information about the risk assessment, visit DEC's Web site.