Juneau -- The Alaska House of Representatives Wednesday called for a long-term research and monitoring endowment using $115 million from the expected reserve of Exxon Valdez oil spill settlement funds.

House Joint Resolution 13, sponsored by Representative Gene Therriault (R-Fairbanks), also encourages the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (EVOS) Trustee Council to endow chairs in the sciences at the University of Alaska. HJR 13 also supports the Council's efforts to obtain investment authority from Congress to increase the earnings rates on remaining settlement funds.

"Over the years, EVOS funds have largely been used to purchase land for habitat preservation. But they have been lacking in the area of research," Therriault said. "I believe this has left a critical gap in our understanding of this spill and of how we should respond in the future.

Therriault said that endowing scientific chairs of the University will help increase available baseline data, enhance the biological resources of the northern Gulf of Alaska, and significantly improve spill-related technology, restoration methods, and ecosystem preservation.

"A good example is the growing body of evidence that suggests many aspects of the response to the Exxon Valdez spill, such as high pressure washing of beaches and rock washing, may have caused much more long-term harm than benefit," Therriault said. "We also need to know which, if any, types of marine ecosystems are extra-sensitive to which cleanup activities and how to respond to a spill in such areas.

"An endowment of this nature will fulfill the intent of the Exxon Valdez spill settlement and the mission of the Trustee Council," Therriault said. "That mission is to restore, rehabilitate, replace, enhance, or acquire equivalent resources and services in the oil spill region."