JANUARY 11, 1997 -- VALDEZ, AK -- Morning overflights of Port Valdez show that few traces of sheen remaining after yesterday's clean up operations. Several small patches of sheen are being cleaned up by response crews. No new sheen has appeared. 21 gallons of product are estimated to have been recovered. No animals or shoreline have been affected by the sheen. Recovery operations are expected to be completed this afternoon.

The source of the sheen is still unknown but laboratory analysis currently indicates that it did not come from either of the tankers currently at berth. Divers have inspected the vessels Arco Fairbanks and Overseas Ohio, and have found no structural integrity problems.

There is a possibility that the sheen may come from a source at the Terminal. Alyeska has taken samples from the Ballast Water Treatment Facility to determine whether the sheen came from the treated ballast water that is released into Port Valdez at Berth 3. At this time lab results are inconclusive, however additional analysis will be conducted over the next several days.

Vessel travel in and out of the Port is restricted to daylight departure today and vessels will be able to depart with approval from the Unified Command.

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