Soviet Ship Begins Skimming Oil as Lujan Arrives to Tour Region

A Soviet oil-skimmer on Thursday began pumping up part of America’s worst oil spill, while a second Cabinet officer began a tour of the region.

The 425-foot Soviet skimmer Vaidogubsky began working at the mouth of Resurrection Bay, where streamers of oil that have escaped from Prince William Sound into the Gulf of Alaska were being scattered by strong wind and currents.

From there, the skimmer was expected to move along the southern edge of the Kenai Peninsula, including Kenai Fjords National Park. State officials said oil up to six inches deep has been reported on beaches around Gore Point, about 90 miles southwest of Seward.

Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr. arrived Thursday in Valdez, headquarters of the cleanup effort and southern terminus of the trans-Alaska pipeline, from which the tanker Exxon Valdez was loaded with crude oil before ripping its hull on a reef 25 miles out into the sound on March 24.

“We’ve obviously got the people and the technology, now it’s a matter of will power to get the (cleanup) job done,” Lujan said after visiting an otter cleaning center in Valdez.

“This is going to require massive resources and a lot of good judgment calls,” he said.

Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner came to Alaska on President Bush’s behalf a week after the spill and said he was generally satisfied with Exxon’s response. But he took a tougher stance when he testified before the Senate this week.

Describing the oil industry’s contingency spill response plan, Skinner said: “On the scale of one to 10, it was a zero.”

The Soviet skimmer ship was called in because the small boats available in Alaska can handle seas only to about five feet.

SOVIET OIL SKIMMING SHIP

The Vaidogubsky, a 425-foot, oil skimmer/dredge, can capture 200,000 gallons of crude from the high seas each hour and can store up to 2 million gallons in its tanks.

1--The ship swings out long poles on each side. They attach to an oil-gathering boom which corrals oil as the vessel moves through the water.

2--Floating suction pumps or “weir” skimmers are then lowered into the captured oil.

3--The oil is then pumped through hoses into the vessel’s tanks.