Valdez council seeks recertification

The Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council is seeking recertification from the U.S. Coast Guard.

The council is a Valdez-based organization that monitors the local oil terminal and associated tanker traffic.

According to a notice published Jan. 22 in the Federal Register, the council’s current certification will expire Feb. 28. The council has applied for recertification through Feb. 28, 2015.

To attain recertification, the council must show it is “broadly representative of the interests and communities in the area” and is “adequately fostering the goals and purposes” of the Oil Terminal and Oil Tanker Environmental Oversight and Monitoring Act of 1990, the Federal Register notice says.

Coast Guard recertification policy requires the council to provide “comprehensive information” every three years as part of its application, and this is one of those years, the notice says.

Congress mandated the council as fallout from the 1989 wreck of the tanker Exxon Valdez, which released nearly 11 million gallons of Alaska North Slope crude into Prince William Sound.

The council has 19 voting members representing local governments and commercial fishing, tourism and other groups.

The council conducts research and offers input to regulators and the oil industry on such issues as spill response readiness. Sometimes the council takes a critical stance.

Council funding comes from the industry under a contract with Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., the oil company consortium that operates the 800-mile trans-Alaska pipeline and tanker terminal.

—Wesley Loy