Enrolled HJR 19: Recognizing the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill and supporting the continued practice of accompanying each oil tanker through Prince William Sound with at least a two vessel escort.
00Enrolled HJR 19 01 Recognizing the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill and supporting the continued 02 practice of accompanying each oil tanker through Prince William Sound with at least a two 03 vessel escort. 04 _______________ 05 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 06 WHEREAS March 24, 2009, marks the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil 07 spill; and 08 WHEREAS the Exxon Valdez oil spill was the worst oil tanker spill in the history of 09 the United States, discharging 10,800,000 gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound and 10 contaminating approximately 1,300 miles of Alaska coastline; and 11 WHEREAS, since the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, the Alyeska Pipeline Service 12 Company and the crude oil shippers have created a world-class oil spill prevention and 13 response system in Prince William Sound; and 14 WHEREAS the oil tanker vessels transiting Prince William Sound are increasingly of 15 a double-hulled design, as required by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990; and 16 WHEREAS the Prince William Sound oil tanker escort vessels provide immediate,
01 on-scene response should a spill occur; and 02 WHEREAS all loaded oil tankers, including double-hulled oil tankers, are currently 03 escorted by at least two escort vessels through Prince William Sound; and 04 WHEREAS the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 mandates that only single-hulled tankers of 05 5,000 gross tons or more be escorted by at least two escort vessels while in Prince William 06 Sound; and 07 WHEREAS there is no assurance in any state or federal law or regulation that each oil 08 tanker in Prince William Sound will continue to be escorted by at least two escort vessels 09 capable of providing immediate spill prevention and response; and 10 WHEREAS, since the implementation of the two-vessel escort system in Prince 11 William Sound, there have been no major oil spills, and potential accidents have been reduced 12 to near misses; and 13 WHEREAS double hulls are not a perfect prevention measure, and it would be 14 imprudent to alter a proven oil spill prevention and response program based solely on 15 improvements in oil tanker vessel engineering and design; 16 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature supports the continued practice 17 in Prince William Sound of accompanying each loaded oil tanker, whether single-hulled or 18 double-hulled, with at least two escort vessels. 19 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of 20 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and 21 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Janet Napolitano, United States Secretary of 22 Homeland Security; Admiral Thad W. Allen, Commandant of the United States Coast Guard; 23 the Honorable Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska; Kevin Hostler; President and Chief Executive 24 Officer, Alyeska Pipeline Service Company; Anil Mathur, Chief Executive Officer, Alaska 25 Tanker Company; George P. McShea, Jr., Vice-President of Operations, Polar Tankers Inc.; 26 Stu McRobbie, Vice-President of Operations, SeaRiver Maritime; Tim Plummer, President, 27 Tesoro Maritime Company; Jeff Williams, Environmental Manager, Chevron Shipping 28 Company; and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. 29 Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska 30 delegation in Congress.