R.I.P.

Joseph Hazelwood, Exxon Valdez Captain in 1989 Oil Spill, Dead at 75

After the Exxon Valdez ran aground in 1989, pumping more than 10 million gallons of oil into Alaskan waters, Hazelwood became the face of the disaster.

Joseph Hazelwood, who captained the Exxon Valdez supertanker as it ran aground in 1989, pumping 10.8 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound and resulting in one of the worst environmental catastrophes in U.S. history, has died at age 75. Hazelwood died on July 21, The Washington Post reported Sunday, citing an unnamed family associate. A nephew told The New York Times over the weekend that Hazelwood had been battling both COVID-19 and cancer at the time of his death. After the spill—which spanned 1,500 miles of coastline and resulted in the deaths of more than a quarter of a million animals—Hazelwood was acquitted of a felony charge of operating a vessel while intoxicated, but was convicted of negligently discharging oil. His license was suspended for nine months, but he never returned to duty. “I would like to offer an apology, a very heartfelt apology, to the people of Alaska,” he told the writer of a 2009 book chronicling the disaster.