Cordova Bookstore Won't Stock Spill Book -- Owner Doesn't Like Writer Or Writings

ANCHORAGE - Cordova's only bookstore said yesterday that it will boycott a new oil-spill book that claims Prince William Sound has healed itself five years after the 11-million-gallon Exxon Valdez oil spill.

"This is my store; I can associate with who I want," said Kelly Weaverling, an owner of Orca Books.

"Degrees of Disaster," by California-based writer Jeff Wheelwright and newly published by Simon & Schuster, has been praised by The New York Times for its "steadfast skepticism" and "vivid examples."

Noting that oil had both fertilized and poisoned Alaska waters, "the author is no apologist for Exxon," the review said.

Still, one Anchorage bookstore said Exxon executives snapped up 20 copies at a shot, at $24 apiece.

The book coincides with a continuing multibillion-dollar federal lawsuit in Anchorage against Exxon Corp. and skipper Joseph Hazelwood.

Cordova, home to the sound's commercial-fishing fleet, remains economically depressed five years after the tanker wreck, Alaska officials say.

Many fishing families, idled by poor herring and salmon runs since the spill, say they are barely hanging on, waiting for a court settlement from Exxon.

Weaverling, who was mayor when the tanker accident occurred in 1989, recalls Wheelwright as one of the many writers and "snake-oil salesmen" who swelled Cordova after the disaster.

A drugstore across the street apparently will stock signed copies of the book. Wheelwright plans an appearance today in Cordova - not at the bookstore, but at the local library.

Who will go? Wheelwright said he's convinced anyone who's tired of "formulaic" treatments of the accident - accounts that say all was fine before the spill and all is awful after - will gravitate toward his view.

"I get the sense, five years later, that people are tired in their hearts of the old way, that they would be receptive to someone who's independent," he said yesterday.

Cordova Mayor Margy Johnson said she won't be showing up at the library.

A longtime businesswoman with a vision of a local economy less dependent on fishing, Johnson recalled Wheelwright from his previous visits to town.

"The experience was less than pleasant," she said, declining to elaborate. She said she's put off not by Wheelwright's ideas but by the author himself.

"Our history is full of East Coast golden boys who come to Alaska and spend six weeks and pass judgment on Alaska. He's one more."

In his book, Wheelwright says the oil spill - which produced "acute" and "chronic" effects - was an environmental disturbance that could be compared to the Good Friday earthquake, 25 years before.

"Without question, the sound is different than it would have been had the assault not taken place. But since the system is always changing anyway, as it reacts to environmental disturbances great and small, the sound has accommodated this latest change as well."

In Anchorage, one bookstore patron who said he lives in town leafed through a copy. He lowered his voice and leaned in toward Wheelwright. "I agree with you," he said.

"Why are you whispering?" Wheelwright asked. The man looked around at the small crowd gathering. "It's a touchy subject," he said.