The Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council has earned U.S. Coast Guard recertification for another year. This certification allows CIRCAC to continue monitoring oil facility operations and marine transportation in accordance with the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. 

“Coast Guard approval reflects continuing support for the work we’ve been doing — and the manner in which we’ve been doing it — to protect Cook Inlet,” said CIRCAC Executive Director Mike Munger. “In addition to ongoing oil discharge prevention and contingency plan review, environmental monitoring, and ensuring industry spill preparedness, we have recently worked to strengthen spill prevention measures at the Drift River Oil Terminal, promote our position in support of a subsea pipeline as an alternative to future Drift River terminal and tanker operations, and have made significant progress toward completing a Cook Inlet navigational risk assessment.” 

CIRCAC is a nonprofit corporation organized exclusively for the oversight, monitoring, assessing and evaluation of oil spill prevention, safety and response plans, terminal and oil tanker operations, and environmental impacts of oil tanker and oil terminal operations in Cook Inlet. 

 

The council consists of 13 members representing boroughs, cities and municipalities, as well as Alaska Native, commercial fishing, aquaculture, tourism, recreational and environmental groups in the Cook Inlet region.

By law, Cook Inlet RCAC must recertify every year with the U.S. Coast Guard to insure that it is meeting the mandates spelled out in OPA ‘90 and representing the interests of the communities within the vicinity of oil terminal operations.