Juneau -- The Alaska Senate Friday overwhelmingly approved House Joint Resolution 13, which calls for a long-term research and monitoring endowment using $115 million from the expected reserve of Exxon Valdez oil spill settlement funds. HJR 13 passed 19-1.

Sponsored by Representative Gene Therriault (R-Fairbanks), HJR 13 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.

"I believe that the use of EVOS funds over the years largely for the purchase of land for habitat preservation has left a critical gap in our understanding of the spill itself and of how we should respond in the future," Therriault said. "As an example, a growing body of evidence 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. We need to determine if this is so."

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.

"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."