The Operations Control Center OCC is the brains of the pipeline, a nucleus where round-the-clock controllers have eagle eyes and ears on alarms, valves, pipeline pressure, tanks, and every other indicator and measure of operations one can imagine. For years now, the OCC and its team have operated in Anchorage. But for decades after startup, the Valdez Marine Terminal was home. It enjoyed incomparable views, but also a leaky ceiling, and supporting infrastructure was insufficient to upgrade control systems.
In the early s, a plan to move the facility to Anchorage began to unfold. The OCC move was physical and cultural. While the final cutover occurred in , saw the bulk of the work, building, testing, and employee relocating.
For this retrospective on , the following individuals shared memories of work to relocate the OCC. Kevin: There were several drivers for moving OCC, and the biggest one was the building needed to be replaced. The roof leaked and had some structural damage. The building we were in had reached the end of its life. Rod: In heavy snow years β and there were a lot β they would wash the snow off of the roofs of the Valdez OCC from the firewater system on Terminal.
It would show the sag of the roof. Kevin: One year, a controller went back in the server room after a typical Valdez snowstorm and the tape measure had pushed down about an inch below the shovel roof mark.
Eliza: We needed a new OCC and there many changes that were going to be happening where we were going to need more support personnel. When it rained in Valdez, and it rained a lot, we had to place trash cans where the roof was leaking. There was a leak near a smoke room that was next to the pipeline console. Needless to say, we needed a new control room! Kevin: I arrived at the new facility in early June with several of my coworkers who were also testing the new control system software.
