2026 Knowles Head Exercise - Incident Update #2

• Four injuries associated with the response have been reported. Personnel have been evaluated and treated.

• Personnel are responding to reports of impacted wildlife. No wildlife has been captured or confirmed as oiled.
o Confirming, collecting and documenting impacted wildlife is done carefully by responders and can take time.
o To minimize stress and injury to oiled wildlife, members of the public are asked to not attempt to capture any oiled wildlife. This can endanger the safety of both the public and the animals.
o Personnel are standing by to receive impacted wildlife if needed. Other stabilization and treatment facilities are setting up.

• Maritime transportation remains open, however, the U.S. Coast Guard safety zone in place around the spill has been expanded to 5 miles by 10 miles. Transiting vessels must navigate around the zone.

• Fishing remains open in Port Valdez and Prince William Sound. However, do not eat any harvested food if you see, smell, or taste oil on it. Avoid setting gear or harvesting wherever oil sheens can be seen or smelled on the beach or water.

• A 5 mile by 10 mile and 5,000 foot temporary flight restriction zone is in place over the incident scene.

• More than 500 personnel are involved in the response, including in the field and at the Valdez-based command post.
o Adequate trained resources are available for the response. Volunteers are not requested at this time.

• The source has been controlled, and the vessel remains stable. A salvage plan and dive plan have been approved. Work is underway to further stabilize the vessel in preparation for lightering the remaining cargo.

• Six on-scene task force teams continue containment and recovery efforts:
o As of 2:45 a.m., 5 open water response task force crews have recovered approximately 3.5M gallons of oily water mix.
o When recovering oil, spill skimmers will usually collect some water at the same time as cleaning up the oil. The collected (emulsified) mixture is pumped by skimmers into storage- usually a large barge or tank for measurement at a later date.

• Tracking buoys are deployed to monitor the trajectory of the spill. Overflights are also being conducted.

• 660 feet of open water boom are deployed at the spill.

• 1,100 feet of near shore boom deployed.

• Environmentally sensitive areas have been identified at Knowles Bay. Vessels and personnel are deployed at those locations and are conducting exclusion booming, live deflection, and free oil recovery.

• 298 Vessels of Opportunity have been activated as part of the response.

• Seven staging areas are active in the vicinity of the response to support equipment and personnel deployments to the spill.

• A large vessel and a small vessel decontamination site have been set up. These sites allow vessels supporting the response to depart the spill site.
o Vessels leaving contaminated work sites are decontaminated prior to entering clean areas.
o The vessels enter a boomed area and undergo cleaning.
o Any oil from the vessels is trapped within the boomed decontamination area and removed by a skimmer.

• The Unified Command includes representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard, Alaska Dept. Of Environmental Conservation, and Fairwater Tankers Alaska LLC.

• The Trans Alaska Pipeline System remains operational.

• The claims line has changed: 1-877-664-5044.

Background:
At approximately 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 12, the tanker T/V Western Sea was involved in a collision while anchored in Prince William Sound, in the vicinity of Knowles Head, causing a spill of crude oil to water.
The Tanker Western Sea is owned by Fairwater Tankers Alaska LLC. Fairwater is taking responsibility for responding to the incident.
The volume capacity of the two damaged cargo tanks is 5.88 million gallons. At departure from the Valdez Marine Terminal there were approximately 31 million gallons onboard.

The cause of the incident is under investigation. A separate unit of the U.S. Coast Guard (not involved in the response efforts) is the entity leading the investigation. To ensure accuracy, findings will be released when the investigation is completed.

Individuals involved with the incident were tested for drugs and alcohol as part of the incident investigation.
The Unified Command will not release information about the ongoing investigation.

The Unified Command is committed to open communication with the public throughout the response. The phone number for the PIO is 907-834-6990. Additional information will be released as it becomes available. For updates, please check the response website at www.crisispigeondemo.com

A claims number is established: 1-877-664-5044.