Valdez Leaks Put Lawmakers in Lather

State legislators criticized the Coast Guard and several state agencies Tuesday for an uncoordinated response to discharges by the Exxon Valdez off the San Diego coast and called for reforms of oil-spill prevention and response measures.

During a hearing in San Diego of the Assembly Select Committee on Oil-Spill Prevention and Response Preparedness, Assembly members heard testimony from several agencies involved in bringing the Valdez to San Diego, and criticized most for their performance.

“We’ve got a whole bunch of agencies that are supposed to be ready to respond, and it’s nebulous who’s got the responsibility,” Assemblyman Gerald Felando (R-San Pedro) said. “I don’t think any of them performed above a ‘C.’ ”

Assemblyman Ted Lempert (D-San Mateo), chairman of the committee, added: “Everybody we heard from this morning, I and other members of the committee found fault with. What should have been a relatively minor incident was not handled very well.”

But representatives of state agencies maintained that they had not mishandled the situation, and Exxon Shipping Co. officials defended their own actions.

Statement by Exxon Spokesman

“I think everything that can reasonably be done, both on Exxon’s standpoint and the state’s, has been done,” Tom Gillette, the company’s external affairs adviser, told the committee.

The crippled Valdez drifted about 4 miles off San Clemente Island Tuesday while divers trimmed dangling steel from its hull. The salvage team on Monday finished cutting off the seven massive steel plates that jutted from the oil tanker’s bottom and prevented its entry into the bay, but will spend two to three more days trimming away steel that threatens to peel.

The ship may be ready to enter San Diego Bay and dry dock at National Steel & Shipbuilding for repairs by Friday, but weekend boating traffic may delay the entry until Monday, the Coast Guard said.

An agreement between the state and Exxon Shipping that will allow the ship into San Diego Bay had not been made final by late Tuesday. Representatives of Exxon and several state agencies at the hearing said they signed the agreement, but were awaiting a signature from the Regional Water Quality Control Board in Los Angeles.

The Assembly committee was formed after the Valdez’ massive oil spill in Alaska to evaluate the California’s ability to handle oil-spill incidents.

Assemblyman Felando criticized Alaska officials for being unprepared for the Valdez’s spill of 11 million gallons of oil in Prince William Sound, and blamed them for “80 to 90%” of the incident.

“We’ve got the same situation right here in California, and we’ve got to correct it,” Felando said.

Felando and Lempert also criticized the state’s reluctance to inspect the Valdez before it left Alaska.

The committee will hold more hearings in the fall throughout Southern California and will encourage legislation to change the state’s procedures for responding to oil-spill incidents. The only other committee member present Tuesday was Assemblywoman Lucy Killea, (D-San Diego).

“There’s some very good legislation pending, and we’ll have to see what of that makes sense,” Lempert said. “ . . . All I do know is that we have to put together a clear chain of command.”

Difficult Task

But representatives of state agencies said Tuesday that the task will be a difficult one.

“It’s a complex process with all the agencies now. But, day in and day out, it works reasonably well. It really does,” said Reed Smith, pollution response coordinator for the state Department of Fish and Game. “It would be a massive undertaking to change” the roles of state and federal agencies in responding to oil spills.

In another development Tuesday, test results from seawater within the ship’s damaged tanks showed barely detectable, nontoxic amounts of crude oil, the Coast Guard reported. Toxic substances were found in water from the ship’s intact tanks, but are not considered a threat because the tanks are closed and that water will be pumped to a barge as soon as the ship reaches dry dock.

However, tests of a waxy residue mixture of weathered oil and marine life on the tanks’ walls and of an oily sheen on top of the water within the tanks have yet to be analyzed.

Samples from a brown patch of material seen floating upwind from the tanker Friday contained Alaskan North Slope crude oil, the same substance found in discharges from the ship, officials said.

Earlier, Exxon had reported that the ship had not discharged any material for a week. But the Coast Guard said another small emission of a bluish substance came from the ship Monday when a steel plate was removed.

Coast Guard and Exxon officials acknowledged Tuesday that the Valdez may discharge while being brought into the bay, but said any material coming from the vessel would be unlikely to threaten the marine environment.

The Coast Guard has opened an investigation into the Valdez’s discharges off San Diego’s shores, which may lead to civil and criminal penalties against Exxon, the Coast Guard said Tuesday.