{"id":25177,"date":"2022-09-09T17:42:32","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T22:42:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportsfirings.com\/?p=25177"},"modified":"2022-09-09T17:42:32","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T22:42:32","slug":"obit-watch-september-9-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sportsfirings.com\/?p=25177","title":{"rendered":"Obit watch: September 9, 2022."},"content":{"rendered":"

Joseph Hazelwood<\/a>, captain of the Exxon Valdez. Alt link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Exxon Valdez (pronounced val-DEEZ) ran aground on Alaska\u2019s Bligh Reef a few minutes after midnight on March 24, 1989. \u201cEvidently we\u2019re leaking some oil and we\u2019re going to be here for quite a while,\u201d Captain Hazelwood radioed the Coast Guard in what turned out to be a vast understatement.<\/a>
\nCaptain Hazelwood had not been on the bridge when the accident occurred. The National Transportation Safety Board found that the ship\u2019s third mate had failed to properly maneuver the vessel because of fatigue and excessive workload, and that Captain Hazelwood had failed to provide a proper navigation watch because he was impaired by alcohol. The Exxon Shipping Company and its Exxon Corporation subsidiary were found to have failed to provide a fit master and a rested and sufficient crew.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

…<\/p>\n

The Exxon Valdez spill blackened 1,500 miles of the Gulf of Alaska coastline, home to rich fishing grounds and wildlife. It contributed to the passage by Congress of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, which streamlined and strengthened the United States Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s ability to prevent and respond to catastrophic oil spills.<\/a>
\nThe spill killed 250,000 seabirds, 2,800 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, 250 bald eagles and as many as 22 killer whales, according to the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, a joint federal-state monitoring agency.<\/a>
\nA jury acquitted Captain Hazelwood of a felony charge of operating a vessel while intoxicated but convicted him on a misdemeanor charge of negligently discharging oil, resulting in a $50,000 fine and 1,000 hours of community service. The Coast Guard suspended his license for some nine months. He never returned to the seas.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

…<\/p>\n

In June 1999, as the legal case dragged on, Mr. Hazelwood was taking time off from his job at a New York law firm and heading to Alaska to begin his community service, picking up trash in the city of Anchorage\u2019s parks, when he told The New York Times in an interview, \u201cAs master of the vessel, I accept responsibility for the vessel and the actions of my subordinates.\u201d He added: \u201cI\u2019ve never tried to avoid that. I\u2019m not some remorseless oaf.\u201d<\/a>
\n\u201cBut,\u201d he continued, \u201cthe crime I was convicted of is a B misdemeanor. There\u2019s no lower crime in the State of Alaska. The judge had to come up with a sentence. I can understand it. I don\u2019t have to agree with it.\u201d<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

…<\/p>\n

In an interview for the book \u201cThe Spill: Personal Stories From the Exxon Valdez Disaster,\u201d by Sharon Bushell and Stan Jones (2009), Mr. Hazelwood offered a \u201cheartfelt apology\u201d to the people of Alaska while suggesting that his notoriety was not deserved.<\/a>
\nAs he put it, \u201cThe true story is out there for anybody who wants to look at the facts, but that\u2019s not the sexy story and that\u2019s not the easy story.\u201d<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joseph Hazelwood, captain of the Exxon Valdez. Alt link. The Exxon Valdez (pronounced val-DEEZ) ran aground on Alaska\u2019s Bligh Reef a few minutes after midnight on March 24, 1989. \u201cEvidently we\u2019re leaking some oil and we\u2019re going to be here for quite a while,\u201d Captain Hazelwood radioed the Coast Guard in what turned out to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-obits"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsfirings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsfirings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsfirings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsfirings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsfirings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsfirings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25178,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsfirings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25177\/revisions\/25178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsfirings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsfirings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsfirings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}