John Devens, Jr.

John Devens, Jr. was interviewed on August 15, 2007 by Sharon Bushell in Copper Center, Alaska. John's interview was conducted as part of Sharon Bushell's work on the book, The Spill: Personal Stories from the Exxon Valdez Disaster, by Stan Jones and Sharon Bushell. (Kenmore, WA: Epicenter Press, 2009) After the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, John worked as an oil spill cleanup “scrounger” for VECO. In this interview, he talks about his experiences performing that job. He also talks about the lack of resources available for cleanup activities, his perception of the effectiveness of the cleanup process, and why he chose to eventually leave the cleanup efforts.