Spill-free year in Alaska

For the first time since oil began flowing down the transalaska pipeline in 1977, tankers carrying the crude to refineries in the continental United States went a full year without spilling any into the water. Officials cited better regulation, vigilance and equipment in Prince William Sound, site of the nation’s worst spill in 1989, when the VLCC Exxon Valdez grounded on a reef and spilt 11 million gallons of oil.

To mark the achievement, the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens Advisory Council, an oversight group created by Congress after the Exxon Valdez disaster, has nominated area oil shipping companies for an award at a Pacific States/British Columbia Oil Spill Task Force meeting next week in Oregon. ‘We’re quick to be critical of the industry when we see them do something wrong. I think it’s important to RCAC to recognise them when they do something right,’ said John Devens, executive director of the Valdez-based panel.

Mr Devens cited the conversion to double-hulled tankers on about a quarter of the 24 tankers carrying crude oil from the pipeline’s Valdez marine terminal for reducing spillage. ‘The small hull cracks or fractures that we’ve seen in the past aren’t going to result in discharges of oil,’ he said. The federal Oil Pollution Act of 1990, passed after the Exxon Valdez spill, mandated a gradual conversion to double hulls. Shipping companies have also paid more attention to safety than in the past.