Sunday, March 23, 2014

March 23 - Dead Ahead: the Exxon Valdez Disaster

Today’s movie is a disaster film with a scene set on March 23. I hope you will enjoy this film and watch it tonight.

DEAD AHEAD: THE EXXON VALDEZ DISASTER             

On March 23, 1989 [2:36 to 6:.12] the oil tanker Exxon Valdez hits the rocks in Prine William Sound, Alaska and starts leaking oil. Captain Hazelwood was not on the bridge at the time of the collision.  Dan Lawn with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation springs into action to start the cleanup, while Frank Iarossi, President of Exxon gets the bad news. The Coast Guard notices that Captain Hazelwood smells of alcohol. The ship leaks 8 million gallons of oil. Due to various problems the Alyeska Pipeline Company’s response is very slow. Gov. Steve Cowper goes on board the Exxon Valdez and Dan Lawn tells him Alyeska is not handling the cleanup like it is supposed to do so. Frank Iarossi’s plane flies over the spill site and the ship. Exxon’s cleanup proceeds very slowly. The State of Alaska learns that it can’t take over cleanup unless Alyeska fails to do so, at which time it’s too late to do anything, but if the State tries to intervene before Alyeska has failed Alyeska could escape liability. Exxon starts spraying chemical dispersants, over the objections of environmentalists and fishermen.  Dan Lawn authorizes Exxon to do a test of burning off the oil. He also recruits local fishermen to deploy booms to protect bays. Exxon finally gets permission to use dispersants, but a storm comes up and the oil starts washing up  on shore.   Hazelwood gets fired for being drunk. The oil devastates the wildlife in Prince William Sound. The Exxon Valdez is finally hauled off the rocks and emptied. 

This is a very good docudrama. It tries to give an objective view of the incident. Keeps from becoming too political.  

Out of The Channel: The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in Prince William Sound by John
Keeble (HarperCollins, New York, 1991) at pages 36-39 and the film at 3:40 give the date of the disaster.

Director - Paul Seed

Producer - John Smithson and David M. Thompson

Screenplay -  Michael Baker

Runtime – 1 hour 26 minutes

Released – December 21, 1992

Starring –      

John Heard as Dan Lawn
Bob Gunton as Larry Dietrick
Mark Metcalf as Dennis Kelso
Christopher Lloyd as Frank Iarossi
Remak Ramsay as Craig Rassiner
Paul Guilfoyle as Cmdr. Steve McCall
Rip Torn as Adm. Paul Yost


Copyright by Ivan Walters 2014


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