The Observer Newsletter

The latest news about the safe transportation of oil in Prince William Sound

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The Council’s publication, The Observer, is a free newsletter distributed throughout Prince William Sound, the northern Gulf of Alaska, lower Cook Inlet, and the Kodiak archipelago, as well as by request to interested citizens around the world, including regulators and industry.

The Observer covers the Council’s activities, developments in the oil transportation industry in Prince William Sound, including news about policies, regulations, operations at the Valdez Marine Terminal, oil spill prevention and response, effects of the oil industry on the environment, and other issues related to the safe transportation or oil through Prince William Sound. Major oil spill drills are covered, and Alyeska is invited to submit a column for each issue.

The latest articles from the Observer newsletter:

July 15, 2025

Responders perform well overall in drills in 2024

Many of the drills and exercises conducted by the industry last year went well, according to the latest drill summary ...

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July 11, 2025

GAO report looks at Joint Pipeline Office

A new report from the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, examines the current status of the Joint Pipeline Office, or ...

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July 8, 2025

Study estimates emissions from 2022 incident

A new Council report contains an estimate of crude oil vapors emitted during an incident at the Valdez Marine Terminal ...

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July 8, 2025

Pilot test evaluates testing methods for buried liners

How do you detect damage underground? The Council, Alyeska, and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, or ADEC, have been ...

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July 7, 2025

Two years later: Has safety at Alyeska improved?

Alyeska’s response yields many improvements although concerns remain A 2023 Council report identified some serious safety risks at Alyeska’s Valdez ...

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July 7, 2025

Preventing oil spills requires strong safeguards, oversight, and information

I was reminded recently that when the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, or OPA 90, was voted on by Congress ...

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More articles

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Observer Archives

If you are looking for an article from a previous edition of The Observer:

1. 1. Individual articles written since 2013 are available in the Observer Article Archive.
   2. Articles 2012 and older are available via the PDF archives below.