Exxon Seeks to Assuage Environmental Fears Over Damaged Tanker

Exxon executives met with San Diego environmentalists Tuesday to offer assurances that the Exxon Valdez--the oil tanker that caused a mammoth oil spill off the Alaskan coast in March--will pose no environmental hazard to San Diego Bay when the vessel is towed here for repairs next month.

Jay Powell of the Environmental Health Coalition and Joan Jackson of the Sierra Club met with Exxon Shipping Co. President Frank J. Iarossi at the National Steel & Shipbuilding Co. yard. According to both environmentalists, Iarossi requested the meeting.

Nassco built the Valdez in 1986 and has been contracted to do the repairs, which will cost about $25 million and take nine months to complete. Exxon has applied for a Coast Guard permit to tow the vessel 2,500 miles from Prince William Sound in Alaska to San Diego. Iarossi said the company expects to get the permit later this month, and it will take about three weeks to make the trip.

Cleansed of Oil

At a press conference Monday, Iarossi said the giant tanker has been cleansed of oil residue inside and out. According to Iarossi, the tanks in which the crude oil was stored have been thoroughly cleaned, and traces of oil amount to about one part per million.

However, environmentalists said they are still concerned about the possibility that the Valdez could pollute harbor waters. Despite assurances from Iarossi that the ship is not a pollution threat, both Powell and Jackson said they will wait until they review an Exxon-sponsored study of the towing operation before making further comments.

They said that Iarossi promised to make available to them a 70-page report that was also made available to the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard has proclaimed the vessel seaworthy.

Powell criticized the San Diego Unified Port District’s apparent lack of involvement in planning the towing project.

Port District Notified

“Both representatives (from Exxon and Nassco) came into the port and notified us,” Port District spokesman Jim Anderson said. “We asked for some kind of assurance that it would pose no environmental problems. The two parties said they would be getting Coast Guard clearance that the ship would pose no pollution problems.”

Powell argued that the Port District should have played a more active role in the negotiations to bring the Valdez to San Diego.

“They’re relying on the Coast Guard to make the call on this and not being pro-active,” Powell said. “They shouldn’t do business this way. . . . The port should be demanding a more thorough review of this thing. They should send their own guys to look at the ship and decide if it’s a threat.”

Powell added that his group also has reservations about the sudden announcement by Exxon executives that the Valdez will be repaired at Nassco and the fact that they did not solicit public comment.

“We’re still very uncomfortable about the way Exxon handled it,” Powell said. “They basically popped this on everybody. . . . They said this is the way they wanted to do it; do it all at once and let everybody know at the same time. . . . Basically, nobody had any say in the matter except Exxon and Nassco.”

On Tuesday, Port District spokesman Anderson said Port officials were notified that the Valdez was being towed to San Diego shortly before the company made the decision public at a Monday-afternoon press conference at Nassco.