The Nation : Soviet Oil-Skimming Ship Joins Cleanup

A Soviet ship that can skim oil on the high seas joined the war against the United States’ worst oil spill, docking in Seward, named for the man who bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. The 11,400-ton 425-foot-long Vaidogubsky steamed 30 miles up fjord-like Resurrection Bay under a cloudy sky, flying the Soviet hammer and sickle from its stern and an American flag from its towering white superstructure. In Washington, meanwhile, Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner told the Senate that industry plans for dealing with an Alaskan oil spill had been a “zero” on a scale of one to 10. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the environmental protection subcommittee, said the response to the spill has demonstrated “a complete breakdown” of the procedures that were supposed to have been in effect since the federal government approved the Alaskan pipeline 16 years ago.