Project Manager
Joe Banta

907.273.6222
3709 Spenard Rd., Ste. 100
Anchorage, AK 99503

 

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Long-term Environmental Monitoring Program (LTEMP)

Mussels-photo by Jim Payne Long-term environmental monitoring is necessary to identify physical and biological changes taking place in the northern Gulf of Alaska ecosystem. It is essential to distinguish between natural trends and human-caused changes in the environment. Establishing consistent baseline data is imperative to identifying and assessing trends over time. Baseline data is also needed for the accurate assessment of oil recovery in the event of a future spill. Long-term environmental monitoring also provides a context for more site-specific studies and research.

Since 1993, the council has monitored samples from mussels and sediments at 10 sites in Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska. The samples are monitored for the presence of petroleum hydrocarbons. Samples are collected in summer and late winter and results are presented in an annual report. This information provides a benchmark for assessing the ongoing impacts of routine tanker and terminal operations.

View map of Long-term environmental monitoring field sites.

Mussels were selected as the indicator species for LTEMP because they are:
• indicator species
• important subsistence food
• important prey of sea birds and sea otters
• commonly found throughout Prince William Sound and downstream habitats

By law, the Valdez Marine Terminal is allowed to discharge the equivalent of one barrel of oil each day into Port Valdez. The PWSRCAC works both to prevent accidental releases and to understand how long-term low inputs of crude oil impact the ecosystem. The environmental monitoring initiated by PWSRCAC in 1993 is the only long-term hydrocarbon monitoring in Prince William Sound and the northern Gulf of Alaska.

Results from PWSRCAC's studies indicate a variety of sources of hydrocarbons in Prince William Sound including the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989, operations at the Alyeska terminal, combustion sources, boating and shipping activities, normal oil seepage or coal deposits, biological processes, and atmospheric fallout. Generally, the hydrocarbon levels detected under LTEMP have been relatively low. The stations farthest from the Alyeska terminal show low hydrocarbon levels, while those closest to the terminal show higher levels. Concern over the hydrocarbon levels at the terminal prompted PWSRCAC to add an additional sampling effort at the two Port Valdez stations in the fall of each year.

LTEMP results are summarized in a year-end report and periodically peer reviewed. The program underwent a full data analysis and summary in 1998. Results from a 2000 review of the two Port Valdez monitoring sites suggest that Alaska North Slope crude oil residues from the terminal's ballast water treatment facility have accumulated in the port’s intertidal mussels.

A reduced sampling frequency for LTEMP began in FY2010, as provided for in a new sampling plan accepted by the Board at its January 2009 meeting following a full programmatic review begun in 2007. The new sampling plan requires one sampling session per year at the two Port Valdez sites and the Knowles Head site. Then, every fifth year all 10 sites will be sampled.


Importance of Adequate Baseline Data

The Cook Inlet Regional Citizens' Advisory Council has its own environmental monitoring program, similar in scope to LTEMP. Together, the data produced by the two programs provide some of the only multi-year data for coastlines downstream from the most industrialized and populated areas in Alaska.

The growth in commercial and recreational use of the northern Gulf of Alaska increases the complexity of determining adequate baseline data. Prince William Sound's sensitive coastal marine environments are experiencing increased pressures on what is already intense use. Evidence of this increase in pressure can be found in the growing numbers of large and small passenger cruise ship traffic, the extension of the longevity of the trans-Alaska pipeline and its shipping activity, the Whittier road access that is adding to the increase in numbers of visitors to Prince William Sound, state oil and gas lease sales, new ports, increases in recreational uses, and demands for new access to fishing sites.

Reports and Data

Please contact Joe Banta for report copies and more information.

Data

PWSRCAC Long-term (oil) Monitoring Program data from mussel tissues, intertidal and subtidal sediments from fixed monitoring sites in Prince William Sound, outer Kenai coast and Kodiak, Alaska. 1993-2009:

LTEMP Data Sets metadata and Data Set (Excel spreadsheet/3.12MB-Please save a copy to your desktop for viewing.)

Annual Long Term Environmental Monitoring Program Reports
Other Reports


Links to Related Sites

Alaska Biological Science Center

Alaska Center for the Environment, list of environmental organizations in Alaska

Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation

Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Alaska Department of Natural Resources

Alyeska Pipeline Service Company

Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council

Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service - Spill Response

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service - Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Prince William Sound Science Center

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alaska district

U.S. Coast Guard

U.S. Department of Agriculture, National plants database

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. Forest Service, Chugach National Forest

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 7

U.S. Geological Survey - Water Resources, Alaska

U.S. National Park Service

University of Alaska Anchorage - Environment and Natural Resources Institute, Alaska State Climate Center

University of Alaska Fairbanks, Institute of Marine Science

 

LTEMP Field Site Photos

All photos are by Lisa Ka’aihue unless otherwise noted.

A contractor gathers mussel samples at Sleepy Bay.

Sampling a beach from a float plane. Rapid access to more distant locations reduces the expense of navigating and sampling from a slower vessel.

One of the two Port Valdez sampling stations is located adjacent to one of the tanker berths at Alyeska Marine Terminal. Photo courtesy of Jim Payne.

As the mussels individually filter water through their gills and feeding organs, their bodies also absorb any water-borne hydrocarbons.

At some locales, beneath the clean surface of the beach, residual layers of oil still remain from the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill. When tides and storms churn the beach, nearby mussels may receive an additional dose of petroleum hydrocarbons. This photo was taken on Disk Island in 1999. Photo courtesy of Kinnetic Laboratories, Inc.

Sediment sampling is only done at the two Port Valdez sites. Deep water sediments are collected using this Van Veen grab sampler. The grab sampler descends to the bottom with its jaws cocked open. Contact with the bottom releases the jaws to scoop a sample of the soft sediments. Hinged doors cover the top of the sample to prevent the surface sediment from being washed away during the ascent. Photo courtesy of Jim Payne.

 

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