Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 22, 1993 TAG: 9308220035
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
President Clinton and Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt have made it clear they favor buying land. And state officials also favor purchases if the private sellers agree.
Babbitt, on a trip in Alaska, is discussing his habitat-protection ideas with state officials.
An Associated Press review of trust fund documents showed last week that most of the first $202 million spent from the fund went for purposes other than restoration, and almost none was spent to purchase habitat.
More than two-thirds of the money went to reimburse Exxon and state or federal agencies, and to pay administrative costs, records show. Most of the rest was spent on scientific studies and surveys.
Environmentalists have long argued the best way to restore the oil-ravaged ecosystem along Alaska's coast is to expand the protected habitat of the birds and other wildlife that was damaged by the 1989 spill.
But since Exxon Corp., under a 1991 court settlement, began paying what will ultimately total $900 million into a restoration trust fund, there has been debate over how the money should be used.
The heart of the dispute is whether to spend money on direct restoration programs, such as enhancing fisheries or rebuilding recreational areas to promote tourism, or to provide wildlife with more protected habitat.
The Bush administration and its interior secretary, Manuel Lujan, were opposed to using the Exxon money to take thousands of additional acres out of private hands and away from commercial uses such as logging.
The trustees "didn't even approach land owners for their interest until this year," said Pamela A. Miller of the Wilderness Society in Alaska.
Clinton administration officials say that must change.
"Our biggest priority is to get the Exxon Valdez trust fund on track," said Assistant Interior Secretary George Frampton. Interior officials speaking on condition of anonymity said the administration hopes to pursue at least one or two major land purchases a year until the trust fund runs out.
Last March, the administration said it would use $25 million paid by Exxon as part of a criminal settlement to expand protected habitat in Alaska.
"Our goal is to bring greater protection for fish and wildlife," Commerce Secretary Ron Brown said at the time.
But the biggest pot of money rests with the six-member Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, which administers the $900 million Exxon must pay for restoration as part of settling its civil case with the government. So far, Exxon has paid $240 million into the fund; another $100 million is due next month.
Trustees have been bombarded with requests for money. Recently, fishermen asked that some money be spent to determine whether the meager pink salmon stocks this year are related to the spill. Among the requests being considered is one for $25 million to help build a "SeaLife Center" - dubbed sarcastically by environmentalists as "a whale jail" that has nothing to do with oil-spill restoration.
Already approved is $1.5 million to build a museum for artifacts damaged by the spill and its cleanup. Although the expenditure meets the requirements under the court settlement with Exxon, environmentalists have criticized it as having little to do with restoration.
But with the new signals from Washington, the trustees - three federal officials and three state - have begun focusing on buying thousands of acres to protect the habitat of species still recovering from the effects of the 1989 spill.
"We've recently made very substantial acquisitions in habitat," said Alaska Attorney General Charles Cole, one of the trustees.
He cited the $7.5 million authorized by the trustees to help buy holdings at Kachemak Bay State Park and a commitment to spend nearly $40 million for 42,000 acres on Afognak Island in Seal Bay, both areas damaged by the spill.
The land had been expected to be used for logging, but now it will be preserved as habitat for bald eagles and marbled murrelets, two imperiled bird species. Negotiations also are under way to purchase thousands of acres near Cordova, where logging has threatened wildlife habitat.
With $660 million still to be paid into the fund, environmentalists hope at least 250,000 acres might be purchased.
by CNB