Oil Spills: resources to follow breaking news online

When events like today's tanker grounding in Cook Inlet happen, you can learn more about what's going on than just waiting for the popular media to get there and you can gain important background that might be left out of media reports by doing some direct research online. Oil spills fall under the purview of a number of agencies. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation is the state agency responsible for enforcement actions in the case of spills. On their website, they post regular assessments and updates of ongoing spill responses. They also host the geographic response strategies that are plans specific to Alaskan coastal areas for dealing with active spills. There are specific response plans in place for Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound, the areas from which spills are most likely to affect the Seldovia area, and those GRS can be downloaded from those linked sites. When spills due to shipping occur in Cook Inlet, they are monitored by the Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council; when spills due to shipping occur in Prince William Sound or areas affected by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, such as Kodiak or lower Cook Inlet, they are monitored by the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council. Seldovia is represented on the CIRCAC board of directors by June Reuling; on the PWS RCAC board the Seldovia representative is Steve Lewis. Both representatives are charged with communicating to the city and community any situations in which oil spills might affect our local area. The Seldovia City Office or City Council and Mayor should receive updates from these individuals during active spills, but reports may also be available on the respective organizations' websites as events are followed. Other special interest groups may also post news of ongoing spill situations. Local environmental activists like Cook Inlet Keeper are often involved monitoring oil-related events. If events threaten Kachemak Bay, the Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve may also provide news related to reserve concerns. By visiting the sites of interest groups, a more nuanced picture of the impact of events can sometimes be derived. Lastly, photo repository sites such as flickr often contain images uploaded by participants and spectators as news breaks. Monitoring tags identifying obvious topics, such as oilspill or cookinlet, will give you an early and candid look at unfolding events. Finally, local media sources such as the Homer News, Homer Tribune, Peninsula Clarion and Anchorage Daily News all have online editions that may contain more detailed coverage than national media.