Panel hears report on oil tanks threatened by Alaska volcano
by The Associated Press
Jun 19, 2010 | 1120 views | 1 1 comments | 9 9 recommendations | email to a friend | print
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A new report on the potential for a disastrous oil spill during the 2009 Mount Redoubt eruption has sparked debate over whether there's been enough citizen oversight.

Board member Bob Shavelson of the Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council criticized the board Friday for being beholden to Chevron.

Chevron owns the 1960s-era Drift River Oil Terminal and its tank farm located downriver from an active volcano.

"This is a breeding ground of complacency," Shavelson said of the council.

Board President Grace Merkes didn't address his concerns and called for a vote to accept the report even as Shavelson was speaking, their voices rising.

She later told the Anchorage Daily News she listens to Shavelson's opinions but added that he could be removed from the board for criticizing it.

The council was one of two citizen oversight panels mandated by Congress in the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989.

The report released Friday noted mudflows from a 1989-90 eruption damaged the facility but no oil was spilled. Officials, fishermen and others were on edge for weeks when Mount Redoubt erupted again in 2009 though no oil was spilled then.

Chevron and the Coast Guard initially refused to say how much oil was in the two active tanks, citing anti-terrorism laws. They later said the tanks contained 6 million gallons.

Shavelson said spill response teams only have the capacity to pick up and store half that much oil.

The board accepted the report on a 9-1 vote with Shavelson opposing it.

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TheAlaskaCurmudgeon
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June 19, 2010
If you can't trust an oil company, who can you trust?
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