Joe's Bad Trip

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-- Nearly four months after the spill, there is no proof that Hazelwood was drunk when his ship ran aground. In fact, his crewmates claim he was not. A test given about ten hours after the grounding found that his blood-alcohol level was a little more than half the 0.1% drunk-driving limit set by the state of Alaska and 50% higher than the 0.04% limit set by the Coast Guard for seamen operating a moving ship. Some toxicologists have suggested that Hazelwood may have had a severely high 0.22% blood-alcohol level when the ship struck the reef. A more plausible theory is that he was drinking in the hours after the accident occurred.

-- Aside from the question of Hazelwood's drinking, there is a dispute over the key issue of the Valdez accident: Was Third Mate Gregory Cousins qualified to be in control of the vessel as it headed out of the sound? Though the Coast Guard emphatically stated after the wreck that Cousins was not so qualified, the matter is far murkier. Federal regulations governing "pilotage endorsements" in the sound have been altered so often that Cousins may have met the standard that was in force at the time. Shortly before the accident, Congress was considering legislation that would have eased federal pilotage requirements in the sound.

-- Despite early criticism of Hazelwood's conduct, the Coast Guard maintains that his handling of the ship after it ran aground was exemplary. Not only did he help prevent the oil spill from being even worse, but his actions may have saved lives as well. By adjusting the engine power, the captain was able to keep the vessel stable and pressed firmly against the reef.

-- Sharp cuts in the size of the tanker's crew had left the Valdez shorthanded, contributing to fatigue that may have helped cause the accident.

-- Although Exxon claims that it thoroughly monitored Hazelwood after he voluntarily sought treatment for alcoholism, the company repeatedly missed signs that he had continued drinking heavily. Moreover, Exxon supplied low- alcohol beer to tanker crewmen despite its policy of banning drinking aboard its ships.

Hazelwood is in the fight of his life because he is an alcoholic. "Incidents in Joe's life that involve alleged alcohol abuse only poison the atmosphere," complains one of his lawyers, Thomas Russo. "They make people assume that alcohol played a role in the grounding, when it didn't." Drinking has been an important part of Hazelwood's life since his college days, but it did not impede a rapid rise to the top of Exxon's seafaring ranks. Hazelwood long seemed to believe that nothing bad could befall him. As the ironic motto printed next to his picture in his college yearbook put it, "It can't happen to me."

Known as Jeff until his Exxon days, Hazelwood seemed destined for a career at sea from an early age. One of four children of a veteran Pan Am pilot, he was born in Hawkinsville, Ga., in 1946, then moved with his family to a new | neighborhood in Huntington, Long Island, popular with young airline captains and their families. "If there were any problems, Jeff and I certainly felt isolated from them," says a boyhood chum, Martin Rowley. "Ours were perfect childhoods." Hazelwood's father was a stickler for discipline who permitted no drinking in his home.