Alaska Cleanup Resumes; Chemical Ruling Awaited

Exxon Corp. assembled summer cleanup crews to return to the soiled shores of Prince William Sound today with no word on whether they may use chemicals that encourage oil-eating bacteria.

Workers will stop short of using fertilizers until Alaska and Coast Guard officials decide whether they should be allowed.

Some state officials worry that the chemicals in the fertilizers could be toxic. Alaska can veto their use, but authority for the rest of Exxon’s cleanup lies with Coast Guard Rear Adm. David E. Ciancaglini, who has approved parts of the plan.

State officials hoped to decide today or Wednesday on the fertilizers, used in a cleanup method called bioremediation, said Mike Hilley of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.

The cleanup from Exxon’s March, 1989, spill of nearly 11 million gallons of North Slope crude was suspended last September, and officials monitored conditions through the winter.

The spill was the nation’s largest and coated hundreds of miles of shoreline, killing hundreds of otters and thousands of birds.

Exxon proposed sending eight mobile crews to clean shoreline still soiled from the spill. Three of the vessels already are at work in the sound and the Gulf of Alaska.

Exxon plans to employ about 1,100 people for the summer cleanup effort, about one-tenth the number it used last summer.

While the bioremediation debate continues, crews today began manual pickup and raking at the most “environmentally sensitive” shorelines, Ciancaglini said.

Top priority will be sites considered important for commercial fishing and and recreation.