Most people have heard of the famous Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound in 1989. The incident occurred because Captain Joseph Hazelwood was smashed when he got onto the ship to begin piloting, with an estimated BAC between .14 and .37 at the time of the crash. The jury awarded $5 billion in punitive damages (which the courts struck down, ruling that in the specific type of case at hand, punitive damages are capped at an amount equivalent to the compensatory damages ($287 million).
The incident was covered in great depth by the Anchorage Daily News. It was probably their greatest story in the pre-Palin era.
One thing I didn't know, though, is that they still haven't finished cleaning it up. Why?
As you can imagine, I'm really taken aback by the culprit, so I'll just let the headlines tell it. Gravel Causing Problems Decades after Oil Spill
From the Associated Press
An estimated 20,000 gallons of crude remain in Prince William Sound, even though oil remaining after the nearly 11-million-gallon spill had been expected to biodegrade and wash away within a few years.
The problem: The gravelly beaches of Prince William Sound are trapping the oil between two layers of rock, with larger rocks on top and finer gravel underneath, according to Michel C. Boufadel, chairman of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Temple University. His study appeared Sunday in Nature Geoscience's online publication and will be published in the journal later.
Boufadel found that water, which could have broken up and dissipated the oil, moved through the lower level of gravel up to 1,000 times slower than the top level.
Yes, I know. I'm a terrible, terrible person. Moreover, this is a very lame misdirection. Nothing in comparison to that masterpiece of misdirection I wrote a few years ago, entitled, BREAKING: Edwards endorses Obama, which began with:
Okay, it's finally happened. The endorsement we've all been waiting for. Daily Kos' favorite candidate has endorsed Barack Obama for president.
And it's coming right before a crucial primary.
and, of course, referred to now Congresswoman Donna Edwards' endorsement of now President Obama right before the Potomac primaries (MD, DC, VA a week after SuperHyperSpecial Tuesday)
And since it's the night before MLK day, I realize that this greatly affects your perception of the content of my character. Judge me on it accordingly.
Or watch the other Gravel talk about the Pentagon papers.