Valdez Marine Terminal Valdez terminal in the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System is at “risk of serious accidents or incident in the near-term.” This is the main conclusion of the 180-page report released in April. The report outlines the wide-ranging security concerns at The Valdez Marine Terminal which is where North Slope crude is loaded onto ocean tankers.
The Alyeska Pipeline Service Company says it is serious about the report however, coastal communities say time is crucial.
In the spring of last year in the year 2000, an Alyeska employee in the Valdez Marine Terminal — which is located at the southernmost point of the pipelinewas reported to have smelled the stench of fumes. The heavy snowfall caused damage to the storage tanks for oil at the terminal -and releasing petroleum vapors into the air.
“It was discovered by an employee of Alyeska who was walking around and smelt toxic fumes emanating from tank,” stated Wayne Donaldson Kodiak, Kodiak’s city member of the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council PWSRCAC. PWSRCAC.
This advisory committee is part of the two federally regulated oil spill prevention groups that were formed as a result of the Exxon Valdez spill, which filled more than 1,000 miles of Alaska’s coast – which included Kodiak Island’s shores with oil.
Donaldson was one of the 19 participants in the council. She was a member of the Council for the past eight years. It was the federal Oil Pollution Act of 1990 which was passed following the Exxon Valdez oil spill also led to the establishment of the Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council.
After that incident on the runway in January last year the number of Alyeska employees started to contact the group.
“And as time went by the number of people who came to us for safety concerns, as in retirees of Alyeska,” Donaldson said.
The advisory council ordered an audit of safety procedures at the terminal this summer following the complaints. The final report was released this month.
It contains over 200 pages of the most serious safety issues at Valdez Marine Terminal. Valdez Marine Terminal: equipment described as “aging and outdated;” a work culture which includes retaliation between employees, turnover and mismanagement in the shrinking budgets of both states and federal government that have reduced regulatory oversight.
As a response to this report the advisory council wrote letters to legislators – including Governor. Mike Dunleavy and Alaska’s congressional delegation – in which they cited the necessity of federal audits of the terminal conducted by government agencies such as the Government Accountability Office and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The report was written by a safety consultant for the company Billie Garde, who has worked with Alyeska as well as BP previously. Harvest Alaska, a Hilcorp subsidiary, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil all own a portion in Alyeska Pipeline, which operates the terminal.
“We do not agree with everything that’s in this report but consider it an opportunity to be better,” said Michelle Egan Alyeska’s chief of communications.
Egan comes from Kodiak She also hails from Kodiak, and believes that she – along with many other people at Alyeska is aware of the damage the impact of an oil spill is on communities living along the coast. She added that Alyeska has set up an executive team to create an action plan as a response on the findings.
The majority of the information, however, is sourced directly from Alyeska personnel — many of whom have said that they believe there is a “serious incident is likely.”
Brooke Taylor is the director of communications for the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council. She believes that the internal knowledge about the issues that affect the terminal was among the most significant weaknesses identified by the study.
“There was nothing of substance on safety or process safety concerns that wasn’t accessible at Alyeska,” said Taylor.
Around 4% of the country’s crude oil comes via Valdez Marine Terminal. Valdez Marine Terminal, a proportion that is likely to increase over the next few years, as the oil produced by an accepted Willow developmentmakes its way through the pipeline.
Taylor explained that incidents at Valdez Marine Terminal has the possibility of being environmentally destructive and threatens one of the main sources of revenue.
“For us, it’s neither a an issue of whether or not the industry is a good thing It’s a matter of — If oil is to be transported across our region, we want to do it with the least risk possible,” she said.
Alyeska has hired the new chief executive officer in the same month that the report was released the report was released, the former BP director John Kurz. Egan has said he’s had meetings with other members from the company numerous times since the report was released.
“He would like to work alongside [PWS]RCAC and our employees to create the most secure and safe environment we can be able to create,” she said. “So I believe that commitment is evident. He has repeatedly communicated this to our employees, and to all our customers.”
Its advisory committee member Taylor is of the opinion that Alyeska has acted quickly in response to the findings and knows that any changes to the terminal aren’t going to happen overnight.
“Time will reveal what actions are implemented. Therefore, we are aware that our greatest successes have always come when government regulation and citizens’ groups collaborate. So, we’re hoping this is another instance of this,” Taylor said.
Wayne Donaldson said he’s also happy with Alyeska’s first response on the issue. It’s been more than three decades since the Exxon Valdez oil leak, and He worries that the greatest problem today is complacency and the passage of time.
