The following article is the first in a series of four that is being published this week. The subject is Jim Cobb and his patented oil spill techniques and equipment and the government's and oil industry's response to it.

Long after the memories of the Exxon Valdez Spill have begun to fade and the last minimal checks for damage have been cashed, one man continues to work to make sure that such extensive damage that took place with the Exxon Valdez spill and in subsequent spills is not the norm when future oil disasters occur.

Jim Cobb has labored on his oil spill remediation ideas and equipment from the time that gangs of workers were still sopping up oil from the disaster at Bligh Reef in 1989, and continues his efforts now, even after the Exxon Valdez spill is several oil spills into the past.

It was the spring of 1989 that Cobb was forced to confront oil spill response after the disaster in Prince William Sound, he tried to do his part and attempted to hire out his fishing vessel and crew as oil spill responders even as his salmon fishery on Kodiak Island was closed. When he applied, the VECO interviewer made it known that competition for vessels to participate was extensive and something extra was required for special consideration, Cobb walked out without the job for his vessel or crew.

For a short time that early summer, Cobb fished the upper portion of Prince William Sound near the hatcheries. The oil had not reached those areas yet. After the season, Jim traveled back out of the Sound on the 30-hour run back to Homer. What he saw was ominous, nothing moved, Jim described it as an “environmental war zone” with carcasses of seals, otters and birds and other animals decomposed beyond recognition scattered over the water.

It would later be determined that the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill released approximately 11 million gallons into Prince William Sound. That oil dispersed throughout the Gulf of Alaska region shutting down fisheries and destroying ecosystems throughout the area. It is estimated that the spill killed upwards of 250,000 seabirds, close to 3,000 sea otters, untold number of eagles as well as an undetermined amount of other sea-life including salmon and herring.

Containment systems used in that massive clean-up ultimately failed and the use of dispersants took the place of containment and collection. Dispersants subsequently added to the problems that would come later. With the failure of containment systems, clean-up took to the beaches, workers sopped up and collected oil for disposal, and the collection was virtually impossible as the oil soaked deep into the substrates . In an effort to clean up the stubborn oil that coated the beaches, hi-pressure hot water was used in some cases. The use of hot water caused further destruction of the beach’s ecosystems.

A year later, Alyeska Pipeline put out the word that they were looking for vessels to train as first responders for oil spills, Cobb signed up immediately. Alyeska paid the vessel owners by the foot on a daily rate for their vessels to take part in the response training, and paid the crew to attend the classes and train at the college in Kodiak, Alaska.

Along with the training at the college, the vessels and crews took part in water training drills with what they were told was “the best equipment to be had in the world” with the United States Coast Guard overseeing the operation.

The water drills that took place in the spring and fall were “fair weather” drills at best according to Jim. Training would be cancelled if winds rose above 15 knots. Jim remembers days where the weather would pick up and wave action would increase to the relatively small size of 18 inches, he would watch as the equipment was beaten by the slightest of weather and waves lapped over the gear. Jim said, “I couldn’t believe that this was the ‘world’s best equipment’ developed by such a large industry investment.”

Because the equipment was so similar to fishing equipment, each time Jim watched the gear deployed and worked with it, he took notes and pondered how to make it better and more efficient. “I soon had formulated significant improvements to the gear” stated Cobb. “I took what I had to the SERVS supervisor overseeing the operations. I explained my qualifications as a commercial fisherman. And that I had experience working with similar gear and gave my observations of the equipment”

“The supervisor glanced at what I had put together and flatly replied that they liked what they had. I tried to explain the shortcomings of the equipment. I was told once again that the equipment needed no improvements.”

That was the first of many rejections of his ideas that Jim would endure through the years.

“Knowing that what I was doing was false and the exercise was one of futility and only for show, I removed my vessel and crew from the program. It was some time after that that Alyeska sent me a letter and told me that my vessel and crew were fired. That was in 91-92,” said Jim.

Exxon continued to be in the news concerning legal and environmental issues, and Jim was at his uncle’s house in Anchorage when he told his uncle about his ideas. His uncle, who knew ex-Lt Governor Steve McAlpine, set up a meeting with McAlpine in his downtown office.

“During the short meeting that ensued, I showed McAlpine my drawings and illustrations of the design improvements of the SERVS equipment, he assured me that he liked the work that I had done and thanked me as I was leaving. I never heard from him or the industry that he had such close ties with again,” he said.

Jim watched as time went by at all the destruction as spill after spill occurred around the globe. It was then that he saw that in every instance, the same equipment was used, and saw that in not a single case did it perform adequately. That was when Cobb decided to scrap the improvements that he had put together for the SERVS equipment and start from scratch with a system that would surely make a difference.

James Cobb is a life-long Alaskan and Bering Sea Yupik who has fished in the Alaska fishing industry his entire life. He is also the owner of Retriever Environmental, a company dedicated to oil spill mitigation. He can be reached by phone at (907) 299-4767 or by email at retriever.environmental@gmail.com The Alaska Native News gives full permission to re-post or re-print this article.

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