Alaska Claims Exxon Is Not Paying for Lost Tourism, Despite Promises

Despite assurances by Exxon executives, the oil company has not been paying tourism-related losses attributed to the nation’s worst oil spill, state officials and business operators say.

Ron Clarke, a special assistant to Gov. Steve Cowper, said there are wide disparities between what top Exxon officials are saying publicly and what is happening to the claims of tourism operators.

“Depending on who you talk to, you get different answers,” Clarke said Thursday.

Bill Tribble, manager of Exxon’s Valdez claims office, said the company gives priority to “on-the-water” claims, and that claims covering tourism losses on shore will be handled later.

Tourism is a billion-dollar-a-year industry in Alaska. Many segments already are taking a beating from the spill, which fouled hundreds of miles of beaches along Prince William Sound and the southern Alaska coast.

Sport fishing guides, tour boat and bus tour operators are reporting a run of cancellations, and a sharp decrease in the number of bookings they normally would be taking this time of year.

Exxon agreed this week to finance a $4-million media blitz aimed at key markets across the country that contribute about one-third of the state’s visitors each year.

But that general assistance apparently isn’t being translated to individual situations.

Glenn Williams, who runs bus tours out of Eagle River to Homer, Seward and Prince William Sound, said he submitted two claims, totaling more than $30,000, for tours canceled as a direct result of the spill.

He said his claims were rejected by Exxon, and he was told by a claims adjuster that “nobody in tourist-related businesses falls under the (reimbursement) guidelines at this time.”

“I know there’s a lot of people losing a lot of bookings,” Williams said. “Our phones just stopped ringing about three weeks ago.”

Exxon spokesman Tribble insisted no such claims have been denied, but acknowledged they haven’t been paid either. He said the company’s emphasis at this point is to take care of commercial fishermen and tour boat operators.

“We haven’t addressed any type of off-water claims yet,” said Tribble. “I’m not saying we’re not going to.”

“Tourism in Alaska is much bigger than me or you or this man with his 21-day tour,” Tribble said. “I don’t have the authority to make that decision.”

Asked who did have the authority, Tribble replied: “I don’t know.”

Clarke said he couldn’t see any difference between a commercial fisherman’s claim and one from a bus tour operator like Williams or a sport fishing guide who lost clients because of the spill.

Clarke said the problem has been particularly severe in Cordova, a community almost entirely dependent on commercial fishing.

He said Exxon had announced earlier Thursday that it would pay claims only to fishermen and processors, and not to “Main Street businesses” like restaurants, grocery stores and hardware stores, even though they are totally dependent on fishermen.

“After considerable haranguing from a lot of quarters,” Exxon reversed itself, and said it would pay claims for those businesses in Cordova, Clarke said.

He said the state has a written agreement with Exxon promising to pay the secondary claims in Cordova.

Clarke said the governor’s office will continue to try to make claims officers follow the policies enunciated publicly by Exxon executives.

“When it gets right down to filing claims, it is something very different,” Clarke said of Exxon’s actions. “There’s a little fancy footwork going on.”

Clarke said the spill chill has stretched as far south as Ketchikan where sport fishing guides have reported cancellations, even though the oil is 700 miles to the northwest.

“The lack of knowledge of Alaska geography is working against us,” Clarke said.