Cook Inlet RCAC services

In 1991, the Environmental Monitoring Committee (EMC) initiated steps to develop and manage a comprehensive environmental monitoring program for Cook Inlet. The goal of this program is to determine if oil-industry operations in Cook Inlet are having adverse effects on the surrounding ecosystem and, if so, to document their sources, magnitude, and spatial and temporal trends. Based on a 1992 model recommended by Cook Inlet RCAC contractors, a pilot study was initiated in 1993 to provide data against which to evaluate a longer-term environmental monitoring program. Based on this model, further environmental monitoring studies were conducted in 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997.

One of the Cook Inlet RCAC mandates under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 is to devise and manage a comprehensive program of monitoring the environmental impacts of the operations of terminal facilities and of crude oil tankers while operating in …Cook Inlet. To this end, Cook Inlet RCAC has put significant efforts towards increasing our knowledge of Cook Inlet’s environment to better be able to identify any potential chronic, acute, or potential impacts. We have taken a multi-pronged approach, with the overall goal of building a database of Cook Inlet coastal habitats that will allow us to better plan for and protect sensitive shorelines and improve our ability to detect change.

The physical oceanography data describe circulation patterns and what drives them in Cook Inlet. For example, how important is the Alaska Coastal Current’s influx into the Inlet in driving net circulation in the lower inlet and how do seasonal changes in freshwater input into upper Cook Inlet change the net outflow along the west side of Cook Inlet? These questions are important to better predict and describe how water currents would carry dissolved contaminants from discharge sources or oil spilled on the surface to potentially sensitive habitats.

CIRCAC’s studies focus on understanding potential impacts by oil industry operations in Cook Inlet by assessing contaminant loads in Cook Inlet sediments and animal tissues. In order to fully be able to evaluate the potential fate of industry contaminants, an understanding of the background and natural sources is also a focus of CIRCAC’s work. Similarly, to understand the fate of discharge plumes or spilled oil, better descriptions and predictions of the circulation patterns within the Inlet are necessary.

Geographic Response Strategies (GRS) are oil spill response plans tailored to protect a specific sensitive area from impacts following a spill. These response plans are map-based strategies that can save time during the critical first few hours of an oil spill response. They show responders where sensitive areas are located and where to place oil spill protection resources.

In the event of an oil spill incident in Cook Inlet, the Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council staff participates in the Unified Command, bringing stakeholder voice to the process. We would notify stakeholder organizations directly and through their representatives on the Council through regular news releases, information posted on this web page, and via public meetings and press conferences. We would also direct the public via links to additional information created by the Unified Command (consisting of the Responsible Party and Federal and State On Scene Coordinators).

We are prioritizing and focusing Council efforts to identify and quantify maritime risk factors, and maximize the effectiveness of projects designed to address health, safety, and environmental impacts throughout Cook Inlet.

Representing the public`s interest, Cook Inlet RCAC works with state agencies and industry during plan review to reinforce their importance to protecting Cook Inlet`s productive waters. A thorough review of these plans is especially important to the Inlet’s health, since the State of Alaska lengthened the effective period for contingency plans from three years to five. Cook Inlet RCAC staff solicits C-Plans from the Cook Inlet plan holders prior to their application to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) in order to expedite the review process. Doing so allows Cook Inlet RCAC a longer review period, minimizes delays, and allows time for the plan holder to consider our recommendations and to make changes streamlining the formal process.

Oil spill drills have not always been the active prevention tool that they are today in Cook Inlet. In the years following the Exxon Valdez oil spill, regulators were clarifying expectations and the response organizations were developing their own internal protocols. Cook Inlet RCAC has as its goals to evaluate adequacy of Unified, subarea and industry Contingency plans; to identify all areas needing improvements; to drill all areas of the contingency plan improving ability to be ready for a real incident; to work with industry and agencies to assure that lessons learned and items needing improvements are exercised. To accomplish these goals, Cook Inlet RCAC board and committee members, particularly those on the Protocol Committee responsible for reviewing C-Plans, are familiar with Unified, subarea, and industry plans.