The Council’s Board of Directors met in Kenai on Thursday and Friday, September 19 and 20, 2019.
News & Announcements
Staff news: Long-time science manager retires
Joe Banta, project manager for the Council’s environmental monitoring program, retired this past April. In 1990, Banta was the first project manager hired for the Council, serving for almost 30 years.
In his early years at the Council, he managed oil spill planning projects for the Council’s Oil Spill Prevention and Response Committee. He later took a position working with the Scientific Advisory Committee, managing the Council’s long-term environmental monitoring program, and projects to study issues such as oil spill dispersants, the toxicity of crude oil, and the social effects of oil spills on communities.
Prior to joining the Council, Banta witnessed the Exxon Valdez oil spill first hand as a Cordova fisherman and helped with the spill response, rescuing oiled wildlife. Banta was called upon over the years to advise other communities about oil spills. After the BP Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, he visited that area, helping those dealing with the effects of the oil. That same year, he testified about how the Exxon spill affected him, his family, and his community to a U.S. Senate Committee who was looking into the effects of the BP disaster.
”Even though the faces changed over the years since the Council was formed, the one constant was Joe Banta,” said Donna Schantz, executive director for the Council. “Joe not only gave advice to the oil industry and regulators, he was a mentor to anyone seeking to learn about environmental stewardship. I had the pleasure of working with Joe for the past 20 years and he will be missed.”
Valdez project manager Love takes over science programs
Banta’s position has been filled by Valdez staff member Austin Love. Love has been the Council’s manager for projects related to operations at the Valdez Marine Terminal for the past five years, working closely with the Council’s Terminal Operations and Environmental Monitoring Committee. Love has a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of San Francisco and a Master of Environmental Science and Management from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
New project manager assistant in Anchorage
Hans Odegard has taken the position of project manager assistant, left vacant by Shawna Popovici. Odegard grew up in Eagle River, Alaska, and graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks with a degree in business administration. Hans has fished commercially out of Prince William Sound, worked in agriculture in Palmer, held various positions within the School of Management at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and worked as a social worker at Cook Inlet Tribal Council in Anchorage.
Homer representative elected president of Council
The Council held annual elections to choose its seven-member executive committee at the May meeting in Valdez.
Board passes resolution commending Douglas K. Mertz
Resolution 19-02:
Commending and Expressing Gratitude for Douglas K. Mertz’s Dedication
and Service to the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council and the State of Alaska
Whereas, Douglas K. Mertz launched his Alaska legal career in 1974 as Law Clerk to Hon. Jay A. Rabinowitz, Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court, quickly advancing to several Assistant Attorney General positions he held in Fairbanks and Juneau from 1975 to 1991, before entering private law practice in 1991;
Whereas, one of Doug Mertz’s primary areas of focus in over 45 years of legal practice in Alaska has been oil transportation and pollution issues;
Whereas, Doug Mertz was the State of Alaska’s primary counsel on spill matters and Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) regulation from 1977-1990;
Whereas, Doug Mertz represented the State for the Chevron v. Hammond case in the U.S. Court of Appeals, establishing that state oil spill penalties are not preempted by federal law;