Quayle Tells Alaskans President Will Ensure Proper Oil Cleanup

After making a quick tour of the oil spill in Prince William Sound, Vice President Dan Quayle told Alaskans on Friday that President Bush “is very concerned about the environment” and that Bush “will make sure that the (cleanup) job is done and done right.”

The vice president stopped in Cordova, Alaska, on the way home to Washington from his 12-day trip to Asia. He traveled by helicopter and boat to Smith Island to pose for pictures on a stretch of beach blackened by the March 24 oil spill, the worst in U.S. history.

Aboard the Juneau, a Navy ship from San Diego chartered by Exxon to help out in the cleanup, Quayle talked briefly with crew members and then left them with this message: “Have a great day, and keep a stiff upper lip.”

Backed by U.S. Government

Later, during a post-midnight press conference here, Quayle declared that “the entire forces of the federal government are behind this project. . . . The President will use the powers of the presidency and the federal government to get Exxon to do the (cleanup) job.”

The vice president’s appearance here touched off a new round of debate among Alaskans over whether President Bush himself should have visited the oil spill to see the damage it has caused.

“We asked for No. 1, not No. 2,” Fred Fagg, who runs a refrigerator business in Cordova, grumbled as Quayle was emerging from Air Force Two.

On the other hand, standing on Smith Island, a cleanup worker named Walter Aytch--who had been required to wait in the twilight on the tar-filled rocks for more than two hours to greet the vice president--said he was glad it was Quayle and not Bush who had come to visit.

“If Bush came here, we’d probably have had to stand out here for 15 hours waiting for him,” said Aytch, a fisherman who is now being paid $16.69 an hour to help out in the cleanup effort.

Questions Center on Bush

During Quayle’s press conference, Alaskan reporters asked the vice president a barrage of questions about Bush’s stand on the environment and about why he had not come to Alaska.

“The President is going to benefit from me reporting directly to him when I arrive (in Washington),” Quayle answered. “ . . . He will be talking to me about it, he is keenly interested in this, he is plugged in and briefed on the details of the operations and he’s following it on a day-to-day basis.”

The vice president said also that Bush’s personal ties and career in the U.S. oil industry have not affected his handling of the Alaskan oil spill.

“Of course, he is concerned about energy independence. Of course, he’s concerned about how we’re going to have a proper source of energy to move this nation forward,” Quayle asserted.

“But he’s not going to compromise his environmental positions. They’re strong, and this disaster should not reflect in any way (on) his commitment to preserving and protecting the environment that we have.”

Without being specific, Quayle suggested that the Bush Administration will take a tough stand toward Exxon, the company whose tanker caused the spill.