News & Announcements

Shares of pipeline and terminal expected to change hands this year

Lack of public information about BP to Hilcorp sale leads to concerns

Late last year, Hilcorp Energy Company announced that they intend to purchase all of BP’s Alaska-related assets. These assets include approximately 49% interest of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System and Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.

Assuming the deal goes through, Hilcorp will take over BP’s facilities on Alaska’s North Slope and their affiliate Harvest Alaska LLC will take over BP’s share of the pipeline and terminal. Harvest’s specialty is “midstream” operations, which means moving oil from the production site to a destination such as a refinery or shipping terminal.

Harvest representatives have stated that their company has grown mostly through acquiring existing facilities and operating them through the end of the facility’s life. They have said that their experience with issues that occur in aging facilities, such as corrosion, would be a benefit for the pipeline and terminal, which is now over 40 years old.

Read more

Alaska’s oil spill laws and regulations opened for public review

Collage of four images showing Exxon Valdez oil from 1989, tangled oil spill boom from 1989, and a protesting fishing vessel, along with a 2019 photo of lingering oil in Prince William Sound.
This photo collage shows three scenes from the Exxon Valdez oil spill and one of Exxon Valdez oil in Prince William Sound in 2019.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation recently began a process to review and potentially change oil spill laws and regulations in Alaska. The department’s first step, a public scoping, opened on October 15, 2019.

The department is currently asking for input from stakeholders, the public, and industry on areas where Alaska’s oil discharge prevention and response contingency plan laws and regulations could be streamlined. In the department’s official announcement for this review process, Commissioner Jason Brune stated that “I’ve heard from many Alaskans that contingency plans are unnecessarily burdensome while lacking corresponding environmental benefits. To achieve Governor Dunleavy’s goal of being open for business, today we are beginning a fully transparent scoping process seeking the public’s input.”

Read more

Public statements by Commissioner Brune cause concern

The recent public scoping notice issued by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, along with statements made by the department’s commissioner, Jason Brune, have caused concern at the Council.

Some of the commissioner’s statements were interpreted as encouraging a reduction in regulations, safeguards that could lead to a return to the complacency that led to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Full statements

References to “burdensome” regulations

Last March, the commissioner spoke to Alaska’s Resource Development Council, an organization comprised of representatives from Alaska’s oil and gas, mining, timber, tourism, and fisheries industries. He told the group that he has been focusing on the word “economic” in the department’s mission: ‘Conserving, improving, and protecting Alaska’s natural resources and environment to enhance the health, safety, economic, and social well-being of Alaskans.’ He specifically requested comments from members of the business group regarding which regulations they view as “overly onerous” and “unnecessary.” “We need to make sure that we hear from you what we can do to help make Alaska open for business,” Brune told them.

Read more

Skip to content