Abstract:
A fresh oil sheen has seeped from the ruptured Exxon Valdez making a complete clean-up impossible. The vessel is now undergoing temporary repairs 30 miles from the rupture site. The Alaskan Senate passed bills to add to state's spill response fund, prevent companies from deducting spill costs from oil production taxes, develop state contingency plans, establish a spill response team, and create a commission to investigate the Exxon Valdez spill. It is unlikely that the House would approve the bill before adjournment.
Introduction:
In Valdez, Alaska, the Coast Guard confirmed Saturday that a fresh oil sheen 
has seeped from the ruptured Exxon Valdez and that a complete cleanup of the 
damaged tanker is impossible. 

Later in the day in Juneau, a package of bills aimed at protecting Alaska from 
another devastating oil spill like the one that fouled Prince William Sound was 
passed by the state Senate with little trouble. 

"Oil is clinging to the tanks inside," said Vice Adm. Clyde Robbins, the 
federal on-the-scene coordinator. "What we're getting is that clinging oil 
mixed with water that causes sheen. 

"Unfortunately, it's impossible to completely remove the oil unless you 
steam-clean the tanker, and nobody intends to do that," Robbins said. 

Robbins did not give an estimate of how widespread the oil sheen, or shininess 
on the water's surface, had become. 


Time-Consuming Repairs 

He said he doubted the vessel, which is undergoing temporary repairs 30 miles 
from the March 24 site where the Exxon Valdez ruptured on a reef, will be moved 
soon. 

"I'm estimating at least a month to six weeks," he said. "Obviously, this 
(ship) is a hot potato. Nobody in the Lower 48 (states) wants it. We may end up 
going to a foreign port." 

Reacting to the largest oil spill in the nation's history, the Republican-led 
Senate acted with unusual speed to move the six bills through the chamber and 
to the House. 

However, it appeared unlikely that the Democrat-controlled House would approve 
the entire package before adjournment, which is scheduled for May 9. 


11-Million-Gallon Spill 

The Senate action came five weeks after the tanker Exxon Valdez struck a reef, 
spewing more than 11 million gallons of crude oil into the fish- and 
wildlife-rich sound. 

The Senate bills would increase civil fines for spill damage; impose a 
surcharge on oil producers to boost the state's spill-response fund; prevent 
oil companies from deducting spill costs from their oil-production taxes; 
require the state to create spill contingency plans; establish a spill-response 
office and cleanup corps, and create a commission to investigate the Exxon 
Valdez spill. 


More Bills Pending 

More than a dozen other spill-related bills are still pending in both chambers 
of the Legislature. 

Exxon reported Saturday that it has paid out $500,000 to 150 fishermen on 
claims of lost work. It is processing another 300 claims. 

