The ARCO exercise focused on identifying, ranking, and protecting environmentally sensitive shorelines. The council assisted in communication with local communities and promoted the use of local knowledge in the process. A complete report on the ARCO drill will be completed during the summer of 1999. The citizens' council has long advocated for exercising the MAC in drills, and participated in it fully during the ARCO drill. The council monitors accidents, oil spills, port closures and potential problems at the Valdez marine terminal or on tankers or escort vessels in the council region.
Information is relayed to the council's member organizations.
When appropriate, the council solicits advice and suggestions from the communities and forwards them to the incident command. The council has its own Emergency Response Plan to govern its work during an oil spill or other incident. No major oil spills occurred in the council region during the past year. Council volunteers observed and reported on the response to the New Carissa spill near Coos Bay, Oregon, and the incident was reviewed by the council. Hence, the council works to ensure that programs are in place to train full-time response personnel, as well as the fishing vessel crews and other emergency response workers identified in the plans.