This past November, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, or ADEC, approved the renewal of the oil spill contingency plan for the Valdez Marine Terminal. The approval came with conditions.
The plan, created and managed by Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, describes how the company plans to prevent spills from the terminal in Valdez, and how they would contain and clean up oil in case prevention measures fail. The approval followed several rounds of public comment, which began in 2023, and is subject to several conditions. This means the plan is tentatively approved, but there are required steps that must be taken for the approval to be valid.
As one of the conditions, ADEC is requiring that Alyeska conduct further analysis of the secondary containment liners underneath the crude oil storage tanks at the terminal’s East Tank Farm. These liners, made up of catalytically-blown asphalt, are part of a system that is intended to contain oil in the event of a spill, preventing contamination of surface and groundwater.
The liners are hard to inspect because they are covered with five feet of ground material.
Credit for a solid liner
Alyeska receives a 60% “prevention credit” from ADEC based on the integrity of these liners. This credit allows Alyeska to plan for a smaller spill, thus reducing the amount of equipment and responders that are listed in the plan to begin a quick response.
The credit is contingent upon the asphalt liner meeting ADEC’s “sufficiently impermeable” standard. This standard is based on a formula that determines whether the liner is solid enough that it can contain spilled oil until it is detected and cleaned up. Cracks and damage have previously been discovered in some areas when the liner has been exposed.
Request for public review of test results
In a November letter to the department, the Council requested that ADEC allow a public review of any changes that result from Alyeska’s analysis of the liner. The Council also requested the addition of a deadline for the analysis and corrective actions if the analysis finds that the liner is not sufficiently impermeable to meet ADEC’s standard. ADEC issued a decision that imposed deadlines for completion of the liner evaluation by 2028. The department did not include a public review or corrective actions.
Future updates
These plans are required to be updated every five years by industry and submitted for public review. This update to the terminal plan expires in 2029.
How and why do contingency plans change over time? Read a 2021 Council-sponsored report on how the plan for a spill from tankers developed over the years:
Every five years, this oil spill contingency plan is renewed. The process starts with Alyeska, who updates the plan to include new technology or lessons learned during drills. A renewed plan is effective for five years, when the cycle will be repeated. This process ensures that the preparations for preventing and responding to oil spills will continue to improve.
In 2023, a Federal law was passed that could affect Alyeska’s contracted fleet of fishing vessels trained to help respond in case of an oil spill in Prince William Sound.
Fishing fleet available for a quick response
When the Exxon Valdez oil spill happened, the response was delayed. Much of the damage could have been lessened if clean-up efforts had started immediately. One of the most important lessons of that spill was that local fishing crews can help with a quick response.
The local fishing crews who joined the 1989 response realized that pulling oil spill boom was similar to pulling a net of fish. They also knew the region’s waters well, and were aware of dangers like shallow areas or changing tides that could leave a vessel stranded, among other hazards.
In the years since the spill, Alyeska formalized this relationship, developing a program to make sure they have a contracted fleet of vessels that are trained, on-call, and immediately available to support a response in case of another spill. Today, Alyeska holds contracts with more than 350 of these vessels. They invest in training for crew members every year to make sure they are always ready to respond.
Alyeska trains the crews to handle oil spill response equipment, tow oil spill boom in proper formation, and tow the small barges used to store the oil and water mix that is recovered during a spill response. They are skilled in deploying, operating, and maintaining this equipment.
Alyeska responders practice maneuvers in front of the Valdez Marine Terminal. Photo by Nelli Vanderburg.
Consequences for the contracted fishing vessel program
If a real event were to occur, Alaska’s fishing crews would be ready to respond.
However, a section of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2023 that was intended to exempt fishing vessels from the inspection requirements when working an oil spill was interpreted by Coast Guard to require the vessels to undergo inspections.
These vessels are uninspected and were designed and built specifically for fishing, not oil spill response. These vessels have not been subject to Coast Guard inspection before and many would not be able to meet inspection requirements, meaning they would be excluded from participating in a response.
“Trying to replace uninspected fishing vessels with vessels that meet Coast Guard inspection requirements would completely dismantle the program that has been part of the response system in Prince William Sound for decades,” said Donna Schantz, executive director for the Council. “This would greatly diminish oil spill response capabilities in our region, as well as the entire nation. The trained fleet, made up of contracted local fisherman who understand the waters, are the backbone of the response system and are essential to help mitigate impacts to people, communities, economies, and the environment.”
Workgroup partnership looking for a solution
The Council has been participating in a workgroup to help develop a solution that would allow the current fleet to remain in operation. Members include the Council, Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council, Alyeska/SERVS, and other industry and oil spill removal organizations across the country.
Science Night 2024 Science Night is an annual event hosted by the Prince William Regional Citizens Advisory Council. Topics focus on research related to the safe transportation of oil through Prince William Sound. The event is hosted in Anchorage in late November/early December. NEW IN 2024!! Several partner organizations hosted watch parties in some of … Read more
Last year, researchers from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, or SERC, partnered with the Council to conduct the largest survey of non-native benthic marine invertebrate species in Prince William Sound since 2003.
The work is part of a larger survey being conducted by Dr. Gregory Ruiz and a team of researchers from SERC to document non-native species in ports and bays throughout the United States. The researchers have also recently surveyed in California, southeast Alaska, and other sites along the Pacific coast of the U.S. Researchers anticipate surveying Cook Inlet in 2025.
