News & Announcements

Notice to mariners! Drift buoy study taking place in Port Valdez

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Drift buoy

Mariners may see drift buoys labelled “PWSSC” around Port Valdez over the next few weeks. They are part of a study to measure flow patterns at various depths within the Port.

The study is funded by the council in collaboration with the Prince William Sound Science Center.

The dates the drifter buoys will be in the water are:

  • Release on September 21
  • Retrieval on September 30

Please do not pick up the buoys! They are being monitored via GPS and need to be allowed to drift where the current takes them. Buoys that run aground, appear to be in the path of tanker traffic, or that drift inside the exclusion zone around the terminal will be retrieved and re-released.

The buoys will have drogues attached that trail beneath them in the water, to depths of anywhere from one meter to 40 meters. Please be cautious when navigating around these drifter buoys.

Download flyer: Port Valdez Drift buoy study flyer

For more information, contact Jeremy Robida at 907-834-5040.

If you have a buoy-related emergency, call 907-834-5040 or 907-834-5000.

 

Marine services for Alyeska to change hands in 2018

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The tug Tanerliq tethered to the tanker Overseas Washington in 2002.
The tug Tanerliq tethered to the tanker Overseas Washington in 2002. Photo by Stan Jones.

Update: This article ran in the May issue of our newsletter, The Observer, stay tuned for updates in the next issue!

Crowley Marine Services, the contractor who provides oil spill prevention and response services to Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, will no longer provide those services after June 30, 2018.

Crowley has held this contract with Alyeska since the company created its Ship Escort/Response Vessel System, also known as SERVS, after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Crowley also provided tanker docking services since 1977, and helped dock the first tanker at the Valdez terminal.

Crowley owns the powerful tugboats that escort loaded oil tankers through Prince William Sound. The tugs also scout for ice drifting from nearby Columbia Glacier, and are equipped to start cleaning up a spill or tow a disabled tanker if needed. In addition to the escort tugs, Crowley owns response tugs that help the tankers dock and other support vessels and barges stationed in Prince William Sound which contain Alyeska’s boom, skimmers, and other equipment for a quick response to an oil spill.

Crowley employs 230 mariners and 17 administrative personnel in the area.

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Community Corner: A tour of the crown jewel of local oil spill response

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By Lisa Matlock
Outreach Coordinator

Lisa Matlock, center, poses with the Seward High School students and teachers in the bow of the Glacier Explorer.
Lisa Matlock, center, poses with the Seward High School students and teachers in the bow of the Glacier Explorer. Scroll down for more photos.

I was a Homer resident for five years. Each spring I watched a fleet of fishing boats carrying noisy, funny-looking machines and pulling long orange and yellow lines around in circles near the Spit. I can remember asking, “What are they doing out there?” The answer was always, “Oh, that’s just SERVS training.” I never learned more than that until my first year with the council when I had the opportunity to observe that training personally.

For two days, I participated in classroom training with a group of fishermen and other mariners about spill safety, oil spill tactics, wildlife protection, and Geographic Response Strategies for sensitive areas. I learned about different types of hydraulic power packs, skimmers, and oil containment boom.

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New plan for using dispersants in Alaska is in effect

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The Alaska Regional Response Team, or ARRT, established a new plan earlier this year for how oil spill dispersants, an alternative oil spill response option, would be used during an oil spill. The ARRT is a group of federal and state agencies that share responsibilities for managing oil and chemical spill responses in Alaska.

Mechanical response, such as booms and skimmers that actually remove oil from the water, is the priority response option by state and federal law.

The new plan was effective January 27, 2016, although parts of the plan will not go into effect until 2018.

Details of new plan

The new plan describes two different processes for dispersant use. Dispersants will be “preauthorized” in certain areas, and all other areas are “undesignated.”

A new “preauthorization area” will go into effect in 2018. This area extends from 24 nautical miles offshore out to 200 nautical miles offshore (approximately 27.6 to 230 miles), south of Alaska’s mainland through the Aleutian chain. The ARRT’s rationale is that preauthorizing, or deciding before an oil spill occurs where chemical dispersants are allowed, could speed up response time. In the preauthorized area, dispersants are considered to be approved by government agencies before an oil spill happens. Therefore, the U.S. Coast Guard, as federal on scene coordinator, can decide to apply dispersants to a crude oil spill. Areas farther than 200 nautical miles from shore are international waters, and are not part of this plan.

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