The US Coast Guard Forces Valdez makes up a large part of our local community. The USCG has just retired a 110′ patrol boat called the Chandeleur that patrols Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska, two 45′ response boats and one 29′ response boat that patrols the enter Prince William Sound. The Coast Guard has members transferring in and out throughout the year, but there are generally 26 members at the small boat station, 15 aboard the Chandeleur, 25 at the Maritime Security Unit and 12 Members at the Sector Field Office. Many members are married with families so Coast Guard families attend Valdez Schools and work and volunteer in our community. Get to know some of the Coast Guard members living right here in Valdez by listening to the podcast interviews below. Read more about what they do below.
These Coast Guard Stories & Tributes brought to you by the City of Valdez Economic Development Department in partnership with NorthWave Communications. Special thanks to the USCG for facilitating these interviews and to Pete O’Brien and Samantha Hubbard for contributing pictures.
Coast Guard History
The Coast Guard has been in Alaska since before it was even recognized as a state. Coast Guard cutters have been patrolling the Bering Sea and bringing aid to the villages of rural Alaska dating back to the 1880s; several cutters have been home ported in Valdez, decommissioned and replaced over time. As commerce, recreation and the popularity of Alaska’s natural resources have exploded over the last 100 years the U.S. Coast Guard has continued to adapt and grow in order to protect the thousands of miles of coastline and the communities of Alaska.
US Coast Guard Role in Valdez
U.S. Coast Guard Forces Valdez makes up a large part of this local community. Our small town of Valdez has an economy that is primarily driven through the tourism industry, recreational and commercial fishing and the Alyeska Pipeline Terminal. As Alaska’s northern most ice free port, the Port of Valdez in Prince William Sound became the terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. The critical importance of a growing Coast Guard presence was evident after the Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef in 1989.
US Coast Guard & Oil Industry
Completed in 1977 the Trans-Alaska pipeline has pumped over 17 billion gallons of crude oil from Prudhoe Bay to be loaded onto tankers in the Port of Valdez bound for the east coast. The critical importance of a growing Coast Guard presence was evident after the Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef in 1989. After spilling approximately 30 million gallons of crude oil into the pristine waters of Prince William Sound it altered the ecosystem of the sound to a point where the effects are still being felt today. Billed as the second largest oil spill in U.S. history it spawned several changes in policy charging the Coast Guard to control and prevent another related spill from ever happening again in the waters of Prince William Sound.
US Coast Guard & 911
While Coast Guard small boats were present throughout the early years of Coast Guard Forces Valdez, it was not until the events of 9/11 that a need for maritime security and protection of the Alyeska Marine Terminal was evident. Shortly after the tragic events changed our country forever the Coast Guard formed a dedicated boat forces unit attached to MSU Valdez comprised of both Active and Reserve Coast Guard members. The boat detachment was tasked with a primary mission of the waterside security of the terminal and enforcing maritime security zones in and around the Port of Valdez. In 2004, Coast Guard Station Valdez was commissioned as a standalone multi mission unit and became the Coast Guards northern most Boat Forces unit.