Alaskan testifies on spill effects to Senate committee

July 27, 2010

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A Senate Judiciary committee heard from an Alaskan Tuesday about the devastation of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Sen. Mark Begich asked Cordova resident Joe Banta to testify at a hearing focusing on protecting the victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Begich told the committee he appreciates the focus on making sure the victims of the Deepwater Horizon disaster don't suffer the same injustices experienced by Alaskans.

Banta sympathized with people in the Gulf of Mexico because he knows the toll a spill takes on a community. He talked about the biological, financial and community effects of the Exxon Valdez disaster and the long-lasting effects it had on his family.

“My sons will no longer have the opportunity to participate in this unique Alaskan way of life, not unlike people who ranch or farm -- so 21 years after the spill and here we are and there is no indication that this way of life is ever coming back,” Banta said.

After the spill, Banta went to work for the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens Advisory Ccouncil.

The panel was established to give local citizens a voice in the operation of the oil industry in Alaska.

Begich currently has an amendment pending in congress establishing an Arctic Regional Citizens Advisory Council, modeled after the PWSRCAC.

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