Alaska Pondering Vessel Restrictions After New Incident

Alaska is considering imposing weather restrictions on oil tankers and other cargo vessels following a near-accident close to the site of the March 24 Exxon Valdez spill.

Bob Flint, a senior official with Alaska’s department of environmental conservation, said Thursday that the oil industry does not appear to have learned from the nation’s worst spill by Exxon Corp.’s Valdez tanker and still is taking too many chances in Alaska’s treacherous waters.

A barge loaded with 5 million gallons of aviation fuel had drifted helplessly Tuesday near the mouth of Prince William Sound and was in danger of hitting reefs after becoming separated from the tug that was towing it.

The tug finally hooked up to the vessel Wednesday night, but only after an Army demolition crew had been alerted to blow up the barge as it neared land.

Flint said he would like to see chemical-carrying vessels banned from loading when wind speeds reach a certain level, as is done in Scottish and Norwegian oil ports.