Spill Plans: Reconsidered or Just Re-drawn

In 1997, Ronald Miller, a 20-year Alyeska field engineer whose assignments include preparations for spill response, finished a Master's Degree on the risks of an inland oil spill. Miller concluded that, despite millions of dollars spent upgrading its spill response after the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, Alyeska's ability to contain a spill may not be much better today.

Miller revealed that the core of TAPS' latest spill response plan is virtually unchanged from 1977 and "remains to this day a document filled with theoretical assumptions, in need of a systematic reexamination of each response action." From spill response literature, Miller concluded that Alyeska was deficient in 42 of the 45 aspects of effective responses.

Among Miller's specific criticisms:

• Instructions are overly simplistic and provide only minimal details and therefore they would be of little value to an actual response
• No meaningful lists of labor, materials , equipment and tools
• No illustrations showing how to implement the task or what containment/control methods would look like if they were successfully completed.
• No time estimates to accomplish specific tasks.

Miller cited the following examples: "If oil has entered Haggard Creek, utilize aerial surveillance to locate the leading edge and contain oil at the closest practical site, as selected by surveillance." (Miller's comment: "This statement says little more than 'get in a helicopter and see if you can figure out what to do.")

"Construct containment points and berms as necessary on Island Lake inlet streams to prevent oil from reaching the lake." (Miller's comment: "The recommendation requires heavy equipment to cross the sensitive tundra to excavate containment pits and build berms to block streams, which will likely cause considerable damage.")

"Prevent the overland flow of oil... by diverting the leading edge of the oil away from the creek by using hay bales, anchored by long spikes." (Miller's comment: "Spikes would have to be more than three feet long to pass through the hay bales and into the tundra or drainage bed. The spikes are not on the list of required oil spill materials... and are not readily available.... [Hay] bales would have to come from inventory of hay bales... more than 125 miles away.")

To Alyeska's credit, Miller is still employed on the line and has not experienced retaliation or harassment.