Anchorage Daily News

The operator of the trans-Alaska pipeline has renegotiated its contract with oil spill responders at the large Valdez tanker port, resulting in a loss of eight jobs.

The Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. says its calculations show the cuts -- which went into effect Saturday -- do not take it out of compliance with its spill response commitments in Prince William Sound.

But the job cuts have created some concern among members of a watchdog group, the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council, which was established after the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill to monitor the Valdez port and its tankers.

A review is under way, and "we'll know in a few weeks whether they have cut too far or not," said Stan Jones, the council's spokesman.

Until then, the council has no basis to criticize Alyeska's new contract, he said.

THE CUTS

Alyeska's revised contract with TCC -- a company owned by three Prince William Sound Native corporations -- trimmed the number of spill responders on weekend daytime duty from 24 to 17 per shift.

It also changes the work schedule for certain employees, who will no longer work one week on, one week off, but will instead work five days per week, 10 hours a day.

Workers were notified in late February, according to the citizen's council.

The TCC contract, established in 1996, had not been renewed for some time, and new calculations by Alyeska show it needs 17 workers to meet its commitments for responding to a spill, said Alyeska spokesman Mike Heatwole.

"It's important not to get hung up on how many positions are going away," he said.

Seven spill responders and one office worker have lost their jobs. Three other staff positions were eliminated but are being restored through Alyeska or one of its other contractors, he said.

The majority owner of TCC, the Chugach Alaska Corp., did not answer a request for comments for this story.

THE REVIEW

The TCC staff cuts come at a time when a technical group composed of regulators, the citizens' council, the tanker operators and others is taking a broader look at Alyeska's staffing levels for oil spill response.

A plan covering what will happen if a tanker spills oil in Prince William Sound, revised last November, lays out all the details of the procedures, equipment and personnel needed to prevent or respond to a spill from a tanker in the Sound.

The plan is still in draft form and hasn't been approved by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, which has made its approval contingent on verifying the number of workers needed in the first 72 hours of an oil spill, among other things.

The review of the plan began last week and is supposed to be completed by the end of June, said Donna Schantz, a coordinator for the council.

Find Elizabeth Bluemink online at adn.com/contact/ebluemink or call 257-4317.

ADVERTISEMENT