The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation is still working through a regulatory review of the state’s oil spill prevention and response laws. The department announced the review in December of 2019, citing a perceived burden to industry.

ADEC Program Manager Graham Wood told us at the most recent council meeting in August that the timeline for completing the review has been pushed back, at least until the end of 2020.

Alaska’s spill response laws have been on the books for decades, with regular reviews and amendments over the years. That work has resulted in a suite of regulations that ensure the risk of any oil spill in Cook Inlet is greatly reduced and, in the event of an incident, response is swift and effective.

While no specific changes have been made public at this time, CIRCAC maintains its position that any changes should be no weakening of Alaska’s oil spill prevention laws. We support current standards and contingency plan regulations and only support changes that would improve Alaska’s spill response capabilities. We look forward to working with the state to strengthen Alaska’s model for spill response and prevention.