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Oil Spill Demo Coming To Dillingham

Credit: DEC

State officials will be in Dillingham next week to demonstrate oil clean up equipment and techniques. 

You think of an oil spill, perhaps images from the Exxon Valdez come to mind. Maybe something like the Deepwater Horizon a few years ago. But really, spills are far smaller than those events. They’re also far more frequent. Dr. Rick Bernhardt is the Scientific Support Unit Manager at the Department of Environmental Conservation.

“On average, we have about 2,000 spills reported to the Department of Environmental Conservation every year, and most of those are just teeny-tiny spills.”

Case in point, a recent spill at the Drift River Terminal on the West Side of Cook Inlet. An over-pressurized line caused 14 gallons of crude oil to collect in a valve box. One gallon spilled on the ground. But that sort of highlights the point of the exercises planned for Dillingham. Sure, most spills are small. But compounded a couple thousand times, it can add up to a lot of environmental damage. That’s why DEC has shipping containers across the state stocked with clean up materials.

“We have 56 of these containers throughout the state. We like to consider them regional resources. We have two in Dillingham, but if a neighboring community had an oil spill, they are available for regional use.”

They’re full of things like absorbent and containment booms, storage tanks and the like. And next Tuesday, for anyone who’s interested, Dr. Bernhardt will be in town to talk about spill response and demonstrate how to use some of that stuff. There will be a two hour presentation at the bingo hall in Dillingham and more hands-on activities at the Harbor to follow.