Bush Vows Greater Federal Role in Oil Cleanup

President Bush, insisting that he has not waited too long, pledged on Friday that the federal government would now assume a greater role in bringing about “the complete restoration of the ecology and the economy of Prince William Sound” in Alaska, fouled in last month’s oil spill.

“The job of cleaning up the oil from both the sea and the affected land areas will be massive, prolonged and frustrating. Nothing we can do will totally resolve this problem in the short-term. Rather, we must be prepared for a long, sustained effort,” said Bush, who has been criticized for waiting two weeks before stepping up federal control over the cleanup effort.

Bush said that as part of the increased federal role, he dispatched Adm. Paul Yost Jr., the Coast Guard commandant, to lead the cleanup effort and said that military personnel and federal equipment would be used in “direct cleanup activities.”

The President also called for a program of enlisting volunteers to help in the cleanup during the summer, and ordered a nationwide review of plans to deal with such environmental emergencies.

Troops’ Role Uncertain

Military officials predicted that as many as 1,500 troops may eventually be deployed, but they and other government officials in Washington and Alaska remained uncertain whether troops would actually join crews cleaning beaches and wildlife, as some had believed Thursday, or would provide logistic support.

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney portrayed the Pentagon’s role as largely one of support, involving cargo flights, the expansion of the limited-operation Valdez Airport, and the use of Navy vessels “to house, feed and provide comfort for those who are involved in the cleanup effort.”

Officials said it was unknown how much the overall effort would cost and how long it would take.

Alaska Gov. Steve Cowper hailed the President’s announcement.

“It appears the President is meeting the objectives we have in asking the Coast Guard to take over the oil spill cleanup,” he said.

Bush and other Administration officials, defending the pace of the government’s involvement, said their first goal had been to see that the oil remaining on the disabled Exxon Valdez was removed safely and that the tanker was extricated from the reef it had struck in the sound.

The Exxon Corp., which owns the tanker, directed that recovery effort, which has been completed.

The next step, the officials said, was the long-term task of sopping up the 2,500-square-mile oil slick caused by the 10-million-gallon spill and restoring the once-pristine beaches and rocky coves.

However, critics in Washington and Alaska were not convinced that the response was sufficient.

Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), chairman of the House Interior Committee’s subcommittee on water, power and offshore energy resources, completed a tour of the spill area and said through an aide in Washington: “The situation . . . is still out of control but we welcome any response. Tragically the Administration has been paralyzed in making decisions on the spill for the past two weeks.”

He and others in Congress and in Alaska have maintained that the federal government should have stepped in to directly coordinate the cleanup immediately after the accident, rather than allowing Exxon to retain extensive control.

Bush, responding to such complaints in his White House news conference, asserted that federal “action started immediately.”

“The big thing was to get the ship--stop the hemorrhaging and get that ship moved,” he said, and Exxon did so.

Reflecting its expanded role, the Pentagon announced that it had created a joint task force, commanded by Lt. Gen. Thomas G. McInerny, head of the Alaskan Air Command. An initial task was to coordinate the use of 675 tons of military oil-skimming equipment, including 20 boats and 22,000 feet of oil-trapping booms already in Alaska.

McInerny, accompanied by two colonels, arrived at the Coast Guard building in Valdez three hours after Bush made his announcement.

The general, said Coast Guard spokesman Rick Meidt, “made it clear he has literally the whole armed forces to draw from--people to hardware.”

Bush said that the oil spill has not dissuaded him from pressing ahead with plans to explore for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or off the coasts of California and Florida.

“I don’t think that you can predicate a sound national energy policy on an aberration that seemed to have taken place in Prince William Sound. For those that do, I say, please, let me follow logically. Are you suggesting because of the alleged human error of a pilot of a ship in Prince William Sound that we shut down all the offshore production in the Gulf of Mexico? Is that the suggestion? If so, I oppose it.”

Staff writers Melissa Healy and Paul Houston in Washington and Larry B. Stammer and Mark A. Stein in Alaska contributed to this story.