Word: tankerous
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When Captain Joseph Hazelwood heads for the mailbox these days, he no longer waves to his neighbors in Huntington Bay, N.Y. Instead, his head sagging, he hurries back indoors to the lonely anguish that has engulfed his life since the early morning of March 24, when his tanker, the Exxon Valdez, struck a reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound and leaked 11 million gal. of crude oil into the pristine waters...
...promise to blow the pretty yellow house to smithereens. Whatever respite Hazelwood may have enjoyed as the story faded from the front pages probably ended last week, when the crippled Exxon Valdez, on its way for repairs, caused an 18-mile-long oil slick off San Diego. Suddenly the tanker was thrust back into the headlines...
Last week the Coast Guard, National Guardsmen and private contractors made unusually good progress in cleaning up the uncanny string of spills. In Narragansett Bay, where the Greek tanker World Prodigy struck a reef and spewed 420,000 gals. of No. 2 fuel oil, most of the residue had evaporated or was rounded up by week's end. While the fuel may have long-term toxic effects on some marine life, fishermen were able to harvest shellfish for the first time since the accident. After an initial investigation, the ship's captain, Iakovos Georgudis, was charged with one misdemeanor count...
...Delaware, where the Uruguayan tanker Presidente Rivera ran aground and spilled 300,000 gals. of heavy No. 6 oil, about 70% had been cleaned up. The smallest of the spills, which occurred when a barge collided with a cargo ship in the Houston Ship Channel and released 250,000 gals. of heavy crude, was almost completely recovered. Nature cooperated: high winds blew most of the petroleum into an industrial channel where it could be scooped up easily...
That strategy, however, has a catch. If the U.S were to develop new domestic sources of oil, the country could reduce its dependence on foreign tankers in its harbors. Last year foreign producers provided the U.S. with 37% of its oil supplies, up from 27% in 1985. Since foreign oil enters the country mostly by tanker, growing imports only increase the odds of new spills. According to projections by Ohio Democrat Mary Oakar, chairwoman of the House Economic Stabilization Subcommittee, by the end of the 1990s as much as 90% of the oil consumed in the U.S. could arrive...