Word: alaska
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...midweek Exxon, owner of the wounded tanker, admitted that the largest oil spill in U.S. history was spreading out of control; by week's end the slick covered almost 900 sq. mi. southwest of Valdez, Alaska, posing a deadly danger to the marine and bird life that teems in Prince William Sound. The story, a tale of unrelieved gloom with no heroes, resembled a Greek tragedy updated by Murphy's Law. Everything that could go wrong did; everyone involved, including the Alaska state government and the U.S. Coast Guard, made damaging errors; hubris in the form of complacency...
...VALDEZ, Alaska--The captain of the Exxon Valdez surrendered to police yesterday, and salvage crews freed the tanker from the reef that ripped its hull and spilled more than 10 million gallons of crude...
...mishap could not have happened at a worse time. Besides being rich in whales, otters, seals, porpoises, dolphins and many species of birds, the waters around Valdez also contain some of the best commercial fishing grounds in Alaska. The harvest that was to begin this week, when fish such as herring and pink salmon start their annual springtime runs, could be endangered...
Aside from the damage to marine life, the spill seemed certain to have an impact in another area. Environmentalists will use the accident as ammunition in their fight against further oil development in Alaska, particularly U.S. plans to permit drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge...
...mystery. The accident occurred in extremely calm waters, and the captain, Joe Hazlewood, had been plying the area for a dozen years. Frank Iarossi, president of Exxon Shipping Co., said the tanker was a mile off course even though its navigational systems were working. Dan Lawn, spokesman for the Alaska department of environmental conservation, said the captain's effort to steer the Exxon Valdez back into the narrow shipping lane was like "trying to park a Cadillac in a Volkswagen spot...