Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Newsvine - FBI investigating Exxon Valdez oil spill - March 31, 1989

I found it ironic that it was the Bligh Reef on the nautical charts, and not heard about. I also found it almost a total lack of ethical news coverage to not report "larger" how "fortunate" we were to have a Russian oil skimmer nearby which assisted, and question why nothing like it was readily available. I also would like to know why the "Fourth mate" was at the helm and how much recent cutbacks to crew size affected the operation of the oil tanker, single hulled. The captain had been previously honored at an "Op-Sail" event in his town of Huntington, NY on Long Island where all the captains had been invited to a dinner MC-ed by Rufus Langhans the Huntington Town Historian I once had the pleasure to meet and work with on archaeology for a "gifted and talented" school children program in archaeology. In my opinion the "criminal" part of this investigation was in the lack of foresight and proper regard for maritime law by the operators. It's like in NYC finding out "Yeah! the Staten Island Ferry is free!" but that means it's no longer inspected for life-saving equipment, no longer under commercial operation supervised by the US Coast Guard. My two cents working in Skagway, Alaska summer of 1980, busing through the falling ash of Mt. St. Helens.

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