The 2013 Marine Firefighting Symposium was held October 8-10 in Seward. Through partnerships with the Seward Fire Department and AVTEC – Alaska’s Institute of Technology, this year the symposium included live fire training for the first time.
Participants came from all parts of Alaska. The 39 participants and eight facilitators represented a mix of communities and industry. Attendance numbers were lower than previous symposiums due to several factors, including the federal government shutdown.
By MARK SWANSON
Executive Director of the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council
It’s time to publicly speak out about the importance of the Regional Stakeholders Committee process and its value in oil spill response.
The Regional Stakeholders Committee concept is a structured way to involve and engage those who may be affected in a spill response. The concept is a best practice for Alaska and for the entire United States.
The practice of engaging with stakeholders was one of the fundamental lessons learned during the Exxon Valdez oil spill. It is quite simply good public response policy.
That could change if revisions proposed to the state wide oil spill response plan are adopted. Those proposed changes abolish the current stakeholder committee structure and replace it with two newly named groups; one comprised of tribal and local governments and other affected stakeholders. The new process would mean marginally less access to, and significantly less information from, the federal response coordinators to both groups than is currently provided to the stakeholder committee.
According to the lead state and federal responders for the Kulluk grounding incident on Kodiak in January 2013, there were some significant frustrations with the committee process in that incident. National and international public and media interest in the incident was immediate and substantial. Senior state and federal responders have explained that this intense interest meant this daily access to the response leaders was problematic. As a result, there has been a call to re-think what the value of a regional stakeholders committee is and perhaps how it is managed.
Before changing a process that has historically worked well for Alaskans, it is important to re-visit what the committee is and perhaps also what it is not.
The stakeholder committee is not part of the Unified Command, which is the group that collectively directs spill response activities and is comprised of the person or company responsible for the incident, together with the lead federal and state spill responders. The committee does not get a vote in deciding operational objectives or managing the incident. Under current policy, regional stakeholders are simply afforded daily access to the Unified Command to voice their concerns, offer advice, local expertise, assistance, and to periodically get updated on the key concerns and incident response objectives.
The committee was not designed to be a back-door route to the Unified Command for the media, for incident response vendors, or for national or international organizations who might be inclined to use a particular Alaska incident to advance their own agenda.
The committee meets a unique need and a long standing commitment from our state officials by connecting local stakeholder communities to the incident managers. As such, it needs to be managed and supported jointly by the federal, state, and local response coordinators. These people all have ties to the local region and can most appropriately determine which stakeholder groups should be included in the committee for a given incident. They can manage and make any tough calls needed to exclude inappropriate participation.
Sometimes which entities need to be involved in the regional stakeholder’s committee process is obvious. For example, under current state and regional response policy, the council is named as a participant for incidents involving tankers and the Alyeska oil terminal. Other times, committee participation is not so cut and dried.
Following the frustrations of the regional stakeholder’s committee process in the Kulluk response, perhaps the management of that committee process simply needs to be refined and its purpose and participation better defined.
Another issue, closely related to these proposed changes is a mandate for state and federal responders to conduct outreach and consult with federally recognized tribes in a real and meaningful way. This mandate led to the creation of the tribal and local government sub group within the proposal. It is not understood how pulling these groups out of the stakeholder committee will enhance this consultation.
To avoid confusion, it is important to note the stakeholder committee process is neither the same as the tribal consultation process, nor does the committee process exactly match the response coordinators objective of keeping the general public informed about the incident response. The committee connects all affected stakeholder communities to the incident management team, in real time, during the response, with a two way communication process for the benefit of both parties.
As we go forward with updates to the state wide and regional oil spill contingency plans, it is important to remember that engaging the regional stakeholders in a spill response in an organized and well defined way is a best practice for Alaska and for the entire United States.
In the 2010 Gulf spill, without a comparable regional stakeholder engagement process, frustrations over local concerns not being addressed, or being under-acknowledged occasionally boiled over and resulted in accusations aimed at the Unified Command getting aired on national television.
In Alaska, many of the oil tanker operating companies have made significant investments and highly commendable commitments to constructively engage regional stakeholders in their preparatory spill response exercises over the past decades since the Exxon Valdez oil spill. We at the council appreciate that commitment and would like to ensure there is no reduction in stakeholder involvement or elimination of the Regional Stakeholders Committee role in the incident response plans for Alaska.
By TOM BARRETT
President of Alyeska Pipeline Service Company
Alaska lost a true champion in September with the passing of Stan Stephens of Valdez, a man whose passion for protecting Prince William Sound translated to every aspect of his life, a man I was fortunate to know and call a friend. Stan and I shared a relationship dating back many years, long before I became president of Alyeska Pipeline Service Company in 2011. His passing has prompted reflection across the state about his legacy and character. I want to share my thoughts on the life he led, and the legacy of stewardship and integrity he leaves in his wake.
Stan was a practical man and a sailor through and through, a straight-talker and storyteller whose character was defined by strength, patience and practicality. I viewed Stan as an advocate — never an adversary. Together, we believed positive and practical solutions could be reached. Our rapport dates back to my days as commander of the United States Coast Guard for Alaska, when Stan weighed in on environmental and safety issues. His prowess, acumen and knowledge reflected rich understanding of the unique ecosystem of Prince William Sound, and revealed his innate energy around protecting its waterways and shorelines.
Our paths also crossed with the formation of the council, an organization whose work is synonymous with Stan himself. He helped create the group and remained devoted for decades, active until he retired from its board of directors in 2012.
Stan had a sweeping impact on our industry. He dedicated thousands of hours to the council. A Legislative citation issued in 1995 called him a shining example of how “citizens can constructively influence decisions that affect their lives and communities.” Stan’s passion, hard work, and commitment exemplified how a single person can have a profound impact. In his steady and even way, Stan campaigned for vapor recovery systems for tanker loading berths and championed air quality improvements. He advocated for redundant systems to improve safety on the Terminal, and was a staunch supporter of improvements to oil spill prevention and response readiness.
He shared his connection to the Sound with thousands of strangers, shuttling visitors to some of the Sound’s most pristine, special places. He understood that Valdez’s distinction as the terminus for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System helped make the town successful, and demanded that a strong level of responsibility and care accompany that success. From our earliest to our final conversations — talks that took place across the breakfast table at the Totem Inn in Valdez, on decks of boats, and at his hospital bedside — Stan focused on protecting Prince William Sound. He believed in the compatibility of the missions of the council and Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, and in the importance of always continuing to improve the relationship between the two.
Stan kept a weather eye on the horizon. He mentored others, in particular a new generation of boat captains and citizen leaders. This exemplified his leadership — a belief that a captain is only as good as his crew. In our final meeting, just days before he died, Stan expressed high confidence in Amanda Bauer, whom he mentored closely and who is now president of the council’s board of directors, carrying on his legacy.
What I will remember most about our last visit in his office at the Valdez Boat Harbor, the port spread out behind it, the mountains rising up, is that we were reflective together, like sailors standing at the rail on a calm ocean.
Thank you for everything, Stan. Alaska will miss you.
The council recently hired Valdez resident Nelli Vanderburg to fill the vacant project manager assistant position. Vanderburg began working for the council in October 2013.
Vanderburg was born and raised in Valdez. She has a degree in English from Southern Oregon University and a degree in web design from Kaplan University. She moved to the Lower 48, but wound up coming back, because she says she missed the scenery and the waters of Prince William Sound.
She worked previously as a library assistant at the Valdez Consortium Library and as a board operator and all-around gopher at Valdez’s KVAK radio.
She now provides support to the council’s project managers and the Terminal Operations and Environmental Monitoring, Port Operations and Vessel Traffic System, Legislative Affairs, Board Governance and Long Range Planning committee volunteers and their projects.
Vanderburg took over the position left vacant by Anna Carey, who joined the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s staff in September.