Citizens's advisory council, put in place after the 1989 Exon Valdez spill, is taken to task by BP for Gulf oil spill consultations.
The Prince William Sound Regional Citizen's Advisory Council conducts research, monitors oil shipping operations, testifies on issues regarding the marine terminal, including employment and staffing concerns, and has pushed to see that there is adequate funding for the state agencies overseeing oil shipping. They are a model organization and a huge success story. Their funding,under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, comes almost totally from Alyeska, of which BP is the majority owner. There's the rub. Since they are essentially "under contract", Alyeska has the right to do an audit. Many believe this threatens the groups independence.
{A} copy of the audit provided to Alaska Dispatch by the citizens' advisory council under a public records request shows Alyeska is protesting more than $184,000 the group spent in the past year, including more than $22,000 to help address questions and concerns related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The pipeline company also is challenging money paid to a former executive director and specific though small amounts paid out by staff, mainly while attending conferences, throughout the three-year audit period.
But it's the questioning of Gulf spill related costs that is raising the most eyebrows. Moreover, the audit also suggests that Alyeska will be protesting other "outreach" expenses in the future, and it questions -- although is not now challenging -- money the group spent to travel to conferences and scientific workshops in Canada, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia and Mexico.
Alyeska claims the Gulf expenses are outside the realm of the groups contract.
Alyeska says any costs related to the Gulf of Mexico spill are not allowed under the contract.
"The scope of RCAC's activities to be funded by Alyeska consist of those promoting environmentally safe operations of terminal facilities in Prince William Sound (PWS) and the crude oil tankers in PWS, for the benefit of its stated membership," the audit says. "The activities and related costs coded to the Gulf Spill account do not appear to fall within that scope."
Executive Director Mark Swanson is concerned that the the independence of the council is maintained and he believes that the council needs to keep up with the latest developments in oil spill response, to learn from others' experiences, and to share what they have accomplished.
That was the case last summer when more than a dozen people from the Gulf traveled to Alaska to meet with the Prince William Sound group's staff and visit communities that had been hard hit by the 1989 spill. Swanson said not only did the Gulf visitors learn a lot about the effects of the Exxon Valdez spill and how communities have coped over the past 20 years, but local residents in Cordova and Valdez learned a good deal about oil spill response capabilities and efforts that were going on in the Gulf. That information will be valuable when issues arise here, he said.
Several members of Congress and the National Oil Spill Commission have recommended putting in place similar oversight groups in other areas where offshore drilling occurs, including the Arctic.
Some believe that BP is trying to limit the information coming out of the Gulf Spill.
Alyeska is mainly BP and BP is trying to limit the lessons shared in the Gulf. There's a distinct conflict of interest there," said Rick Steiner, a marine biologist and former University of Alaska Anchorage professor who was deeply involved in the Exxon Valdez incident and has spent the past 20 years advocating for environmental restoration and financial restitution for victims of the Exxon Valdez spill.
Steiner spent much of the summer helping Gulf of Mexico spill victims and advising on the response and cleanup efforts.
Steiner says there's no question that the citizens' advisory council has benefited from attending scientific and technical conferences in other parts of the world where the latest oil spill cleanup and response techniques are being discussed. And, he noted, the Prince William Sound staff has contributed to the world's knowledge on those issues as well from the lessons learned here.
"They need to be doing that; there's nothing new about that," he said. "What's new here is BP trying to shut this sort of thing down."
The audit also challenges small amounts of money staff spent at various times, such as a meal while attending a conference instead of eating at the conference or paying for gas for a relative who drove a staffer to the airport instead of paying for a taxi.
"It is simply extraordinary that Alyeska seems more worried about the trivial details of the RCAC staff's eating habits at conferences than their own aging, broken down pipeline," Steiner said. "The PWSRCAC has saved the Alyeska owners tens of billions of dollars by helping them prevent catastrophic oil spills.
BP spokesman Steve Rinehart declined to comment
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