Analyzing Risk to Improve Oil Spill Planning and Response
Tools to help plan for oil spill response along the sensitive coastlines of Alaska.
A Sensitive Environment
Alaska's waters are rich in biological resources that are sensitive to spilled oil. These waters are also host to oil exploration and production activities and heavy vessel traffic. They are bordered by land-based facilities that transfer, store, and handle oil. This combination of sensitive resources and potential oil spill sources increases the risk of a damaging spill.
Due to increases in ship traffic, new areas open to oil leases, and anticipated future increases in shipping and oil exploration, we need a strategic methodology for focusing our oil spill preparedness work. With Alaska's expansive coastline, this risk analysis will allow for NOAA and other state, federal, tribal and public organizations to identify and focus on areas of high risk and environmental vulnerability.
The Selendang Ayu, a cargo ship that ran aground, resulting in a large oil spill.
Alaska Oil Spill Analysis
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Fact Sheet: Alaska Oil Spill Risk Analysis, November 2014 (PDF, 2 pages)
- Presentation on the Assessment of Marine Oil Spill Risk and Environmental Vulnerability for the State of Alaska, September 2014 (PDF, 35 pages)
- Assessment of Marine Oil Spill Risk and Environmental Vulnerability for the State of Alaska - Final Report, September 2014 (PDF, 133 pages)
- Appendix A - Incident Rate and Spill Volume Analysis (PDF, 246 pages)
- Appendix B - Project References (PDF, 36 pages)
- Appendix C - Project Database Documentation (PDF, 16 pages)
- Appendix D - Model Data Inputs (PDF, 170 pages)
Risk Analysis Calculator
The Alaska Oil Spill Risk Analysis Calculator is a tool to enable strategic planning for geographic locations based on environmental vulnerability, theoretical spill sizes, and spill probabilities. It is the first step in narrowing the focus on certain regions for certain spill types. The next step will be to work in these broad regions to focus on likely impacts to species and habitats in Alaska. Our analysis looks at the risk of an oil spill happening today and an assessment of future risk for the year 2025.
- Risk Calculator: (.zip file, 21 MB) Download .zip file. Extract and save the files to the same folder. Once they are in the same folder, run the .exe.