PORTLAND BALKS AT TAKING TANKER

By The Associated Press

PORTLAND, ORE.- Officials of the Port of Portland say they have some reservations about accepting the $12 million repair job on the Exxon Valdez."We're not willing to trade in the environment for jobs," port spokesman Darrel Buttice said of the repair work, which could generate 200 jobs.

Buttice said Exxon got ahead of itself in announcing Sunday that the tanker would come to Portland's dry dock for repairs.

The wreck of the Exxon Valdez on March 24 caused the biggest oil spill in U.S. history. More than 10 million gallons of crude oil has spilled into Alaska's Prince William Sound.

Frank Iarossi, president of Exxon Shipping Co., told The Oregonian that a trailing sheen of oil may follow the tanker as it passes up the Columbia River to Portland.

"We have no confirmation at this time that the vessel is coming here," Buttice said Monday. "A variety of questions need to be asked" before the ship would be accepted in Portland, he said.

Buttice said either Exxon or the company that wins the repair contract would have to contact the port.

"We do have authority to turn down business," he said.

Officials on Monday began forming an Oregon Watch task force to consider whether the tanker should be allowed to complete its repairs in Portland.

Panel members included representatives of the Port, the Coast Guard, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Department of Environmental Quality.

"I think we have some serious reservations about (the vessel leaking oil)," said Bruce Sutherland, an analyst and planner for oil spill hazards for the Department of Environmental Quality.

Sutherland said a small amount of oil can cause a sheen, but any leak would have to be examined carefully. It is against the law to spill oil in the Columbia, and even a "sheen" would have to be reported, he said.

"We do get spills on the Columbia on a regular basis, usually under 100 gallons," said DEQ spokeswoman Shirley Kengla. The Coast Guard has skimmers and booms for the cleanup in such small spills.

A leak of a thousand gallons is another matter, she said.

"Our lips are zipped," said Bill Zabin, president of Northwest Marine Iron Works Inc., one of three companies vying for the repair job. Northwest Marine, Cascade General Inc. and West State Inc. refused comment Monday at Exxon's request.

Drydock 4, the port's largest, was designed specifically to handle work for the Alaska oil tanker fleet, said Port spokesman Dick Montgomery. Since 1979, it has repaired 314 vessels, generated $500 million in business and employed an average of 750 people per year.

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