OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 11, 1998

Stephanie Hanna (O) 202/208-6416

Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt today praised the findings and conclusions in a newly-released General Accounting Office (GAO) audit of the work of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council in restoring the environment following the 1989 environmental disaster in Alaska’s Prince William Sound.

“The Exxon Valdez settlement funds created the largest and most successful environmental restoration project ever attempted,” Secretary Babbitt said. “The GAO’s conclusions show that the Trustee Council has made wise decisions and managed a nearly billion dollar fund as efficiently as the law will permit.”

Secretary Babbitt noted with interest that GAO supported Congressional action to permit the Trustee Council more flexibility to invest the remaining trust funds outside the federal investment system.

“The Trustee Council has repeatedly asked the U.S. Congress to legislate a more economically beneficial and flexible process for investing the trust funds, but unfortunately their only response would tie the hands of the Trustee Council even further. The Administration is opposed to the approach in the FY ‘99 Interior Appropriations bill and would urge the Congress to put more investment flexibility in legislation without politicizing the outcome.”

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