Leaky Tanker Will Move Nearer Shore to Ease Stress

Turbulent seas have peeled back a sixth piece of steel from the bottom of the Exxon Valdez, and the crippled tanker, now 52 miles offshore, will be moved in closer to relieve stress on its damaged hull, the Coast Guard said Saturday.

Bringing the beleagured ship, still sporadically discharging what U.S. Coast Guard and state officials believe is oil, closer to shore also will lessen the risks to divers, who will enter the Valdez’s cargo tanks today to gather residue samples, they said.

Collection and testing of samples of oil and other organic residue from inside the tanker may take up to 14 days, said U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Don Montoro. Until then, the 987-foot ship, which arrived off San Diego last Sunday, will continue to float at least about 30 miles west of Point Loma.

“We plan to keep it offshore as far as possible until more testing is completed. You’ve got to recognize that we’re not dealing with huge amounts of oil,” said Montoro. “We know what’s being emitted. We just don’t know how much toxicity is in it.”

Structural Integrity OK

Both the Coast Guard and Exxon Shipping Co. said the six plates, which must be removed to allow the ship to clear the San Diego Bay bottom, do not affect the ship’s structural integrity, and officials said they are not worried about the ship’s seaworthiness.

Long Beach Harbor has been ruled too shallow to allow the repairs, leaving Pirate Cove near San Clemente Island the leading candidate for the removal site, Coast Guard officials said.

But presuming a “worst-case scenario,” Montoro said, severe swells or weather conditions that could endanger the tanker’s crew could warrant bringing the ship into calmer waters, even if the discharge has not stopped.

Tests by both the Coast Guard and Amtech, an independent San Diego lab, on Friday revealed equal parts of both “very weathered and degraded crude oil” as well as living sea organisms in samples of a discharge Wednesday from the tanker, said Coast Guard Lt. Larry Solberg.

18-Mile-Long Slick

Scientists have estimated that about 630 gallons of material may have leaked from the Valdez on Monday, creating an 18-mile-long slick that has since disappeared. Three sheens trailing the Valdez as it moved farther out to sea during the week are no longer visible, either, although the ship continues to “burp” bluish-brown bubbles from its hull, Solberg said.

But Exxon officials on Saturday insisted that the Valdez was not leaking oil or harming the ocean environment.

“We say it’s predominantly algae, and, apparently, we’ve got some flaking hydrocarbon in it,” said Exxon Shipping Co. President Frank Iarossi. “But there is no significant pollution, and there has not been any significant pollution. There is no oil in the water.”

Iarossi said that waxy residue unable to be cleaned off the lower part of two of the ship’s damaged oil tanks could be flaking off. He said the toxicity of the flakes is insignificant.

Towed From Alaska

The tanker, which was towed from Alaska after hitting a reef and dumping 11 million gallons of crude oil along the Prince William Sound shoreline, was scheduled to enter San Diego Bay on Tuesday for a $25-million, 9-month repair job at National Steel and Shipbuilding Co., which built the vessel in 1986.

But the discovery Monday of the jutting steel plates, peeled back during the 2,200-mile trip to San Diego, and the slicks and discharges believed to be coming from the Valdez, have delayed its entry.

A state official Saturday strongly disputed Iarossi and said the state will be firm in its demands that the ship emit no discharge when it enters state waters--which extend 3 miles from shore--where it is expected to be moved to remove the steel plates.

“There was a spill of oil on Monday. We don’t have any information that says the spill didn’t come from the Valdez. Frankly, we’re quite uncomfortable with the situation as it is now,” said Reed Smith, pollution response coordinator for the state Department of Fish and Game.

State Files Suit

“Even though it is weathered oil, we feel there is pollution coming off at that level,” Smith said.

The state attorney general’s office filed suit late Friday against Exxon, demanding that the Valdez be prevented from entering state waters for repairs until state agencies are satisfied it would not cause any harm.

The complaint, which seeks an injunction from San Diego Superior Court, was issued by the state Lands Commission, the attorney general and the state Regional Water Quality Control Board in San Diego.

Smith said the Department of Fish and Game had been asked to join other agencies in filing the lawsuit late Friday, but had not been informed of the complaint’s demands.

Exxon Sent Letter

Exxon officials sent a letter to the attorney general’s office late Friday, offering “initial written agreement” to abide by state demands before moving the Valdez into state waters, said Exxon spokeswoman Jan Cool.

Cool said she was unsure how the letter will affect the injunction, and state officials could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Swells as high as 10 feet rocked the tanker Thursday night, and the 17-member crew reported hearing “loud banging noises,” presumably as the sixth piece of steel was being peeled from the hull, said Cmdr. Montoro. Exxon officials said Saturday that the crew reported hearing similar sounds June 24, a day after leaving Alaska for San Diego.

Those swells also bent the largest of the original jutting steel plates about 70 feet straight down, Montoro said. That, combined with the fact that 33 feet of the ship is below the water line, requires a water at least 110 feet deep to remove the plates, he said.

Environmentalists Concerned

Environmentalists continued to express concern about the Valdez on Saturday, and a local radio station announced that it is sponsoring a public protest Monday against the tanker’s entry into San Diego Bay.

“I remain extremely skeptical of Exxon’s assurances that everything’s hunky dory,” said Rick Nadeau, executive director of Greenpeace in San Diego. “It seems no matter what the evidence, they will continue to say there’s no oil on the ship.”