Word: exxon
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...weeks, hundreds of millions of salmon fry were scheduled to be released from hatcheries located in protected bays ringing Prince William Sound. So far, salmon fishermen, using their own boats to deploy containment booms, have kept the slick from spreading to the hatcheries. If this tactic should fail, Exxon has promised to move the tiny fish to safe hatcheries elsewhere along the coast. But cancellation of the salmon season is still a possibility...
...hearings held by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Exxon Chairman L.G. Rawl faced a merciless grilling. Rawl said once again that the company is taking full responsibility for the spill and will pay cleanup costs, but the Senators were not satisfied. Slade Gorton, a Republican from Washington, pointed out to Rawl that when Japanese companies cause serious accidents, their executives often resign in remorse. "I suggest that the disaster your company caused calls for that sort of response," said Gorton. Replied Rawl: "A lot of Japanese kill themselves also, and I refuse to do that...
Much of the outrage continued to focus on Exxon's reliance on Joseph Hazelwood, the Exxon Valdez skipper, who was apparently drunk while on duty. The company announced last week that tanker crews will now have to be on board at least four hours before leaving port -- a regulation Exxon Shipping President Frank Iarossi admits is designed to provide sobering-up time. But Hazelwood had an unacceptably high blood-alcohol level nine hours after the incident, and so would have been impaired even under the new rules. Moreover, despite Hazelwood's several arrests for drunken driving and treatment...
...even suggesting that existing wells and pipelines should be shut down. But there is a broad consensus in the state and in Washington that current operations must be made fail-safe and that the oil companies should not be trusted to do this on their own. Immediately after the Exxon Valdez incident, senate President Kelly began to draw up plans for what he calls a Spill Response Corps, to be organized by the state but paid for by the oil companies "as part of the cost of doing business here." And Governor Cowper insisted on a credible plan...
Conservation will not be easy, but the public's sense of horror over fouled beaches and dying animals could provide new motivation to save energy. If that happens, the wreck of the Exxon Valdez will not be an unmitigated disaster. It would be unrealistic to halt Alaska's oil business and unfair to demand that the state's people spend none of their wealth. But exploration and production can be carefully limited, and better environmental safeguards can be put in place. In the end, the battle for Alaska's future may be decided in the other 49 states. If Americans...