Red Light to Starboard

Minutes before supertanker "Exxon Valdez" ran aground on Bligh Reef, before rocks ripped a huge hole in her hull and a geyser of crude oil darkened the pristine waters of Alaska's Prince William Sound, the ship's lookout burst through the chart room door. "That light, sir, it's still on the starboard side. It should be to port, sir." Her frantic words were merely the last in a litany of futile warnings. At that same moment on March 24, 1989, Cordova native Bobby Day was in a hotel room waiting for the herring season to open. His intimate story lends a local perspective and conveys the damage suffered by individuals and the fishing industry. Lengthy investigations revealed cover ups, reckless management, numerous safety violations, and a broken regulatory process. In the end, the ten thousand fishermen affected by the spill spent nearly twenty years in litigation and received little compensation for their losses. Despite a massive cleanup effort, oil remains on the beaches and continues to impact marine life. "Red Light to Starboard" documents a tragic event that stunned the world, recounts regional and national history, and explains how oil titans came to be entrusted with a spectacular, fragile ecosystem. It discusses the disaster's environmental consequences as well as ineffective governmental and public policy decisions. The book tracks responses to these failures that, through opportunities for citizen input and oversight, offer hope for the future. "This book was hard to put down a wonderfully told tale, rich with characters who leap off the pages...Readers will come away with a healthy skepticism for extractive industries, their relationship to government regulators, and the costs that often are paid in the search for mineral and oil/gas wealth." --Edward P. Weber, Ulysses Dubach Professor of Political Science, School of Public Policy at Oregon State University