The amphibious assault ship USS Juneau steamed out of port Wednesday on an historic odyssey. On board was a ragtag band of 300 enthusiastic Alaskans, about a third of them women, ready to hit the oily beaches of Prince William Sound and earn oilfield wages in the process.
”This has never been done before as far as I know,” said the Juneau`s Captain, Theodore Willandt. The Navy has never embarked with a civilian work force on a ship-with women for sure.”
He stood in the galley watching a long line of hardy young Alaskans, many of them bearded trappers and hunters from the bush, or Aleuts, Indians and Eskimos from tiny settlements above the Arctic Circle.
For weeks, they have been streaming into Valdez, drawn by reports of high wages reminiscent of the days when the Trans-Alaskan oil pipeline was being built in the mid-1970s.
Exxon USA is paying people $16.69 an hour to clean up the millions of gallons of crude oil that washed up on hundreds of miles of shoreline after the grounding of the Exxon Valdez on March 24.
”I`ve never made money like that before in my life,” said Ted Bollinger, 33, a trapper from Slana, a homestead settlement 180 miles from Valdez. ”If they give us the option, I`d stay out there the whole time.”
John Hamilton, 20, a native of Anchorage who has been living in Abilene, Tex., hurried to Alaska to cash in on the big bucks. He said he plans to buy a new motorcycle and a one-way ticket to Hawaii with his earnings.
”I`m worried about not being able to get up every day after working 10 to 12 hours,” Hamilton conceded. ”But I`ll do it. The money is outrageous-$2,400 every two weeks.”
Non-Alaskans are discouraged from applying for the jobs. Unemployment in the state stands at 9 percent, and it is much higher in the towns affected by the spill. In Valdez, it was at 15 percent before the spill.
Exxon has agreed to clean at least of 360 miles of oil-fouled beach by Sept. 15, when winter begins to set in. The cleanup crews will be ferried to island and coastal beachheads by nine Navy landing craft on board the Juneau, where they will use pressurized water to drive the oil into boom containments just off shore.
A second Navy amphibious assault ship is set to join the Juneau here in coming weeks. Already on hand is Exxon`s paid armada of more than 325 vessels, 15 helicopters and 11 fixed wing aircraft, company spokesmen said.
The Navy ships, designed to carry assault troops ashore into combat, will join eight smaller berthing ships being used to house workers, said Bert Hartley, who is running shorline operations for Veco, an Exxon contractor.
Beach cleanup workers, who Hartley said will number 2,400 within a few weeks, will put in intense 12 hour days for two weeks in a row, eating and sleeping on their berthing vessels. Aboard the Juneau, chefs from a Anchorage catering firm will cook meals for the cleanup workers, and housekeepers will change the sheets on their canvas bunks, all at Exxon`s expense.
Many have quit less lucrative jobs to join the cleanup effort.
”I gave my boss five minutes` notice when they told me I could come,”
said Dawn Weeks, 23, who worked as a secretary for an Anchorage film processor.
In Valdez, this has created something of a problem. Waitresses, dishwashers, store clerks and others are leaving their jobs to clean the sound for $16.69 an hour.
”It`s like a mini-gold rush,” said Bill Schnell, a Valdez homeowner who couldn`t find a skilled dry wall worker to help with renovation work.
Residents of Valdez, Cordova and other towns on Prince William Sound have priority in getting the jobs. Many jobs they leave behind are being taken by those who arrive for the cleanup effort but can`t get hired.
”I`m working some Valdez guy`s dishwashing job while he`s out there making thousands,” complained Patrick Corrigan, 40, originally from Pasca, Wash.
There are women of all ages signing up for spill jobs. Elizabeth Anderson, 30, left her two toddlers with her husband to sign on to the Juneau. ”It took a couple of weeks to decide to do it,” she said. ”I figure we`ll bring home $5,000 a month, enough to put into each of the kids` savings accounts and take a vacation.”
On board the Juneau, a group in their teens and early 20s from the fishing village of Cordova caught the eye of a group of curious sailors and marines during boarding Tuesday night.
”It`s going to be interesting,” said Cpl. Kevin O`Hearn from New York City. O`Hearn, like others attached to the Juneau, said crew members were in high spirits about being a part of the effort to clean the sound.
”The crew has been real helpful. They`ve showed us where our beds are, brought us towels and told us they`d bring us stuff for the showers,” said Patricia Hamelin, 18, of Cordova.
The women will be quartered in a separate area, and crew members have been advised by Capt. Willandt to stand clear.
Cheryl Bowie, 19, a former waitress at an Anchorage truck stop, said she wasn`t worried. ”I`m used to it. I can take care of myself. It`s like working with a whole bunch of truck drivers,” she said.
![After weeks of area college students protesting the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza as part of a nationwide movement, leaders of Chicago’s Jewish community responded Wednesday by demanding action against hate speech as a group of Northwestern students filed suit against their school for allowing protests there to become “increasingly hostile to Jews.” Meanwhile, seven members of Northwestern’s President’s Advisory Committee on Preventing Antisemitism and Hate stepped down to protest the university’s agreement with protesters. The agreement outlined a plan intended to allow demonstrations to continue while preventing the chaos and occasional violence that has engulfed other campuses across the country. […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/CTC-L-cps-sit-in-response02_189144560.jpg?w=525 "After weeks of area college students protesting the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza as part of a nationwide movement, leaders of Chicago’s Jewish community responded Wednesday by demanding action against hate speech as a group of Northwestern students filed suit against their school for allowing protests there to become “increasingly hostile to Jews.” Meanwhile, seven members of Northwestern’s President’s Advisory Committee on Preventing Antisemitism and Hate stepped down to protest the university’s agreement with protesters. The agreement outlined a plan intended to allow demonstrations to continue while preventing the chaos and occasional violence that has engulfed other campuses across the country. […]")