The Council’s May 1-2, 2025 Board of Directors meeting will be held in-person at the Valdez Convention & Civic Center in Valdez, Alaska. The meeting will also be available virtually and telephonically for those unable to travel.
Join the meeting: Meeting audio and video, including presentations, will be available streaming online via Zoom (available starting May 1 by 8:15 a.m.) or by calling 1-888-788-0099, reference meeting ID 891 9616 4358.
A complete meeting packet will be available for download HERE, on or before April 25, 2025.
Dr. Richard Fineberg, expert on the economics and profits of the oil industry in Alaska, passed away in September 2024. Fineberg was a researcher and investigative journalist who focused on environmental issues related to petroleum development and oil economics in Alaska.
Fineberg conducted studies and wrote reports for many organizations, including the Council. In the 1990s and early 2000s, his research for the Council ranged from ballast water treatment to industry profits to how the oil industry is required to restore the land once the terminal and pipeline are no longer in use.
“Richard was meticulous in verifying the accuracy of his work,” said Donna Schantz, executive director for the Council. “His thoroughness and attention to detail made his contributions invaluable to the important discussions around these topics.”
According to the lease agreement between the Trans Alaska Pipeline System owners and the state and federal governments, industry is obligated to dismantle and remove all equipment and facilities and restore the land to a satisfactory condition. This includes all facilities at the Valdez Marine Terminal.
To pay for this cleanup, a tariff was imposed on oil flowing through the pipeline. Fineberg analyzed how much was collected by this complicated tariff, and whether enough would be available for its intended purpose when the pipeline eventually shuts down.
“Anyone who was fortunate enough to have worked with Richard knows that he was an exceptionally smart public servant who put in a tremendous amount of his time and energy into researching complex issues,” said Schantz. “His work helped improve safety of Alaska’s oil transportation industry.”
More on Fineberg’s work
Dr Fineberg had an extensive career that touched on many topics. Learn more:
The Council works to educate Exxon Valdez region youth about the environmentally safe operation of the Alyeska terminal and associated tankers. Working with area youth is vital to fight complacency that can arise if new generations of citizens are not continually reminded of the need for ongoing oil spill prevention.
To support this effort, the Council invites proposals for facilitating learning experiences with Exxon Valdez oil spill region youth. Youth in this case can include students from K-12 formal education, homeschool students, informal education programs, and either formal or informal college-level education. In the past, the PWSRCAC has also sponsored projects for teachers that benefit area youth.
Now accepting proposals
We are currently accepting proposals for projects taking place during the 2025-2026 school year.
Submittal Deadline: 11:59 p.m. on May 9, 2025 Award Announcement on or before July 31, 2025
Projects should result in better understanding of such topics as: citizens’ oversight, environmental impacts of the operation of the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company oil terminal in Valdez and the oil tankers that call there, oil spill prevention and response planning and operation, and/or other topics related to the Council’s mission.
Past and ongoing projects have included:
youth stewardship expeditions into the marine environment via sea kayak and other vessels
youth monitoring for aquatic invasive species
public oil spill science discovery labs
oil spill science and technology outreach
oil spill education website development
K-12 oil spill curriculum writing and testing
travel funding for youth presenting oil spill projects at conferences
oral history projects related to the Exxon Valdez oil spill
other marine stewardship programs for students with an oil spill connection
There are two deadlines each year to submit proposals for educational project funding. You may subscribe to our email list for new Requests for Proposals to receive notifications when these are issued by the Council.
Since its inception, the Council has placed a high value on keeping a historical record of documents related to the transportation of oil through Prince William Sound. This includes information that documents the background and rational for implementing many of the safeguards put in place based on lessons learned from the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Our archive today is home to over 36,000 files containing a wealth of information.
Many of these documents are scientific studies and technical reports sponsored by the Council, dating back to the early days of our existence. A great example are two studies conducted by Dr. Richard Fineberg in the early 2000s, one on the profits from the oil industry and another on how the industry plans to clean up its facilities after oil no longer flows through the pipeline.
Dr. Fineberg, who died in 2024, conducted studies for other organizations, and our internal document archives contain a record of many of them. A look through some of these is enlightening, such as his 1996 report titled “Pipeline in Peril – A Status Report on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.” This report was sponsored by the Alaska Forum for Environmental Responsibility, which is no longer in business, to look into reports from “concerned employees” that Alyeska had been cutting corners, putting employees and the environment at risk.
After the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the U.S. Congress found that complacency on the part of industry and government was a contributing factor to the incident. The writers of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 included a call for the creation of citizen councils to give citizens a voice in the decisions that can put their livelihoods, resources, and communities at risk.
Our organization is one of those councils. Our 2023 Garde report is a reminder that our mission and purpose are not only still relevant, but needed just as much if not more today. Fortunately, upon receiving the Garde report, Alyeska initiated a hard look at their safety culture, technical capacity, process and policy, as well as the safety concerns brought forward, and has taken actions to address many of the concerns.
Why is oversight important?
Walt Parker, former member of our Board, had a long history of involvement with the oil industry in Alaska. Among the many roles he served during his career, Parker was appointed chairman of the Alaska Oil Spill Commission that was created to investigate the causes of the Exxon Valdez spill. The Commission issued 52 recommendations to improve national, state, and oil industry policies, including one recommendation that called for the creation of our Council. In the forward to their final report, “Spill: The Wreck of the Exxon Valdez – Implications for Safe Transportation of Oil,” Parker described their efforts in the 1970s to design a system that would prevent spills from the soon-to-be oil transportation facility.
Parker wrote that the 1989 spill “could have been prevented if the vigilance that accompanied construction of the pipeline in the 1970s had been continued in the 1980s.”
Instead, as the commission discovered, by 1989, complacency and cost-cutting had returned, leading to disaster.
Fighting complacency
The Council was created, in part, in anticipation of a time when memories of the Exxon Valdez oil spill begin to fade. When there is no one left who can recall the smell of the oil, the sight of suffering wildlife, the feel of anger and despair because livelihoods may have been destroyed, it is more likely that protections may begin to appear stale, burdensome, and unnecessary.
The fact that there has not been another major oil spill in our region since 1989 is a testament to the safeguards put in place following that disaster. These safeguards are built on many lessons learned over time; historical knowledge that is key to maintaining our present system of prevention and preparedness. It is critical that industry, government, and citizen leaders remain cognizant of that history. The Council will always advocate for maintaining and improving our current systems, as well as staying vigilant against measures that could allow complacency to weaken existing protections.
