The plan also requires Alyeska to call on local boat owners to haul materials to the spill. Lots of local boat owners say they never heard from the company, but O'Donnell said his company did ask for private help. The shifting answers and vague information about the accident and the ineffective containment and cleanup effort is creating lots of frustration among Prince William Sound fishermen and local residents. These people see their livelihoods endangered, both from the spilled oil and from the chemical dispersants that may finally be used to solve the problem. I'm beside myself.
Environmentalists are equally critical.
In Juneau, David Ramseur, Gov. Steve Cowper's press secretary, said that despite DEC's criticism of Alyeska, the state has no plans for its own cleanup. For whatever else it might be worth, with 11 million gallons of crude oil strung out over a 64squaremile area, O'Donnell's admission didn't do much to solve the growing problem. As of Saturday evening, the oil slick had extended fingers 10 miles to the west from its original 30squaremile area, and those currentdriven streams were turning south. Oil sheen surrounded tiny Reef Island and was lapping at Bligh Island, both on the east shore of the Sound. Exxon officials say about 50 sea lions could be affected by the oil and some birds have been killed, but that no major fish and wildlife destruction has yet been caused.