This article is an excerpt from Chapter one in my new book The Chicken Little Agenda – Debunking Experts’ Lies. You can find out more about the book here, and can order the book from this link. This is the second of eleven parts for Chapter one that will be presented here sequentially. Click here to read Part 1.
Chapter 1
The Green Revolution
The Big Lie
Shortly after the spill in Prince William Sound, one news report described it as the worst manmade disaster since the bombing of Hiroshima. National headlines ranted against the huge, faceless, greedy corporation-the ogre that fouled the precious environment to save a few pennies on substandard ships and captains. The Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, and other groups pounced on the apparent villains, focusing their anger on Exxon and Captain Hazelwood. They even organized “cut-ins,” where everyone cut up their Exxon credit cards. They laid plans to bring about the indictment of corporate officers on criminal charges. It became the media event of the decade. More than ten years, later the Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia joined the fray, reporting that “in March 1989 the Exxon Valdez oil tanker struck a reef in Prince William Sound and caused one of the largest oil spills in history.” While these things make terrific news copy, and the headline boys love it, does this reflect reality?
Immediately after the Coast Guard arrived at the Exxon Valdez spill scene, the senior Coast Guard officer present requested that Captain Hazelwood remain aboard his ship to supervise ballasting to minimize the spill. He later testified that the captain was sober, alert, and fully capable of carrying out this task. In interviews conducted around the world following the spill, Captain Hazelwood was repeatedly described as the “finest tanker captain afloat,” “one of the best, if not the best” ship’s captain in the world, the “best captain I have ever served under,” and “the best officer I have had serve under me.” Admiration for this captain was unanimous and came from across the industry. From where, then, comes the nearly universal perception of this brilliant seagoing officer as an incompetent, lazy drunk?
The Alyeska Pipeline Service Company operates the oil terminal in Valdez. This company was formed by seven oil-producing firms. At the time of the spill, 50 percent was owned by British Petroleum through BP Pipelines, which controlled the company and was responsible for its operations. Sometime before the spill, Alyeska unaccountably removed thirty-six tons of cleanup equipment from the response barge located in Prince William Sound and stowed it ashore. Neither the Coast Guard nor the Port of Valdez raised a question when this happened. Subsequent investigation has revealed that all decisions concerning cleanup equipment and its maintenance and stowage were made in London by BP, not by Exxon.
Where was the Coast Guard when this equipment was moved ashore and put into storage?
Where were the Port of Valdez and the State of Alaska when London decided that keeping cleanup equipment at the ready was an unnecessary precaution?
(Part 3 of 11 follows)
© 2006 – Robert G. Williscroft
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