Gov. Sean Parnell says he is "indignant" about several recent pipeline spills on the North Slope and the Dec. 23 grounding of an oil industry tugboat, which released diesel in Prince William Sound. While expressing deep concern may be helpful, Gov. Parnell needs to take several stronger actions to protect the state's resources from future spills. First, the state needs to contract with independent investigators who can respond -- on a moment's notice -- when National Transportation Safety Board investigators are unavailable. That agency is not investigating the tug grounding because it lacks the needed personnel and gives priority to investigating accidents with injuries or deaths.
Likewise, NTSB has not had the resources in recent years to investigate North Slope accidents including BP's multiple major pipeline spills in 2006. NTSB and independent accident investigators are important because they do not have conflicts of interest. When the industry or a regulatory agency investigates an accident, it is reluctant to find fault with its own actions or regulations.
Second, the state needs to recognize its own conflict of interest due to the substantial revenue Alaska receives from the oil industry. That means making a special effort to ensure it can effectively enforce its own requirements.
In late 2006, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation issued new regulations for all types of pipelines, including those that are not regulated by the federal government. Those new state regulations have not been enforced, though. And wouldn't you know -- the three recent, major North Slope pipeline spills were from federally unregulated pipelines.
Enforcement requires continual state inspections and meaningful penalties for noncompliance. Otherwise, there will be future spills from the state's aging and thus less profitable oil fields and pipelines.
Third, the state needs an ombudsperson on the North Slope to deal with operators and provide a confidential way to report problems. Legislation requiring cooperation of the industry with the ombudsperson may be necessary.
Following BP's 2006 North Slope pipeline spills, Gov. Sarah Palin created a new bureaucracy: the Petroleum Systems Integrity Office. PSIO essentially has nothing to show regarding spill prevention since its creation, and little is expected, as it is a non-regulatory agency.
Gov. Palin also initiated a $5 million, three-year risk assessment of the state's oil and gas infrastructure. Industry watchdogs and later a panel of the widely respected Transportation Research Board found serious problems with the proposed study process. Among the problems, contractors had conflicts of interest because the firms also worked for the oil industry. The state did not renew the risk assessment process contract in June and now this effort is back at square one after spending approximately $1 million and two years of work. State actions to date have been inadequate to prevent the recent spills. These three recommendations -- independent investigators, adequate regulatory enforcement and a North Slope ombudsperson -- have been needed for many years. If Gov. Parnell puts these reasonable measures in place, Alaska will have the tools it needs to ensure that the oil industry has fewer spills.
Lois N. Epstein, P.E., is a licensed engineer and consultant for nonprofit, public-interest organizations. She has worked on oil industry technical and policy issues for more than 20 years.
By LOIS N. EPSTEIN