The council’s annual report is now online. Take a look back at all the major activities of the council for the past year, issues in oil spill prevention and response, dual escort legislation, geographic response strategies, outreach, and much, much more.
News & Announcements
Reliability Centered Maintenance at the Valdez Marine Terminal
As part of the right-of-way renewal of the grant and lease for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), the Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) paradigm was used as the basis for assuring a thirty-year remaining lifetime for TAPS. Without a strong maintenance program for all of its assets, there can be no guarantee that the life of the assets will be 30 years or in accord with the assumptions underpinning the decision to renew the grant and lease for another thirty years. In 2004, The Joint Pipeline Office (JPO) found that Alyeska had deferred considerable amounts of maintenance that were required by regulations perhaps in anticipation of replacing assets in accordance with Alyeska’s Strategic Reconfiguration. Now that the Strategic Reconfiguration for the VMT is essentially dead, it is important that all maintenance deferred pending a successful Strategic Reconfiguration be completed according to the schedule required by regulation.
This project seeks to verify that the maintenance required of each facility and subsystem at the VMT of concern to PWSRCAC has been identified by means of an RCM process. Additionally, this project seeks to verify that maintenance of VMT facilities is being accomplished in accordance with the dictates of the RCM reports produced for each of the VMT’s facilities and subsystems.
Reports:
Valdez Marine Terminal Maintenance Assessment Advisory Audit – 2011
Review of the Valdez Marine Terminal Maintenance Program – 2007
September 15 & 16 Board Meeting in Kenai.
The Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council’s board of directors met September 15 & 16 at the Challenger Learning Center in Kenai, Alaska.
Changes to escort system legislation in 2010: Two-tug escorts preserved in legislation
The Oil Pollution Act of 1990, when first enacted, required that all single-hull oil-laden tankers departing Prince William Sound be escorted by two tugs. In addition, the act included requirements that the industry begin a transition to double-hull tankers.
Over the years, the council became concerned that once this transition was complete, the existing requirements would not extend to these newer vessels and the system could legally be reduced or come to an end.
In concert with its many industry, agency and legislative partners, the council worked to make the two tug escort requirement a permanent part of the oil transportation system in Prince William Sound.
In 2010, an amendment to 1990’s Oil Pollution Act was included in the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010.
Excerpt of amendment: ”…The requirement … relating to single hulled tankers in Prince William Sound, Alaska, … being escorted by at least 2 towing vessels or other vessels considered to be appropriate … shall apply to double hulled tankers over 5,000 gross tons transporting oil in bulk in Prince William Sound, Alaska.”
Signed into law by President Barack Obama on October 15, 2010, the two tug escort system has now been preserved.
The Imperative to Maintain the Currently Utilized Dual Escort Vessel Marine Safety System for Double-Hulled Oil Laden Tankers in Prince William Sound, Alaska:
In 2009, the council produced this briefing booklet to support the legislative process to preserve tanker escorts: