Still of concern is what the broken ship will do once its cargo is unloaded. If the ship floats, it may also list and capsize or break apart. That was why the company had a number of crewmen taken off the Valdez Saturday, and everyone left on board, including a DEC observer, were wearing cold water survival suits. The sense of concern was obvious early Saturday morning when DEC regional supervisor, Dan Lawn, talked to Joe LeBeau, his man aboard the Valdez, by marine telephone. There's gonna be no more people on board.
More experts are on shore in Valdez than on the tanker Valdez.
Exxon officials, environmental officials from other states and Canada, and spill experts from around he world continued to arrive in town Saturday, most of them gathering at the Westmark Hotel, overlooking the small boat harbor. Also at the Westmark, Exxon has set up its command headquarters, complete with a telephone bank in a secondfloor room and an armed security guard, wearing a yellow hard hat, at the door. We just can't have all kinds of people trying to get in. While a legion of state, federal and oil officials spoke about options in cleaning up the spill, it seemed the final solution was in black and white all the time. In the Alyeska Oil Spill Contingency Plan, chemical treatment is continually mentioned as the best possible option.