ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Exxon Valdez skipper Joe Hazelwood is reiterating his belief that the 1989 accident that spilled 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound was not his fault.
In an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" to air Sunday, Hazelwood blamed third mate Greg Cousins, who was on the bridge and failed to turn the tanker away from Bligh Reef despite orders to do so.Hazelwood told CBS that he realizes the world views him "as some drunken fool," but he denied being intoxicated on March 24, 1989, when the tanker struck the reef several hours after leaving Valdez, Alaska.
The skipper admitted that he had at least three vodkas earlier in the evening but said his real mistake was to leave Cousins in charge as the tanker moved south out of the Valdez Arm and into the sound.
"In retrospect and hindsight being 20/20, of course, I never would have left the bridge if I had any idea about what was going to happen," Hazelwood said.
A telephone number could not be found for Cousins. But during the 1994 civil trial against Exxon, which resulted in a $5 billion verdict against the company, Cousins testified that he wasn't sure why he failed to order the right turn that would have taken the 900-foot tanker away from the reef.
"It could have been poor seamanship on my part (or) lack of experience -- I don't know," Cousins said at the time.
Hazelwood was in his cabin doing paperwork when Cousins called down to him warning of trouble. The ship hit the rocks a moment later.
"At that moment I felt a shudder, and I got sick to my stomach, physically sick," Hazelwood recalled.
He was cleared in 1990 of a charge of piloting the tanker while drunk but was convicted of negligently discharging oil. He is to begin serving 1,000 hours of community service this summer.
Hazelwood, now working as a law clerk in New York City, is expected to travel to Anchorage to pick up trash along highways and clean up litter in parks as part of a 10-person work crew.