Thirty years ago, a new Council program was just getting underway. The assignment for the new Long-Term Environmental Monitoring Program was to identify adverse impacts of the oil industry on the ecosystems in Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska. Just a few years prior, as a result of the devastating Exxon Valdez oil spill, the U.S. Congress had passed a law requiring such a monitoring program. The Council worked with researchers to…
By Alan Sorum Council Project Manager Some locations won’t work for Prince William Sound tankers A recent Council-sponsored study reviewed eight “potential places of refuge,” or PPOR, which are locations where an oil tanker in distress can anchor and take action to stabilize its condition. Of the eight reviewed in the study, none were found to be safe for use by tankers. However, several safe alternates were identified, analyzed, and proposed…
The Council’s board of directors held a meeting in Valdez on Thursday and Friday, May 4-5, 2017. Topics on the agenda included: Presentations regarding the change in Alyeska Pipeline Service Company’s marine services contract provider from Crowley Marine Services to Edison Chouest Offshore – set to take place July 1, 2018 – by Alyeska, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, the U.S. Coast Guard and the council. These…
The Coast Guard is using other technologies, such as the Automatic Identification System (AIS) pictured here, to monitor traffic while radar repairs are underway. 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…