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Council’s ‘watchdog’ identity questioned Despite criticism, Coast Guard recertifies Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council; organization has deep support Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
The U.S. Coast Guard has recertified the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council, but only after scolding the organization for its “watchdog” mentality.
The council is an independent nonprofit that promotes safe operations for the trans-Alaska pipeline terminal and the tanker fleet that calls on Valdez to load North Slope crude oil.
Formed after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, the Valdez-based council has 19 member organizations including local governments plus commercial fishing, environmental, Native, and recreation and tourism groups.
The council operates with $2.9 million it receives annually under a contract with the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., the energy company consortium that runs the pipeline and Valdez terminal.
In return for the funding, the council each year must show it “fosters the goals and purposes” of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, said a May 2 notice published in the Federal Register.
The notice said the Coast Guard, which is responsible for making sure the council is operating in a manner consistent with the law, recertified the organization effective March 1 through Feb. 29, 2012.
Watchdog or partner? But the Coast Guard has reservations about the way the council operates.
In a March 24 letter, Rear Adm. Christopher Colvin, the Coast Guard commander in Alaska, noted the council’s “repeated use of the term ‘watchdog’ to describe its monitoring and advisory responsibilities.” Colvin said this “connotes an adversarial relationship and is indicative of a party not committed to fostering a partnership.”
Colvin said the adversarial approach demonstrated by some council members was most evident when the RCAC “twice threatened to facilitate filing lawsuit(s) against the Coast Guard in order to obtain official information through methods which would violate federal privacy and other laws.”
The council’s watchdog posture “diminishes its effectiveness,” said Colvin, whose predecessor as Alaska Coast Guard commander, Rear Adm. Arthur Brooks, made similar observations about the council.
Colvin said OPA 90, which mandated citizens’ councils among other post-Exxon Valdez reforms, “recognized the need to establish a mechanism ‘which fosters the long-term partnership (emphasis added) of industry, government, and local communities in overseeing compliance with environmental concerns in the operation of crude oil terminals.’”
Colvin’s letter continued: “A ‘partnership’ cannot be effective when one party refers to itself as a ‘watchdog’ organization and fosters an adversarial relationship” with other entities.
The watchdog identity isn’t just a Coast Guard concern, Colvin said.
“Other port partners have privately reported similar concerns,” he wrote. “This is no way to foster a partnership.”
Council’s many supporters Colvin’s letter suggested, however, that the Coast Guard and council might have come to an understanding.
“I am fully supportive of and truly believe in the necessity of citizen advisory groups. I believe that they help avoid complacency and function as vital links between government, industry, and the citizens of Alaska. Recently, I understand that PWSRCAC instituted positive corrective measures as discussed during recent meetings with my staff.”
Colvin addressed his letter to Mark Swanson, the council’s executive director and himself a former Coast Guard officer in charge at Valdez. (A new admiral took over the Alaska Coast Guard on May 19, with Colvin transferring to a new post in California.)
The Federal Register notice said 65 letters were received on the council’s recertification request, and all were positive.
Among the supporters were Alaska Sens. Mark Begich and Lisa Murkowski and Congressman Don Young.
“I believe the citizens’ council process plays an important advisory role to ensure local community input into spill response preparedness and planning, something which was lacking before the Exxon Valdez spill of 1989,” Begich wrote. He noted the council helped push through a 2010 law requiring continued use of dual escort tugs for oil-laden tankers moving through Prince William Sound, even if the ships have double hulls.
Jim Kallander, mayor of the commercial fishing town of Cordova, which has a seat on the council, said the organization “has been at the forefront of the many positive improvements … in oil spill preparedness and prevention in the Prince William Sound and Gulf of Alaska.”
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game said the council had made “valuable contributions to both industry and natural resource agencies.” The department cited a council-sponsored marine firefighting symposium and a focus on aquatic nuisance species associated with ships as examples of the council’s recent work.
Companies that ship oil for BP, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Tesoro also favored council recertification.
“We continue to work with the PWSRCAC and all governmental agencies in a cooperative manner,” their letter said.
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