Additional oil response capability needed in Alaska

September 21st 5:51 pm | Denise Krepp ? ?

Much attention has been focused on the Department of Interior's decision to allow Shell to begin drilling off of the Alaskan coast. Surprisingly, little attention has been paid to the Coast Guard's ability to respond to any oil spills that might occur as a result of this additional drilling. The Coast Guard is the lead agency for Federal oil spill response and it does not currently have enough assets in place to respond in a timely manner to a significant oil spill in Alaskan waters.

When building new subdivisions, land developers construct new fire houses. Similar thinking was not applied to the development of the Chukchi Sea. In 2008, the Federal government auctioned off leases to drill in the area. Shell, Statoil, ConoccoPhillips, and others bid over 2.6 billion dollars for the opportunity to drill. None of this money went to building additional Coast Guard vessels that could be used to respond to an oil spill.

Today, the Coast Guard only has twelve large ships stationed in Alaska; to cover over 33,00 miles of coastline. Two of the twelve, a flight-deck equipped cutter and a 225-foot buoy tender with some ice capabilities have been dedicated to the Shell operation. There is no clear indication whether the remaining ten will be similarly dedicated to the future Statoil and ConoccoPhillips operations. If they are, the Coast Guard's ability to fulfill its remaining missions including aids to navigation; fisheries and customs enforcement; and search and rescue will be severely hampered.

The Coast Guard should not attempt to close the asset gap by moving ships and helicopters from the lower 48 states to Alaska during the summer drilling months. Similarly, the Coast Guard should not plan on surging assets from the lower 48 states if an oil spill were to occur in Alaska. The summer months are prime hurricane months and the Coast Guard had to surge helicopters from Alaska to assist with Hurricane Katrina.

Instead of moving around its limited assets, the Coast Guard should work with the Department of Interior to use the funds gained from the drilling leases to finance additional Coast Guard ships and helicopters. Shell is merely the first company to begin drilling. ConoccoPhilips wants to begin drilling in 2014 and others soon after. Given the long construction time for these additional assets, the collaboration between the two federal entities should occur immediately.

Lastly, the Department of Interior should clearly assess the state of the Coast Guard assets in Alaska before approving ConoccoPhillips permit application. If two of the current twelve ships are dedicated to the Shell drilling operation then there are two less to dedicate to ConoccoPhillips and the remainder of the Coast Guard mission requirements. These missions requirements are equally as important as responding to oil spills and are equally as important in bringing in jobs and money to the state of Alaska.

Denise Krepp is the former Chief Counsel, U.S. Maritime Administration and Senior Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee

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Source: http://www.thebristolbaytimes.com/article/1238additional_oil_response_capability_needed_in

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