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Prince William Sound tankers have spill-free year 2003 is first year without spills since oil shipment began; state attributes record to modern tankers, better technology, better management The Associated Press
Tankers carrying North Slope crude oil out of Prince William Sound last year had their first spill-free year since they began shipping crude from the trans-Alaska oil pipeline terminal in 1977.
“It’s a very notable achievement,” said Larry Dietrick, director of spill prevention and response for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.
He attributed the lack of spills to more modern tankers, better technology and better management in tanker operations.
Four tanker operators shipped about 330 million barrels — or 450 loads of crude oil — from the tanker dock at Valdez last year.
Alaska Tanker Co. carried oil for BP; Polar Tankers Inc., a subsidiary of Conoco Phillips, shipped oil for that company; SeaRiver Maritime Inc. carried oil for Exxon Mobil; and Seabulk Tankers hauled crude from Valdez to the Tesoro refinery at Nikiski.
Anil Mathur, president of Alaska Tanker, based in Beaverton, Ore., said avoiding spills is a matter of good equipment, diligent inspections and rigorous management.
“People have to understand that our hazards never go away,” said Mathur, whose company operates eight ships exclusively for the Alaska trade. His company encourages employees to report “near misses” in all operations.
“We have a policy that if you take care of the small stuff, the big stuff will not happen,” Mathur said.
Oil loading and unloading are critical times, so ships that dock in Valdez are surrounded with containment boom before oil is loaded, Mathur said. Citizens’ advisory council nominates operators for award John Devens, executive director of the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council, said the oil industry watchdog group views a year without spills as a significant milestone.
The council, which was formed in the aftermath of the 11 million-gallon Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound in 1989, has at times been a sharp critic of the oil industry.
But the group has now nominated the Sound’s four tanker operators for a Legacy Award from the Pacific States/British Columbia Oil Spill Task Force.
Jean Cameron, the task force’s executive coordinator, said that not only was no oil spilled in Prince William Sound, but the tankers didn’t spill any in the waters of states where the oil was delivered.
She noted, though, that Alaska Tanker had a deck spill of about two gallons last year on the high seas of the Gulf of Alaska beyond state waters, and Seabulk spilled about 10 gallons of Cook Inlet crude oil.
In the past, Dietrick said, spills occurred on multiple occasions when cracks developed in the hulls of older, single-hulled ships.
Congress mandated double hulls after the Exxon spill, and the oil companies have begun putting the new, double-hulled tankers into service.
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