Month: April 2021

Repairs to Prince William Sound’s radar in the works

Coast Guard planning long-term project to replace entire system Radar that helps the U.S. Coast Guard monitor vessels in Port Valdez is undergoing repairs. This radar is part of the Coast Guard’s Vessel Traffic Service, or VTS, which monitors and manages vessel traffic movements in busy waterways such as Prince William Sound. Three radar sites … Read more

Escort tug Courageous damages the tanker Polar Endeavour in January incident

Just before midnight on January 11, the escort tug Courageous allided with the tanker Polar Endeavour, which had just finished loading crude oil at Berth 4 at the Valdez Marine Terminal. An “allision” occurs when a moving vessel comes in contact with a stationary object or vessel. A “collision” occurs when both objects or vessels … Read more

Sale of BP’s Alaska assets approved

Please note that this is corrected pie chart. A previous version showed ExxonMobil’s ownership at approximately 30% and ConocoPhillips at 21%.

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska has issued a final approval in the sale of BP’s Alaska assets to Hilcorp Energy Company and their affiliate, Harvest Alaska.

This purchase includes the transfer of the largest percentage of ownership of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System to Hilcorp Energy and their affiliate, Harvest Alaska.

The sale has been controversial. In March of 2020, the Regulatory Commission of Alaska issued an order approving the company’s request to keep their financial documents confidential. That order generated extensive public comments from Alaskans, including the Council.

One of the commissioners, Stephen McAlpine, dissented in that March order. He noted that he believed “airing these documents publicly and subjecting the entire transaction to intense debate far outweighs the petitioners’ interest in keeping them confidential.”

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How has subsistence harvest changed over time in the Exxon Valdez oil spill region?

Image of the word subsistence, which is defined in the image caption.
A way of life that includes the harvest and use of wild resources for food, raw materials, and other traditional uses. Subsistence has been a central part of the customs and traditions of many cultural groups in Alaska for centuries. Download the report: Recovery Of A Subsistence Way Of Life (PDF) or the report summary: Study Overview – Recovery Of A Subsistence Way Of Life (PDF)

The Exxon Valdez oil spill changed the harvest and use of wild resources in Southcentral Alaska. Various anecdotal reasons such as concerns about oil contamination meant folks were hesitant to use these traditional resources.

The Council recently partnered with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Division of Subsistence to study and document why and how the spill affected subsistence harvesting activities, both immediately after the spill and in the years since.

Fish and Game researchers analyzed data collected from the communities of Cordova, Chenega, Tatitlek, Port Graham, and Nanwalek from 1984 to 2014.

That data confirmed that harvesting decreased during the first few years after the spill, but numbers started recovering around two to three years after the spill. Overall, the rates increased steadily through the 1990s and into the 2000s. By 2014, however, two important facts became apparent.

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