The Nation : Alaskans Try to Halt Exxon Waste Burn

“No way is Port Lions going to lay down and let this happen,” said Virginia Ward, who identified herself as a concerned mother in the town of 290 residents, as fishermen threatened a blockade around a floating Exxon incinerator near the town. But Exxon vowed that it would burn oily wastes from its Alaska oil spill despite the protest. The waste must be delivered by smaller vessels to the Exxon barge-mounted incinerator, anchored eight miles from Port Lions in Viekoda Bay on the north end of Kodiak Island. Residents fear toxic fumes from the incinerator and worry because it is three miles from the Port Lions water supply. Nearby Ouzinkie also opposes the Exxon burn, said Mayor Zack Chichenoff of the town of 205, mostly Aleut fishermen. Ouzinkie has not dispatched a protest fleet, but was trying to get the governor and state officials to intervene.