May 2024 Update:

Last June, we were joined by so many of you, our fellow Alaskans, at the Alaska Supreme Court to support the City of Valdez in its fight for public access to Hilcorp’s financial information.

We filled the courtroom and it made a difference.

On May 3, 2024, almost a year later, the Alaska Supreme Court issued an opinion that will allow the City of Valdez to continue that fight for transparency. This is a monumental win, overcoming some key procedural hurdles and allowing the case to proceed to the heart of the issue–Alaskans’ right to know basic financial information in the largest oil deal of our generation.

As a refresher, this case began in 2019, when publicly-traded BP announced that it planned to sell all of its Alaska assets–including its ownership share of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System–to a much smaller, privately-owned company with a history of safety violations and spills called Hilcorp. The Regulatory Commission of Alaska allowed Hilcorp to keep their financial data confidential in this deal, leaving the public unsure if the Texas-based company was financially fit to operate, maintain, and if needed, clean up a failure of this aging oil infrastructure. The City of Valdez challenged the secrecy of this sale, which eventually made it to the Alaska Supreme Court.

The Court’s decision allows the City of Valdez to continue pursuing transparency necessary to determine Hilcorp’s financial fitness to safely operate our state’s most important energy infrastructure. In the same decision, the Supreme Court rejected Valdez's request to access other confidential documents associated with the deal. But because the Court agreed that Valdez can proceed on the issue of Hilcorp’s financial and operational information, Valdez will continue to pursue its arguments in the trial court over the coming months. Access to Hilcorp’s financial statements could allow Valdez and others to participate in ongoing Regulatory Commission matters regarding the pipeline and the Valdez Marine Terminal and petition for appropriate conditions and safeguards.

AKPIRG is so grateful to everyone who answered our call to action last summer. By showing up to the hearing, we were able to effectively demonstrate the public’s interest in this case, which undoubtedly contributed to the favorable result. We are so proud of this community – thank you for continuing to advocate for transparency in Alaska’s energy future.

Alaskans deserve more than secret oil deals. Now is the time to buckle in for the road ahead as this case continues to unfold in earnest. We’ll be following the case closely and keep you updated. Thanks for being with us in this fight.