Word: valdez
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...aftermath of the Exxon Valdez oil spill last March, Captain Joseph Hazelwood was widely viewed as America's Environmental Enemy No. 1. As the dimensions of the catastrophe in Prince William Sound came into focus, people had little trouble deciding where their sympathies lay: with the seabirds and otters suffering and dying in the oil-laden waters, not with the hard-drinking skipper who was in his cabin doing paperwork when his tanker plowed into Bligh Reef...
Ultimately, Hazelwood's fate turned on one question: whether he was drunk at the time of the accident. Witnesses testified that they had seen the captain drinking in Valdez bars on the afternoon before his ship set sail. The prosecution also introduced tests taken eleven hours after the crash that showed Hazelwood with a blood-alcohol level of 0.061%, higher than the Coast Guard's 0.04% limit for a seaman operating a moving vessel. But Hazelwood's lawyers suggested he might have imbibed after the accident occurred to settle his badly shattered nerves. The captain never took the witness stand...
...concluded that there was simply too much for me to coordinate from New York. But let me just tell you something. There were a lot of things lying out there before the Exxon Valdez hit the rocks, from the great concern over the hole in the ozone to the greenhouse effect and acid rain. This tanker went on the rocks, and visually it was perfect for TV and not too bad for pictures of oily birds in the printed media. How would those environmentalists ever let that go? If I just went up there and said I was sorry...
When the Exxon Valdez fouled Alaska's waters a year ago, Americans reacted with shock and indignation. Last week it was Exxon's turn to be shocked. U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh announced that the company had been indicted on five criminal counts stemming from the March 1989 oil spill. That action, which reportedly followed the breakdown of a plea bargain that Alaskan officials opposed as too lenient, could cost Exxon $700 million in fines if the company is convicted. Said Thornburgh: "We intend to see that the laws are fully and strictly enforced...
California's oily beaches highlight the environment as the hottest issue in U.S. politics, and candidates on both coasts are scrambling to prove their colors. -- In Alaska, Joseph Hazelwood's lawyers hope to show that he was a victim, not a villain, of the Exxon Valdez spill. -- Why is George Bush rocking along with a 76% approval rating? His low profile helps. -- Despite being dragged into court, Ronald Reagan remains serene...