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Video by Petty Officer 1st Class Nate Littlejohn

Coast Guard wraps up 2019 statewide inspection initiative in Alaska

U.S. Coast Guard District 17

Dec. 18, 2019 | 3:02

The area of responsibility for Coast Guard Sector Anchorage is by far the largest and most remote of any Coast Guard sector in the U.S. Capt. Sean MacKenzie, sector commander, exercises authority in a jurisdiction extending throughout Western Alaska to the North Slope, and from the Aleutian Islands through Prince William Sound—an area that covers approximately 5.3 million square miles and more than 35,000 miles of shoreline.

Within this area of responsibility are fuel facilities that are critical to the survival of communities in Western Alaska, where fuel in sub-freezing winter months is essential to home heating and subsistence. Many of these fuel facilities have experienced some degree of deterioration over time, from fatiguing metal to eroding shorelines and tundra upheavals, all of which impact infrastructure stability and longevity.

The majority of these facilities are also unreachable by automobile. In 2019, Coast Guard Sector Anchorage personnel executed an innovative plan to assess these remote facilities in order to determine their condition and identify facilities vulnerable to oil spills.

U.S. Coast Guard video by Petty Officer 1st Class Nate Littlejohn