On water recovery efforts continue at VMT

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

Barrels of oil and water recovered from the Valdez Marine Terminal sump incident totaled 1,253 as of April 29, an update from the unified command reported at 6 p.m. that day.

Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., the U.S. Coast Guard and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation said some 15 barrels of oil had been metered from the oil and water recovered offshore; on land, less than 1 barrel of oil has been recovered.

The spill was discovered April 12, ADEC said in situation reports on the incident, and the source identified as the 58-SU-3 Admin Sump.

ADEC said the oil traveled beneath the snow-covered surface and came out near the head of Berth 4 into Port Valdez.

A system was put in place at the shoreline to capture sheen from the outflow of a pipe carrying snowmelt and rainwater before it enters the VMT small boat harbor.

The unified command said the system, put into place the week ending April 24, “ties into the pipe carrying snowmelt and rainwater and helps capture the sheen before it gets to the small boat harbor. Further work to divert outflow from the pipe to other containment before it reaches the shoreline system continues.”

“The outflow of the spill to the harbor is a buried perforated pipe from early VMT construction, which ends at the shoreline,” the command said April 24.

Gradual decommissioning of crafts and crews from the vessel of opportunity program was authorized by the unified command April 24, with vessels to be cleaned before release from duty. “As many as 19 vessels and their crews have been part of the efforts: 15 vessels and crews from Valdez have worked the entirety of the incident; four from Valdez performed a specific booming assignment and departed once completed,” the command said.

Recovery efforts are ongoing on the water, with participants down to one vessel. The boomed area continues to decrease and is now less than three-quarters of its original size, with deployed boom reduced to 17,720 feet from maximum deployment of more than 26,000 feet.

The source of the spill, a sump about a quarter mile uphill from the harbor, was isolated and secured April 13.

The unified command said excavations are continuing to identify the flow path.

Crews excavating have identified segments of the underground flow path, the unified command said April 27, “including a pipe that is suspected of moving the sheen along with snow melt and other natural discharge to the outflow area.”