Government Relations

State of Alaska’s oil spill prevention and response funding unsustainable

Council voices support for full funding

Photo of Representatives from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and SERVS observing an oil spill exercise in Prince William Sound.
Representatives from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and SERVS observe an oil spill exercise in Prince William Sound.

The State of Alaska’s Oil and Hazardous Substances Release Prevention and Response Fund is in trouble. Funding for the prevention of spills is projected to be in a deficit by 2025.

Reduced pipeline flow contributes to shortfall

The amount of money going into the accounts ebbs and flows according to how many barrels flow through the pipeline. The amount of oil, which peaked in 1988 at 2.1 million barrels a day, has slowed considerably over the years and is now averaging just over 500,000 barrels a day. The revenues from the .95 cent surcharge on refined fuels were also originally overestimated. These factors, combined with lack of adjustment for inflation, have all resulted in the shortfall.

Response account used for contaminations other than oil and gas

Read more

Council meets with elected officials in DC and Juneau

By STEVE ROTHCHILD
Administrative Deputy Director

Rothchild, Beedle, Sen. Begich, Moore, Swanson. Photo courtesy of Sen. Begich’s office.
From left: Rothchild, Beedle, Sen. Begich, Moore, Swanson.

For two days in March, council board members Dorothy Moore and Robert Beedle, accompanied by staff members Mark Swanson and Steve Rothchild, visited our nation’s capital in an effort to highlight some of the council’s major concerns to Alaska’s congressional delegation and several others.

The trip was facilitated by the council’s Washington based legislative affairs monitor, Roy Jones.

Read more

Council representatives head to Washington

By Steve Rothchild, Assistant Deputy Director For two days in May, council board members Dorothy Moore and Patience Andersen Faulkner, accompanied by staff members Mark Swanson and Steve Rothchild, visited our nation’s capital in an effort to highlight some of the council’s major concerns to the Alaska congressional delegation and several others. The trip was facilitated … Read more

Skip to content