The mission of the Alaska Forum for Environmental Responsibility [Alaska Forum] is to hold industry and government accountable to the laws designed to safeguard Alaska`s environment, worker safety, and public health. We do so by:
–protecting the rights of conscientious government and industry workers to speak the truth without fear of harassment and retaliation;
–ensuring that the problems identified by whistle-blowers are addressed by industry and government monitors;
–educating the public about whistleblower concerns; and
–promoting sensible, sustainable natural resource management.
The Alaska Forum was founded by Riki Ott, Stan Stephens, and Dan Lawn — three Alaskans who took on big oil and won. Because of the leadership roles they played in citizen and government oversight of oil industry operations in Prince William Sound, Alyeska [the company that operates the Trans-Alaska Pipeline] conducted illegal surveillance to track their activities, suspecting [correctly] that they were in contact with Alyeska`s conscientious employees. Riki, Stan, and Dan won a financial settlement against Alyeska for its illegal surveillance. They used the settlement funds to launch the Alaska Forum in September 1994.
Since then, the Alaska Forum has worked with numerous whistleblowers in Alaska`s oil industry. The Alaska Forum provides confidential advice and support to concerned employees in Alaska and, when necessary, refers them on to attorneys experienced in whistleblower litigation. We work closely with the Government Accountability Project and serve as the Alaska chapter of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.