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T/V Exxon Valdez

THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS BASED ON THE MOST CURRENT DATA PROVIDED TO NOAA. - EVENING
REPORT  9/15/89  VALDEZ: The NOAA field crews arrived today to begin the winter shoreline
monitoring program.  Eighteen reference sites will be established this coming week for
monthly monitoring through February.  At each site, a beach profile will be measured,
along which estimates of the degree of surface and subsurface oiling.  Up to 8 samples of
surface and subsurface oil will be collected at each site for chemical analysis of total
oil.  Selected samples will be analyzed by GC/MS for chemical characterization.  The
weather for the next few days looks good enough for aircraft operations, though there will
be a ship available if aircraft operations are curtailed.  September 8th and 9th
Christopherson did site visits with the Coast Guard SCOT Commander in southern Prince
William Sound. On Friday, reviewed progress of on-going work on Point Helen (KN-405), west
side of Sleepy Bay on LaTouche Island (LA-18, LA-20), and Elrington Island (EL-37).
Observed sheen escaping from secondary boom on southern most work site on Point Helen.
This is a consistent problem given the strong currents in this area.  The anadromous fish
stream in the vicinity of LA-18 was properly boomed off from the work site. Continued on
with overfight of Squire Island, Drier Bay and Chenega Island looking for abandoned boom
and clean up debris reported by the RAT boat, Ocean Ranger.  None was observed.  Saturday
morning 9/9, observed bioremediation team working on three beaches on Evans Island (EV-3).
Teams were observed to be following all the new guidelines recommended by the ISCC. In the
afternoon, NOAA, Coast Guard, ADEC and Exxon did site visit at two segments on Bettles
Island (EV-53, EV-54) which have been signed off, but is still reported to have mobile
oil. Inspection showed small quantities of treatable oil (mousse) to be present in
crevices of several of the beaches. The joint recommendation was that the segments should
be treated, but not at the expense of pulling equipment off the more heavily oiled
segments already being worked.  Over the next few days, Christopherson and the AOSC will
be doing post-treatment inspections at a number of shoreline segments in Prince William
Sound which are reported to have been re-oiled or incompletely treated.  The purpose of
these inspections are to identify which areas need to be monitored over the winter.
KODIAK:  (Talbott, Lindsay) Situation: Cleanup operations in the Kodiak zone have been
suspended for the season. The USCG demobilization efforts were concluded on 9/15 and the
main task has shifted to collating the records which describe the status of the beaches at
the time of demobilization.  Lindsay in in the field with Dames and Moore personnel. The
sampling round should be completed on Saturday and Lindsay will depart Kodiak on Sunday.
Talbott spent Friday on Shuyak Island with representatives from the Alaska State Parks and
local Shuyak residents. This meeting/beach inspection is part of a "recalibration" tour to
attempt to quantify the beach impacts and level of concern as the winter program begins.
Beach Surveys/Flights: Three USCG inspection teams were in the field today and the rew
remaining SIR's were completed and demobilized. Talbott's flight to Shuyak as described
above.  Plans for week of 9/16-9/22: VADM Robbins will be in Kodiak on 9/17 for a meeting
of the ESC and a short tour of area beaches. He will be accompanied by personnel from the
Dept. of Transportation. The third round of subsistence sampling is scheduled to be
completed on 9/16. Talbott will continue a series of flights with the individual resource
agencies. These flights are focused on obtaining an overview of the various agencies lands
and are valuable in delineating the primary concerns as the transition is made to winter
operations. The task of compiling and sorting through the beach inspection reports will
continue for the forseeable future. An ESC meeting will be held on 9/17. The ISCC will
meet on 9/19 and a public meeting will be held on 9/20.  SEWARD:  (McGee) MAC and R MAC
meetings will meet two times a week beginning next week.  Boat washing continues through
9/15. General maintenance of USCG equipment in preparation for storage and use next
spring. ADEC has indicated that some word is expected by next week on the status of a
state sponsored winter response plan to be used in conjunction with the Exxon winter plan
PERSONNEL ON SCENE: Valdez: Gleason, Christopherson, Hammett, Galt, Simecek- Beatty,
Michel, Sturm, Truman, Harman, Van Den Berg  Kodiak: Talbott, Lindsay  Seward: McGee
Anchorage: Robinson