Today, 24th March 2014 in History! LEAD STORY The worst oil spill in U.S. territory begins when the supertanker Exxon Valdez, owned and operated by the Exxon Corporation, runs aground on a reef in Prince William Sound in southern Alaska. An estimated 11 million gallons of oil eventually spilled into the water. Attempts to contain the massive spill were unsuccessful, and wind and currents spread the oil more than 100 miles from its source, eventually polluting more than 700 miles of coastline. Hundreds of thousands of birds and animals were adversely affected by the environmental disaster. It was later revealed that Joseph Hazelwood, the captain of the Valdez, was drinking at the time of the accident and allowed an uncertified officer to steer the massive vessel. In March 1990, Hazelwood was convicted of misdemeanor negligence, fined $50,000, and ordered to perform 1,000 hours of community service. In July 1992, an Alaska court overturned Hazelwoods conviction, citing a federal statute that grants freedom from prosecution to those who report an oil spill. Exxon itself was condemned by the National Transportation Safety Board and in early 1991 agreed under pressure from environmental groups to pay a penalty of $100 million and provide $1 billion over a 10-year period for the cost of the cleanup. However, later in the year, both Alaska and Exxon rejected the agreement, and in October 1991 the oil giant settled the matter by paying $25 million, less than 4 percent of the cleanup aid promised by Exxon earlier that year. AMERICAN REVOLUTION Parliament passes the Quartering Act, 1765 AUTOMOTIVE Ferraris around-the-world relay stops in L.A., 2007 CIVIL WAR Abolitionist orator Wendell Phillips booed in Cincinnati, 1862 COLD WAR United States and Cuba engage in direct negotiations, 1977 CRIME A school shooting in Jonesboro, Arkansas, kills five, 1998 DISASTER Exxon Valdez runs aground in Alaska, 1989 GENERAL INTEREST Queen Elizabeth I dies, 1603 Shannon Lucid enters Mir, 1996 NATO bombs Yugoslavia, 1999 HOLLYWOOD Halle Berry, Denzel Washington triumph at Oscars, 2002 LITERARY Cat on a Hot Tin Roof opens, 1955 MUSIC Elvis Presley is inducted into the U.S. Army, 1958 OLD WEST John Wesley Powell born, 1834 PRESIDENTIAL Truman signs off on aid to Palestine, 1949 SPORTS Peyton Manning born, 1976 VIETNAM WAR First teach-in conducted, 1965 North Vietnamese launch Ho Chi Minh Campaign, 1975 WORLD WAR I German forces cross the Somme River, 1918 WORLD WAR II Wingate dies in Burma, 1944
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 03:21:12 +0000