Sch-Wake/EXXON Valdez

The lesson of the Exxon Valdez , stresses Davidson ( Alakshad: The Great Country ) is that prevention is the only defense against oil spills; they cannot be contained. Having witnessed the effects of the Alaska spill on landscape, wildlife and people, he has written a blockbuster report on public complacency in the face of potential disaster and about moral and legal accountability for the accident and the cleanup. This grim, blow-by-blow account of the grounding of the tanker and the next 72 hours in March 1989, is followed by an examination of the repercussions. He shows that territorial disputes between state and federal governments and turf battles among agencies turned the crisis into chaos. Exxon accepted responsibility, yet the oil consortium, Alyeska, was legally in charge; the Federal National Contingency Plan failed to provide necessary resources. The volume should be required reading for all elected and public officials as well as for those in the oil industry. First serial to Sierra and Alaska magazines; author tour. (June)