Annual spring oil spill response training is underway by Alyeska Pipeline Service Company and fishing vessel support personnel from six communities around Prince William Sound, from Kodiak, Homer and Seward to Whittier, Cordova and Valdez.
The Fishing Vessel Program partners with vessel crews to provide oil spill response training by contracting over 350 vessels at the six ports. Each year, crew members attend two days of hands-on training in their community, practicing with shore-based response equipment before deploying skimmers, booms and other equipment from their vessels on the water.
Community members may notice an increase in ship movement and equipment deployments if they are in the area. The oil spill response program began following the Exxon Valdez oil spill disaster of March 24, 1989, at the time the worst oil spill in US waters at the time, until the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. Days after the oil spill plowed into a cold-water reef, oil spilled some 1,300 miles along the coast of what was a pristine wild nature.
Oil spill response drills, by community, include Kodiak from March 31 to April 3; Homer from April 6 to 10; Seward on April 13 and 14; Whittier April 18-20; Cordoba from April 23 to 29; and Valdez from May 2 to 5.
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