John Devens, Sr.

John S. Devens, Sr. was the mayor of the City of Valdez, Alaska at the time of the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill and represented the city throughout the cleanup. During the cleanup, he helped form the Oiled Mayors Group, a coalition of leaders from oil communities responsible for managing community relations with Exxon Corporation and VECO. He also helped form the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council (PWSRCAC) and served as its Executive Director from 1997-2009. PWSRCAC is an independent non-profit citizens’ oversight group promoting the environmentally safe operation of the Alyeska Marine terminal and associated oil tankers in Valdez, Alaska. Throughout John's tenure as Executive Director, PWSRCAC made many contributions to improving the environmental safety of oil-industry operations in Prince William Sound including: the establishment and implementation of double-hull requirements; leading the effort for a world-class system of tanker escort tugs; a state-of-the-art radar system that detects glacial icebergs travelling through the tanker shipping lanes; and the installation of vapor controls on tanker loading berths at the Valdez Terminal to reduce the release of air pollution. John Devens, Sr. died on June 13, 2014 at the age of 74. For more about John Devens, Sr. see an article in the Anchorage Daily News newspaper.