ANCHORAGE, AK – MARCH 15, 2000 – Alyeska Pipeline Service Company and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation have reached a Settlement Agreement stemming from a 1996 leak along the trans-Alaska pipeline. Under the terms of the agreement, Alyeska agrees to make a monetary payment to the ADEC and complete a supplemental environmental project.

On April 20, 1996, an Alyeska crew discovered a check valve (CV-92) was discharging crude oil. The valve is located on a buried section of the pipeline 90 miles north of Glennallen (MP 594).  Approximately 38,750 gallons of oil was discharged. The leak was traced to a faulty plug in a bypass line that runs on either side of the check valve. Immediately after discovering the leak, Alyeska initiated a program to inspect all other check valves. Those valves were not leaking.

The 80 check valves on the pipeline are used to isolate oil in the line in case of a shutdown or leak, to keep oil from moving backward.

The settlement includes the following:

• $138,000 payment to be placed in the state oil and hazardous substance release prevention and response fund. This fund provides money for the protection of the environment by financing spill prevention activities undertaken by the state as appropriated by the legislature.
  

• A supplemental environmental project which includes response training in ten rural Alaska villages and the purchase and placement of spill response caches to respond to spills from fuel trucks and other individuals on state highways.

Alyeska President Bob Malone said, “Alyeska employees identified the leak, led the cleanup and followed up by inspecting other check valves for problems, and found none. The incident confirmed that our internal system for identifying spills is in place. This was an unfortunate incident and we’re sorry that it happened, but we are confident it was an isolated event.

Back to top