Safety Panel Spreads Blame in Exxon Spill

VALDEZ, Alaska —  In its first official finding of fault in last year’s Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday that all parties involved share the blame.

The tanker’s captain, Joseph Hazelwood, and his crew should have been less fatigued and more alert, Exxon Corp. should have monitored more closely the alcohol treatment program in which Hazelwood was enrolled. And the Coast Guard’s Vessel Traffic Service was inadequate, the board said.

Had any one of these parties been more vigilant, “we could have avoided this accident,” said NTSB member John K. Lauber.

The findings were unveiled in Washington as NTSB staff members and senior officials met to assess their research about the disaster, caused when the tanker ruptured on March 24, 1989, after colliding with a reef in the sound. The 11-million-gallon oil spill, which has cost $2 billion so far to clean up, is the nation’s largest and costliest.

The board recommended that all companies operating oil tankers in Prince William Sound start alcohol treatment programs for employees, discourage crew members from working excessively long hours and train and monitor employees who are alcoholics and drug addicts to prevent relapses.

In a separate finding, the board said that Hazelwood’s decision to leave his third mate in charge of the tanker the night of the spill “was contrary to federal regulations and Exxon policy and was improper, given the course of the vessel.” The board concluded that the mate was impaired by fatigue, which contributed to the collision with the reef.

The committee also concluded that the judgment of the ship’s skipper “was impaired by alcohol” during the critical period when the vessel was stuck on the reef and starting to lose oil.

“We had eyewitnesses” who saw the captain and smelled his breath the night of the disaster, said NTSB Chairman James L. Kolstad.

The agency conducted its own tests and voice analyses to make sure that it did not accuse Hazelwood without hard evidence, Kolstad said.

Thomas M. Russo, Hazelwood’s attorney, said that the board’s efforts to prove his client was intoxicated were “feeble.”

“Their conclusions are not founded in the evidence,” Russo said.

Hazelwood was convicted of one misdemeanor charge of negligent discharge of oil. He was fined $50,000 and ordered to spend 1,000 hours cleaning Alaskan beaches. He has appealed.

Last week, the Coast Guard dismissed charges of drunkenness and misconduct against Hazelwood but suspended his license as a ship’s master for nine months after he pleaded no contest to breaking Coast Guard rules.

Board Chairman Kolstad said the board hopes its report, which included 36 safety recommendations, will help prevent future spills. Its analysis carries no force of law and, by statute, cannot be used in court cases.