Some scientists argue that putting oil in the water makes it easier for microrganisms to attack and degrade it. Other scientists argue that oil left on the beach will fairly quickly turn into an environmentally benign asphalt. Picking which course to follow is a guess. Any chemical treatment . Just as we would not continue hosing down a beach until everything was clean, but dead, neither would we trade clean rocks for poisoned water.
Chemicals tested in the past have a hard time passing that test.
Lautenberger questions why more wasn't done to study and test chemicals in the five years before the Exxon spill. There is now one month until Exxon shuts down for the winter. Kennedy is pessimistic the company can get all of Alaska's beaches treated by then without better tools for cleaning. Make the Anchorage Daily News your source for Alaska and Anchorage history. All components of this site are copyright 1989-1999 by the Anchorage Daily News, Anchorage, Alaska unless otherwise noted.