State efforts to revise current oil discharge prevention and contingency plan requirements are being challenged by the watchdog entity charged with promoting environmentally safe operations of the Valdez Marine Terminal and oil tankers moving through there.
“Strong statues and regulations are a big part of why Alaska has not had a major oil spill since the Exxon Valdez disaster,” said Donna Schantz, executive director of the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council.
A resolution passed by the PWSRCAC states strong opposition to any legislative or regulatory changes that erode oil spill prevention and response standards, increase the risk of a catastrophic spill, or demonstrate a return of the complacency on the part of the oil industry and regulators whom Congress determined to be a primary cause of the 1987 disaster in Prince William Sound.
Now the council is in the process of preparing formal comments to be submitted to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation by Jan. 15 on why the RCAC strongly objects to DEC’s plans for changes in state statutes.
“The world-class oil spill prevention and response system for the Valdez Marine Terminal and associated oil tankers is a direct result of post-Exxon Valdez spill laws and regulations designed to protect Alaskans and our environment, as well as commercial and sport fishing, aquaculture, recreation, tourism, subsistence and cultural interests,” Schantz said. “It is unreasonable for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation to claim now, after 30 profitable years of industry compliance, that the requirements are too onerous.”
Protecting our communities and the environment is the cost of doing business in Alaska,” added Robert Archibald, the council’s board president, in a statement issued by the council on Monday, Nov. 4. “Reducing any perceived burden to industry by rolling back or eliminating proven oil spill prevention and response requirements transfers the risk and burden of another oil spill to the communities, citizens and environment they were designed to protect.”
The DEC initiative, said Archibald, “disregards efforts of hundreds of Alaskans who worked tirelessly on improving regulatory requirements after the Exxon Valdez oil spill to ensure that our state would never again suffer a similar environmental disaster.”
“We are working to collect information to share with stakeholders so that they will also submit comments,” said Brooke Taylor, communications director for the council. “We want to assist our stakeholders in being specific (in their comments) about specific issues.”
The resolution was approved by the council on Oct. 29, in the wake of DEC’s solicitation on Oct. 15 for public input on oil discharge prevention and contingency plan regulations under 18 AAC 75 Article 4.
The agency is also accepting comments on its statutory authorities relevant to contingency planning under AS 46.04 regarding oil and hazardous substance pollution control.
DEC said it wants to hear from the public about whether current regulations could be made clearer and more understandable without compromising environmental protection or if any portions of those regulations may be outdated or duplicative. The agency said it is also seeking comment on new ideas that may make contingency plans more effective.
The council has expressed concern over what it sees as a lack of specificity and transparency in the regulatory reform effort. It is urging DEC to halt the public scoping process until more information is provided on the driving factors that prompted DEC’s solicitation.
AS 46.04, being the basis for oil spill regulations, contains a number of key laws designed to prevent oil spills and ensure that there are enough trained responders and equipment in place, should preventative measures fail. AS 46.04 includes Alaska’s Oil Spill Response Planning Standard, which was created after the March 24, 1989 disaster, which spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound.
The oil spill response framework established in AS 46.04 and enhanced in ensuing years. It is the product of hard work, critical thinking and creative problem solving by experienced professionals and passionate stakeholders who were impacted by that disaster, the council said. That Response Planning Standard establishes a foundation that continues to distinguish Alaska, and particularly Prince William Sound, as having a world-class prevention, preparedness and response system.
More information about the history and legislative intent of the Response Planning Standard is included in the council’s August 2018 report, which can be downloaded at bit.ly/LegislativeIntent.
Comments may be sent electronically to alaskadec.commentinput.com or mailed to Seth Robinson, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Spill Prevention and Response – Prevention, preparedness, and response program, 610 University Ave., Fairbanks, AK, 99709 or dec.cpr@alaska.gov.
Complete contents of all submitted comments are considered public records and will be posted online in full during the scoping comment period.
Once the public scoping process is over, any proposed regulatory revisions will be released for public review and comment in a separate process consistent with the state’s Administrative Procedures Act.
