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Draft Cook Inlet Risk Assessment out
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
The Cook Inlet Risk Assessment, in the works since 2011, is out for public review.
The assessment was initiated and led by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Cook Inlet Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council, who comprised the management team with input from a multi-stakeholder advisory panel.
The assessment is available online at www.cookinletriskassessment.com/; comments are due Oct. 27 and may be emailed to [email protected].
The report said Cook Inlet maritime transportation safety has been a heightened concern of the Cook Inlet RCAC, ADEC and the U.S. Coast Guard since the grounding of the T/V Seabulk Pride in 2006, although efforts dating back 15 years laid the groundwork for the assessment.
In phase one of the project baseline data was collected about the risks of marine accidents in Cook Inlet. Included were studies of vessel traffic, accident causality and potential spill consequences.
The second phase included technical analyses to provide information on selected risk reduction options.
The report issued in mid-September summarizes the technical analyses and describes final recommendations of the study stakeholder advisory panel.
“All recommendations were developed based on consensus from the group,” the draft report said.
Twenty-one potential risk reduction options were compiled; the stakeholder group recommended “13 risk reduction options to maintain and enhance the level of risk mitigation already achieved on Cook Inlet’s waters.”
The report recommends sustaining and in some cases enhancing those efforts already under way.
13 risk reduction options The options in the report include:
•Construction of a subsea pipeline across Cook Inlet;
•Establishing a harbor safety committee;
•Sustaining/enhancing training for pilots;
•Having harbormasters notify U.S. Coast Guard of unsafe vessels and identify and communicate facility or equipment limits to all users;
•Maintaining project depth at Knik Arm;
•Expanding cellular and very high frequency radio coverage;
•Using AIS broadcasts to enhance situational awareness;
•Conducting third-party inspections of workboats;
•Enhancing emergency towing;
•Enhancing vessel self-arrest;
•Promulgating federal non-tank vessel response planning regulations;
•Updating and improving subarea contingency plan; and
•Continuing to improve oil spill response equipment as proven options are developed.
The assessment says the advisory panel “supported either continuation or further consideration of several risk reduction options that relate to the elimination of root causes of accidents and spills,” with a subsea pipeline to displace cross-inlet tanker traffic both “the most resource-intensive of these options” and the option that “has the most readily quantified reduction of risk.”
Other risk reduction options include improving communication, coordination through establishment of a harbor safety committee and “rigorous training of captains, pilots, and crew to a high standard and in Cook Inlet-specific conditions.”
There are also recommendations for reducing “the frequency of immediate causes or exposure to hazardous situations” such as dredging the Knik Arm Shoal near Anchorage and expanding cellular and VHF coverage to improve communication between vessels.
Some of the recommendations are risk reduction options designed to prevent accidents if incidents occur, including rescuing distressed vessels prior to grounding by enhancing emergency towing and the ability of distressed vessels to set an anchor.
Risk reduction options related to reducing oil outflow and spill impacts include reviewing and updating the Cook Inlet subarea contingency plan and making continuous improvements in spill response equipment for Cook Inlet conditions.
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