The Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council contracted Nuka Research to create a report that tells a compelling story of how regulators, politicians, oil industry executives, and international spill response experts came together to analyze the response capacity of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. This report looked closely at the history and legislative intent behind the actions taken following the oil spill.
Elise DeCola and Tim Robertson interviewed key participants who played an essential role in creating a more robust response capacity and who were nearing the end of their careers. The broader response community found it imperative to rely on these participants’ firsthand recollections and capture their knowledge in this report to understand the “why” behind Alaska’s response standards.