Unalaska, AK – The Aleutian Islands Risk Assessment management team has selected an advisory panel facilitator. The Nuka Research and Planning Group will help jump start the risk assessment development process by creating criteria for selecting the advisory panel. Coast Guard commander James Robertson said the Nuka Group will take on a large administrative and technical role that the management team cannot handle alone.

"They are going to be a conduit between the management team, the advisory panel, and ultimately the contractor that will be hired later to do the full-blown assessment," Robertson said.

The team chose Nuka because of their experience in the Aleutians. The company's manager in Seldovia, Tim Robertson (no relation), helped facilitate the Selendang Ayu clean up and is familiar with local stakeholders and their concerns.

"He stepped into a chaotic situation and became a calming force and channeled everybody to be productive instead of boiled in conflict," explained the commander.

The Selendang Ayu grounding in December of 2004 prompted the risk assessment. When the vessel split in half it spilled 336,000 gallons fuel near Unalaska Island and garnered a government response.

"The Coast Guard was tapped by Congress to do a risk assessment because we really don't have a good grasp of the amount of shipping that's moving through, the cargo they're carrying, and threats that are posed by the shipping going through the Great Circle Route, both the northern and the southern routes."

The management team, which includes the Coast Guard, the state's Department of Environmental Conservation, and the non-profit National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, said the process will include multiple public hearings and the assessment should be released in 18 months.