Area recreation enthusiasts now have permanent, dedicated representation on the Council’s Board of Directors.
Jim Herbert
The newly-formed Oil Spill Region Recreational Coalition was added to the Council’s roster of member entities at the January meeting. Jim Herbert was chosen by the coalition as its representative.
Herbert had been serving as a temporary recreation representative for the past year while the while the council solicited interest from recreational organizations to potentially fill the seat. Herbert previously represented the City of Seward from 2013 to 2015. He is also the current chair of the Council’s Oil Spill Prevention and Response Committee.
The new coalition’s mission is to assist the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council in promoting environmentally safe operation of the Alyeska Pipeline Terminal and associated tankers in a manner that will protect the natural recreational resources of Prince William Sound and other areas affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
The three founding members of the coalition are the Prince William Sound Stewardship Foundation, the Valdez Adventure Alliance, and the Friends of Kachemak Bay State Park. The group welcomes other organizations who promote recreation in the Exxon Valdez oil spill region.
The Prince William Sound Stewardship Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to keeping Prince William Sound healthy, clean and wild, for all to enjoy. Visit them online at: www.princewilliamsound.org
The Valdez Adventure Alliance seeks to improve quality of life through equitable access to outdoor recreation resources, education, and events. Visit them online at: www.valdezadventurealliance.com
The Friends of Kachemak Bay State Park promotes the enhancement, preservation and protection of the natural recreational, scientific and historical resources of Kachemak Bay State Park. Visit them online at: www.friendsofkachemakbay.org
This article has been edited to correct the mission of the coalition.
Alyeska’s newest oil spill response barge, the OSRB-5, alongside the Elrington, one of the escort tugs in SERVS’ fleet. Photo courtesy of Alyeska.
The shine has yet to dim on Alyeska Pipeline Service Company’s newest on-water powerhouse; the OSRB-5 joined the Ship Escort Response Vessel System, or SERVS, fleet in 2023 and is still impressing its crews with its modern and state-of-the-art technologies.
“This barge is another exciting advancement in an already world-class fleet,” said Larry Miles, SERVS marine superintendent. “She’s an investment – though hopefully never needed – in keeping Prince William Sound safe for years to come.”
SERVS was created after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, to prevent oil spills and provide oil spill preparedness and response capabilities for Alyeska and the marine shipping companies who operate the tankers that call at the Valdez Marine Terminal. Working closely with the U.S. Coast Guard, SERVS personnel monitor vessel traffic so tankers can safely travel through the Sound and coordinate a fleet of purpose-built vessels and response equipment.
The OSRB-5 replaced the Mineral Creek, a 40-year-old lightering barge, usually stationed at Naked Island in mid-Prince William Sound.
The OSRB-5 was built by Gunderson shipyard in Portland, Oregon. At 400 feet long and 96 feet wide, it shares much of the same design and equipment as other barges, with key differences that make it unique and amplify its versatility.
As a lightering barge, its primary purpose is to remove cargo from a tanker in peril; it has large fenders to protect both vessels when alongside each other. The OSRB-5 also has state-of-the-art Crucial disk skimming capabilities for open water operations. It offloads mini barges used by fishing vessels to collect oil near shorelines.
After learning from the other OSRBs for the last five years, SERVS crews requested a specific paint along the deck where boom is managed. The first OSRBs had non-skid paint that impacted the boom.
The OSRB-5 features an extra generator and hydraulic power unit to run the mini barge offloading station and the deluge pump for snow removal was upgraded to a deep well pump.
Alyeska’s ongoing commitments to Prince William Sound meet the requirements and expectations of its contingency plan, to be ready and prepared to protect the Sound, its waters, and shorelines from impacts of incidents related to oil transport. It’s the singular focus of the crew at SERVS – a tight-knit team personally invested in the health and vibrancy of the region.
Of all the advances made in the safe transportation of oil since the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, perhaps the most innovative and significant was the establishment of permanent, industry-funded citizen oversight for both Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound. While the citizen advisory groups established in Alaska after the spill were modeled after the advisory committee set up for the Sullom Voe Terminal in the Shetland Islands, throughout the world, most oil development still takes place without citizen involvement. In Prince William Sound, many of the safety improvements now in place are a direct result of partnerships between industry, regulators, and citizens.
March 24, 2024, will mark 35 years since the Exxon Valdez disaster. This year will also mark 34 years since the formation and incorporation of PWSRCAC. The Council recently reconnected with several of our founding members to discuss why they think our organization is still relevant today, with quotes from those conversations featured in our most recent “Year In Review” report.
All of the early Council Board and committee members witnessed firsthand the devastating effects of the oil spill. Some of them are still volunteering for the Council more than a quarter of a century later. These experiences played a big part in the passion and drive of all parties to put systems in place designed to prevent another accident, and to make sure there are adequate trained personnel, and enough equipment available, to respond immediately should prevention measures fail and another spill occurs.
The oil spill contingency plan for the Valdez Marine Terminal is undergoing its five year renewal. During a public comment period in December, the Council voiced concern over a “prevention credit” that reduces the amount of oil that the industry must be ready to clean up if a spill were to occur.
One of the Council’s primary duties is reviewing spill contingency plans for the oil industry in Prince William Sound. The Council has been reviewing these plans since 1990.
“Over 30 volunteers, staff, and contractors spent hours reviewing documents and coordinating these comments,” noted Linda Swiss, the Council’s project manager for contingency planning. The three volumes that make up the oil spill contingency plan for the Valdez Marine Terminal contain over 1,000 pages in total.
What’s in a contingency plan?
Oil spill contingency plans contain details about the steps to be taken before, during, and after an oil spill.
Before: what’s being done to prevent an oil spill
During: how the industry will respond to an oil spill, including where the equipment and personnel would come from
After: plans are updated to reflect lessons learned from previous spills
“These plans are a good way for stakeholders to understand how their resources and livelihoods are protected,” Swiss says.
Oil spill contingency plans are prepared by the operators of Alyeska’s marine terminal and oil tankers and are subject to state approval.
There are separate plans for spills from the Valdez Marine Terminal and from the tankers that load crude oil at the terminal. Plans undergo an update, review, and approval process approximately every five years.
Liners under crude oil storage tanks still of concern
The crude oil storage tanks at the Valdez Marine Terminal are surrounded by massive asphalt-lined cells that are designed to contain oil in case of a spill from a tank. The cell walls can be seen in this photo. Photo by Linda Robinson.
One of the central issues the Council is concerned about is an asphalt liner surrounding the large oil storage tanks.
Each tank holds approximately 23 million gallons of oil. If a tank were to leak oil, the liners act as a backup system that is supposed to contain the oil until it can be cleaned up and before it can contaminate ground water or Port Valdez. The backup or “secondary containment” system consists of a huge bowl-shaped area around the tank. The area is lined with asphalt, which is buried under several feet of gravel.
Why does the Council care about this liner?
The Exxon Valdez oil spill taught the lesson that a certain amount of equipment and trained personnel must be on hand to respond quickly.
The amount of response equipment and personnel varies according to the storage capacity. At the terminal, this is based on the maximum amount one of the oil storage tanks can hold, which is approximately 23 million gallons.
Alyeska receives a 60% “prevention credit” for various prevention measures. Most of that 60% is for having the asphalt liner around the tanks. This means they plan for a spill of 40% of the total volume of one tank, which is 8.5 million gallons. If more than 8.5 million gallons is spilled, they would still be responsible for cleaning it up, however, more equipment would be needed than is currently listed in the plan.
Is the liner still intact?
This liner was installed when the terminal was built and is approaching 50 years old. From time to time, sections of the gravel layer over the liner have been removed when work is done for other projects. When this is done, cracks and holes are often found in the liner.
“There are crude oil storage tanks holding half a million barrels of oil sitting on a steep slope above Port Valdez within a secondary containment system with known integrity issues,” the Council noted in their comments.
Testing the liner
Because the liner is buried under gravel, it is expensive and time-consuming to dig it up for a visual examination. Excavation could also damage the liner. In 2022, the Council conducted a study of methods to evaluate the liner without removing the gravel. Alyeska is planning to conduct a pilot test this summer using an approach similar to the method recommended in that report.
What is a prevention credit? Spilled oil can never be completely recovered, so regulations are designed to encourage companies to prevent spills from happening in the first place. One way to do this is to give “credit” for prioritizing spill prevention.
In Alaska, the amount of equipment and personnel that an oil company must keep on hand to respond to a spill depends on the potential size of a spill. If a company takes actions to prevent or reduce the risks of a spill, they can qualify for such a credit. This allows the company to keep less equipment and personnel on hand to respond, because a spill is less likely.
Additional issues
The Council noted several issues aside from the liner, including:
The length of time between internal inspections of the storage tanks.
A lack of detail about the training to prevent oil spills.
Documents containing plan information that were not made available as part of the public review.
