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What today’s oil tells us about tomorrow’s spill response

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Fishing vessels pull oil spill boom.

The Council has released a new analysis of Alaska North Slope crude oil. Every few years, the Prince William Sound tanker operators share a sample from the trans-Alaska pipeline with the Council. The sample is tested to determine the current mix of substances that make up the oil.

Why does Alaska North Slope crude oil differ over time?

The oil that runs through the trans-Alaska pipeline comes from a mixture of oil fields across the North Slope. Over the years, new pockets of oil have been discovered, while production in some older fields has declined. This leads to changes in the oil moving through the pipeline.

What are the differences?

Crude oils are generally categorized by weight: heavy, medium, or light. Heavy oils have mostly larger hydrocarbon molecules. In lighter oils, the molecules are smaller, having been further broken down by exposure to hotter temperatures and higher pressures in the earth’s crust.

Light oil is less dense, meaning a given volume weighs less than heavier oils, and less viscous, meaning it flows easily. Heavy oil is denser and more viscous. Medium weight oils contain a mix of heavier and lighter molecules.

At the refinery, these light and heavy components are separated so they can be used for different purposes. The lighter ends are made into products such as jet fuel and gasoline, while the heavier ends are used to pave roads and coat pipes, among other uses.

Alaska North Slope oil has been trending lighter since around 2010. Its properties are consistent with a medium weight oil.

Why do these differences matter to oil spill response?

Knowing the composition of oil tells emergency responders how the oil might behave if spilled. Responders can create better contingency plans and choose more appropriate cleanup techniques.

Lighter weight oils are easier to recover and clean up, and they tend to evaporate more readily. Heavier oils move slower, so they may not penetrate soils as quickly, but they are harder to skim and pump during cleanup.

What do the current oil properties tell us?

After receiving the recent sample, the Council had it analyzed by a laboratory and worked with Dr. Merv Fingas, a spill response subject matter expert, to interpret the data. In the report just released, Dr. Fingas identified changes in the oil properties and described what those changes might mean for oil spill responders.

Dr. Fingas concluded that the oil is relatively similar to the last sample he analyzed for the Council. However, he noted a few differences.

Less prone to emulsify: Dr. Fingas found that the current composition is less prone to form stable emulsions than older samples. An emulsion forms when droplets of one liquid are dispersed into another liquid. When oil is spilt into seawater, wind and waves churn the two liquids together. Usually, oil and water separate, however sometimes the mixture stabilizes and forms “mousse,” so named because it resembles chocolate mousse dessert. Mousse is difficult to recover and can greatly increase the volume of oil to clean up.

Less dispersible as the oil weathers: When fresh oil is spilled, it begins to change almost immediately. Lighter compounds start to evaporate when exposed to air and water, leaving behind the heavier components. Dr. Fingas notes that the current crude mix is less dispersible after weathering than previous samples.

Flows more readily: Dr. Fingas’ report also says that since the recent sample is lighter, it is less viscous. This means that the oil would be easier to collect and pump, however it would spread farther and faster than oil of the past.

More details in Dr. Fingas’ report: Review of the 2024 Alaska North Slope Oil Properties Relevant to Environmental Assessment and Prediction

New testing protocols lead to change in dispersant products

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The photo shows the underside of an airplane with piping that is designed to spray liquid dispersants onto an oil spill.
Spill responders stockpile dispersants in strategic locations so that they can be loaded onto a plane like this one, which is fitted with special equipment for spraying dispersants onto an oil spill.

The oil spill response industry is changing products used to disperse spilled oil. This change stemmed from new protocols put in place by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, for testing dispersants.

The EPA maintains a list of products that have gone through a testing process and met the established thresholds for listing.

The manufacturer of Corexit 9500A, the product that made up the stockpile in Alaska and elsewhere, recently discontinued manufacturer, sale, and regulatory support. Corexit 9500A will no longer be included on the EPA list after December 12, 2025.

The stockpile of dispersants in Alaska is maintained by the Marine Spill Response Corporation, or MSRC, a nationwide company that supports oil spill response incidents. They own and maintain stockpiles of equipment and trained response personnel that can be deployed across the U.S. Their warehouse in Anchorage is now home to about 60,000 gallons of a new product, Dasic EcoSafe OSD.

Makeup of new dispersant is unclear

According to its Safety Data Sheet, or SDS, Dasic EcoSafe contains four surfactants and two solvents.

Surfactants are substances that reduce the surface tension of a liquid, allowing it to spread more easily. For example, shampoo contains surfactants that remove oil from hair.

Solvents are substances, usually liquid, that can dissolve another substance. For example, water acts as a solvent in the digestive system, dissolving nutrients from food and delivering it into the bloodstream.

The SDS lists the same surfactants and solvents in Dasic EcoSafe as Corexit, however the amounts and ratios cannot be determined from public data.

There is not much publicly available data about the new dispersant other than the SDS. In addition, testing methods to determine toxicity have changed in recent years so comparisons to previous products is difficult.

The tests conducted to gain the EPA’s approval were done on oil from locations in the Lower 48. Crude oil varies according to where it came out of the earth. Properties such as viscosity (whether a liquid is thick and flows slowly, or thin and faster flowing) or density (how compact the substance is) affect how the oil reacts with dispersants. Crude oil in the Lower 48 tends to be lighter and faster flowing than North Slope oil.

Plan for Corexit stockpile yet to be determined

The MSRC is considering several options for disposal of the existing Anchorage stockpile and expects to have a plan sometime in 2026.

Council co-hosts community workshop with local partners

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Since 1999, the Chugach Regional Resources Commission, or CRRC, has been hosting the Annual Subsistence Memorial Gathering. This event, held near the anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, honors the resilience and adaptation of the people of the Chugach region after the disaster.

This year, the Council partnered with CRRC and Alaska Sea Grant to host a workshop during the Gathering to share with community members about current environmental and social science research in the Chugach region. An important goal was to hear ideas from community members about current and future project needs based on their experiences and local knowledge. In addition to the co-hosts, researchers from Alaska Pacific University, Seldovia Village Tribe, Fjord & Fish Sciences, Prince William Sound Science Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Kodiak Area Native Association, CRRC, and Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve shared brief updates about their work. During morning and afternoon sessions, participants gathered in roundtable discussions. They were encouraged to consider how the research presented could be integrated into communities; what environmental or social science was needed in communities; ways to promote better community well-being through resilience and adaptation; and to share stories of change in the region.

Lessons from listening

Graphic with a quote from a scientist that attended The Gathering: "“Scientists need to be reminded (including me) to make their presentations understandable for the non-scientist.”One of the Council’s goals was to learn about research needs from community members. Discussion questions were designed to encourage stories about changes in their local environment. The Council hopes to be able to develop future projects in collaboration with communities based on this feedback and knowledge sharing.

A variety of key themes and lessons emerged from the conversations.

Communities encourage research that directly addresses local needs. People want to know more about what is happening in their environment and why. Many attendees told stories of how shifting seasons and climate change are affecting harvests of land and marine plants and animals. The variety of species available for harvest is also declining in some areas. Locally important species such as clams, herring, and salmon were of particular interest, and people also wanted to know how the health of plankton populations affects the rest of the food web.

Communication is key. Researchers tend to talk about their work in technical language and present their work in complicated spreadsheets filled with specialized data. These are not easy for non-scientists to understand or apply to their lives. The conversations during the workshop showed that people were interested in the research and wanted to know how to learn about these projects. Plain language and visual graphics can help improve communication.

Local knowledge holds important insight. Two-way communication also benefits researchers. People living in coastal communities notice changes before anyone else. They are the first to notice poor fishing, changes in harvestable species, and other factors that directly affect coastal communities and local ways of living. Listening to communities’ questions and observations can help shape the development and execution of research projects.

Keep showing up. Consistency is important in building relationships. Community members stressed the value of researchers returning to share project results and engaging youth in outreach and education as projects unfold.

More details in the report

The full report contains many more details, including ideas for projects and additional suggestions for building relationships with communities: 23rd Annual Subsistence Memorial Gathering Workshop

Increased oil production must be matched with effective oversight

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Board President Robert Archibald and Executive Director Donna Schantz

The Council’s mandates were created after the Exxon Valdez oil spill: prevent the return of the complacency that led to that disaster; advocate for oil spill prevention and strong response capabilities in case prevention measures fail; minimize environmental impacts of terminal facilities and associated tankers; and promote partnerships that build trust between citizens, industry, and regulators. Our volunteers and staff log countless hours toward these goals.

While the Council continues to carry out its work, we are facing escalating threats to many safety measures enacted in direct response to lessons learned. This includes a significant diminishment of staffing and resources at most of the regulatory agencies that oversee safety for the terminal.

We continue to follow up on issues covered by our 2023 report, “Assessment of Risks and Safety Culture at Alyeska’s Valdez Marine Terminal,” by Billie Pirner Garde. That report noted these reductions, among other safety concerns. The subsequent report from the Government Accountability Office, released in 2025, warrants additional scrutiny and advocacy.

More details on these reports: GAO report looks at Joint Pipeline Office

Our concerns in these areas are only increasing as cuts to personnel, resources, and budgets have escalated at both the federal and state level. We are concerned whether critical safety oversight is adequate to prevent another catastrophic accident and devastating oil spill. We are concerned that the complacency that played a part in the spill is returning.

In addition, Alyeska has announced a reorganization that will reduce its workforce by 60 positions system-wide, or 8%, by January 2026. A reduction in staffing is concerning on many levels, including that Alyeska deferred development of a human factors program that was planned in response to our 2023 report noted earlier, citing a lack of staffing and resources.

Studies have shown that business reorganizations and staffing reductions have been directly linked to an increased risk of accidents and negative health outcomes for employees across all industries. This results from psychological strain on employees, loss of expertise, and operational changes that compromise safety protocols. It is unclear how Alyeska’s reorganization will impact workloads including development of their pending human factors program during a time when the risk of human-caused accidents could rise.

After years of advocating for increased staffing and resources for the agencies that oversee safety for oil spill prevention and response systems, we are now faced with these agencies being asked to do more with even less. This combination seems to be setting the stage for a dangerous path at a time when oil production is expanding in Alaska.

The Council is a voice for citizens – those who have the most to lose from a major oil spill. We provide those in our region with a platform to stand up for safety and push back on complacency at the highest levels. While we strive to understand the impacts of all these changes, we must remember why we were created: to hold the line to maintain the safest spill prevention and response system possible.

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