VALDEZ – While most citizens of Valdez slept last Monday morning, members of the SERVS team, Alyeska Pipeline and the Regional Citizen Advisory Council (RCAC) boarded Stan Stephens “Glacier Spirit” headed to Whittier to observe the Annual Fishing Vessel Training. In Whittier, the boat was loaded with members of the media, community members and 24 middle and high school students from Whittier (all of the kids in both public schools and two homeschool students). Twenty five fishing vessels were involved in the training located in the waters just outside of Whittier and, after a poor weather day Sunday, the sun was glorious as onlookers watched the drill from a short distance away.
Passengers aboard Stan Stephens listened to Kate Dugan, Jeremy Robida and other narrators talk about the drills as they watched the boats pulling oil spill boom. Narration was happily halted several times to announce orca sightings as the boat traversed the waters to Whittier and back again.
Alaska laws and regulations require Alyeska and the tanker companies to have enough equipment and trained personnel available to contain, control and clean up a spill of 12.6 million gallons of oil within three days. The equipment is staged in Valdez and other areas around the Sound for immediate use and learning and using the equipment is all part of the training. Onboard the “Glacier Spirit”, students were able to put boom together and see some of the materials used in the equipment geared toward oil clean up.
