The Observer, January, 2009

Community events mark anniversary

March 24, 2009, is the twentieth anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. To commemorate it, the council is sponsoring multiple events connecting several communities affected by the spill. Each community will be able to gather and watch the presentations, ask questions, and perhaps pull in people who were present during the spill to talk about how things have changed in twenty years.

One of the presentations will be a panel discussion featuring a reunion of the Alaska Sea Grant Legal Research Team, which was formed in 1989 to study how the state of Alaska might improve its oversight of oil transport. The team’s legal analysis was provided to the Alaska Oil Spill Commission, which used the information in its 1990 report to Governor Steve Cowper. The commission’s report subsequently helped guide the Alaska Legislature in reforming Alaska’s rules governing the marine transport of crude oil and other hazardous substances.

Walter Parker, who was director of the state oil spill commission, will lead the March 24 panel discussion. Panelists will recount the role of the oil-spill commission, review Alaska’s pre-Exxon Valdez regulatory system and how it changed with the help of Alaska Sea Grant’s research, and discuss what might be done today to further improve the system. Three of the four members of the Alaska Sea Grant legal team will participate. They include Zygmunt Plater, professor of environmental law at the Boston College School of Law; Harry Bader, former University of Alaska Fairbanks professor of natural resource policy and Alaska Department of Natural Resources official; and Alison Rieser, emeritus professor of law, University of Maine School of Law, now associated with the Public Policy Center at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Others may participate as well.

Another panel is the Partners in Prevention and Response Panel, also at the Dena’ina Center on March 24. It tentatively includes Tim Plummer, president, Tesoro Maritime Co.; Anil Mathur, CEO, Alaska Tanker Co.; Greg Jones, vice president operations, Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.; John Devens, executive director, Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council; and a Coast Guard representative. The moderator will be Anchorage attorney Bill Walker. The panel will discuss prevention and response improvements that have been made since the 1989 spill and how recommendations by the Alaska Sea Grant Legal Research Team have been addressed.

Also on March 24, Cordova will host a panel of scientists to discuss herring restoration, and Kenai will have a presentation by the Cook Inlet Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council at the Challenger Learning Center.

Homer will host two art shows opening on March 24. The first, at the Pratt Museum, is “Reflections of a Spill: 20 Years Later.” It will be followed by an exhibit sponsored by the Prince William Sound citizens’ council—“Spill,” at the Bunnell Street Arts Center.

A book signing for the council’s Oral History will be held in Kodiak, and the Kodiak Audubon Society and the Friends of the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge plan to sponsor an event featuring Dr. Stanley (Jeep) Rice of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This event will include a photo display, “Images of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill on Kodiak Island,” and a reception with music by the Kodiak folk group Waterbound.

Barnes and Noble in Anchorage will feature a group of related books for the month of March.

Please check our website, www.pwsrcac.org, for updates and additions to the schedule of events.

In November, the council’s information booth traveled to the Alaska Municipal League conference in Ketchikan, the annual meeting of the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry in Tampa Bay Florida, and Pacific Marine Expo In Seattle. Thanks to Pete and Marilynn Heddell, John French, Patience Andersen Faulkner, Blake Johnson, and Jacquelyn Olsen for helping out at these events.

Upcoming 2009 events include the Alaska Forum on the Environment, February 2-6, 2009, at the Egan Center and the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage; the Alaska Wilderness, Recreation and Tourism conference scheduled for March 4-6 in Girdwood; and the Kachemak Bay Science Conference, March 6-7 in Homer.

Happy New Year!

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