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Roy Robertson

Roy Robertson

During the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Roy Robertson supervised the community of Seldovia’s response and cleanup efforts. He later helped found the Seldovia Oil Spill Team, a community-based response organization. Robertson has since gained considerable experience with oil spill response and monitoring in Washington and Alaska. He has served as a consultant to both the Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Councils, as well as the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. Roy also worked for Alyeska Pipeline Service Company in Valdez, Alaska to develop fish hatchery protection programs and fishing vessel training programs. He currently works for the Prince William Sound Regional Citizen’s Advisory Council as the project manager for oil spill drill monitoring in Valdez.
Roy Robertson appears in the following new Jukebox projects:
Interview Title Abstract Archive #: Oral History Project Date of Interview
Roy Robertson, Part 1

Roy Robertson was interviewed on August 16, 1989 by an unidentified male interviewer. An unidentified female interviewer also asks one question near the end of the interview. The location of the interview is unknown, but since Roy was a field supervisor for VECO overseeing beach cleanup after the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill based out of Seldovia, Alaska, it is likely this interview took place there. The interview was conducted at the end of the summer after the oil spill when Exxon Corporation was stopping beach cleanup operations. It seems that this might have been an interview by a television reporter, given the nature of the questioning and the interviewer's desire to have Roy sum up his comments in a short sound bite format.  The original interview was obtained from the Alaska Resources Library and Information Service (ARLIS) in Anchorage, Alaska with limited association information. In this first part of a two part interview, Roy talks about his job overseeing beach cleanup operations, problems and frustrations with the work, and his thoughts about bioremediation. Roy focuses on a particular incident with Admiral Robbins and Exxon Corporation where Roy was told to do different things by the different groups in charge.

 2013-26-13_Pt.1 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Aug 16, 1989
Roy Robertson, Part 2

This is a continuation of the interview with Roy Robertson on August 16, 1989 by an unidentified male interviewer.  An unidentified female interviewer also asks one question near the end of the interview. The location of the interview is unknown, but since Roy was a field supervisor for VECO overseeing beach cleanup after the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill based out of Seldovia, Alaska, it is likely this interview took place there. The interview was conducted at the end of the summer after the oil spill when Exxon Corporation was stopping beach cleanup operations. It seems that this might have been an interview by a television reporter, given the nature of the questioning and the interviewer's desire to have Roy sum up his comments in a short sound bite format.  The original interview was obtained from the Alaska Resources Library and Information Service (ARLIS) in Anchorage, Alaska with limited association information. In this second part of a two part interview, Roy talks about frustrations of the job while working on beach cleanup and the organization of the cleanup operation. He provides his personal opinion about the timing of the end of the cleanup and whether he thought it was successful.

 2013-26-13_PT.2 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Aug 16, 1989