Is Complacency a “CRIME”?

Test Case: You are a gainfully employed “pipeliner”, living in Anchorage and raising a family. Now that “work schedule”, it takes you away from home for weeks at a time, so originated the “Slope Wives” syndrome classification back in 1985. Now you send your kids to the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church “school” and very pleased with the progress of your kid learning the ABCs, that reinforcing “we learned it all in kindergarten” now be nice, play fair, don’ fib. And since you have such a coveted well-paying job, you can provide this extra-cost dedicated Sister-of-Mercy education. And included in that education, one-on-one catechism with Father Stan. Life is good! Well a rumor starts floating about during the after church “donut time” that some of the little kids are complaining to their parents about Stan’s “unpriestly” habits those in habit. Concerned about the rumors close to almost true due overwhelming the habit, you confer with two authoritative figures “well respected man about town doing the best things so conservatively” for advise and advice. Why not, as both gentlemen are well-known well-seasoned CEOs of “Big Oil” in Alaska, the guys you rely on so you can get home safe and sound working that oil home and with time off receive communion from Father Stan:

MR. ARCO - Harold C. HEINZE: Well, if you can convoy tankers through minefields, you can -- you can get them through a little oil.
MR. ALYESKA - George M. NELSON: Yeah. You can get then through a little oil, yeah.

OK, what am I getting at? It is called “complacency” and maybe it happened once. Maybe twice but didn’t seem to be a systemic announcement don’t fret and Preacher Stan was finally banned, because a mine blew up and spilled more oil all over hell.

As I challenge, once again, I would not expect a cast of professional investigators to get anywhere near the “truth in the matter” then a cast of “Big Time” wrestlers. Talking the “Slam Dunk Fake Moves” as the NTSB report of the EXXONageddon “Wreck” does not add up - with respect to a single entity to finger “blame”. So the “fake moves” worked and with the verdict in guilt appealed with respect to “penance”, it was like so happened to Father Stan when he was caught in bed with bad habits - a slap on the hands. Look, Joe Hazelwood and EXXON got off on the cheap with that “wreck”. Why so? There was not a convincing enough case that allowed a court room judge to sock it to them and the reason the Kangaroo Court finds “Guilty by Complacency”, an indictment upon other entities that had firsthand involvement. Mind you, disasters caused by complacency by those who let down their guard - so yes in some cases “complacency” is a “Crime” even if lacking that merit of “intent”.

In a nutshell, an explanation just how simple extraction of “complacent” with the EXXON Valdez. I turn my attention to: NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD - PB90-916405 NTSB/MAR-90/04 -MARINE ACCIDENT REPORT - GROUNDING OF THE U.S. TANKSHIP EXXON VALDEZ ON BLIGH REEF, PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND NEAR VALDEZ, ALASKA MARCH 24, 1989. The “testimony under oath” this “Final Report” speak now or forever hold your peace and so is today the gospel, as it is the ultimate lie detector that was on “Tilt”. I must back up just a few hours to get the point across. According to the testimony that which signed, sealed and delivered “Case Closed” comes now the interest in that Valdez Yellow Cab that may have been the catalyst to this “disaster”. With Joe Hazelwood and crew returning from a few “cheers” in the town of Valdez when on “furlough”, French’s “Cab” reached the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company “Main Security Gate” at 824pm on the night of March 23rd, 1989. That “time-stamp” is documented in the 16 vestal virgin report. The investigation timelines what happened next: The security log at the terminal gate showed that the cab arrived there at 2024. Terminal security officers stated that all persons arriving in cabs were required to check into the office and walk through a metal detector and that they did not believe any of the men arriving at that time were intoxicated. The cab was permitted to proceed to the dock without delay. About 2030, the third mate was informed that the master had returned, and he in turn notified the pilot and the agent that the master was back on board.

That means 6-minutes total, and the only way that could be possible in our universe’s time domain continuum, if the “CAB” drove the crew “land ahoy to ship shore-leave over” in “white-lightning” mode. From the Dayville Road “Alyeska Pipeline Security Check-Point” all the way to the ship, along “Terminal Access Road” to the “Restricted Causeway”, it ain’t possible if the “Rules of the Road” were followed. I worked at the “Terminal” until September of 1985, and during my tenure at the 1000-acre End-of-the-Line, due “Classified Area Safety” a “YELLOW CAB” was not allowed on the “Causeway”. So for sake of “clemency” - I meant “complacency” - let’s investigate this measly 6-minutes, that which permitted Joe Hazelwood to commence to cause an environmental nightmare. An exercise, in efforts to pinpoint that “complacency” and then you determine if it warrants a “crime”. OK, it is 2024-hours. From the Security Shack to the “ship”, it would have started after the passengers - Joe and two crew members - exited the “CAB” and walked into the office and then through security screening, then when the “CAB” was once again loaded up, time for the “Gate” to “OPEN”. Then there is a “STOP” sign at the corner of the Access Road and Port Road and a 30mph limit thereafter and then a 10mph limit on the “Causeway”. But wait, the “CAB” had picked another fare that was going to “Berth#4” and you cannot drive along a “Causeway” without calling in and being granted permission. This was before “cell phones”, but more likely then not the “CAB” had a radio system with dial tone, so could call for such permission, if he had been cleared by the “Terminal Superintendent” sometime prior to 1989. See, the tanker loading berths are a “Class 1 Division I &II” RESTRICTED AREA, for at least 75-feet backing off along that “Causeway”. As designated such: Volatile flammable liquids or flammable gases are handled, processed or used, but the hazardous liquids, vapors or gases will normally be confined within closed containers or closed systems from which they can escape only in the event of accidental rupture or breakdown of such containers or systems, or as a result of abnormal operation of equipment.

And that is why a “Taxi” is not allowed along that “causeway” trestle, that which straddles the tank farm feeder pipeline that carries “Crude Oil” along with conduits carrying “lethal” voltages and has only about a foot vehicle  clearance either side - CAUTION! As “in the event of accidental rupture”, all the ingredients for “till death do us part” exists and no insurance company in the world could afford “Taxi Coverage” for such a hazardous location, stay away is warned all along this “Causeway”. A careless driver could cause a berth to be out of service, and when 2-million barrels each day was roaring down Thompson Pass towards Valdez, just as much was going out on tankers - Dear Mr. Taximan hand over the tips for the next 53-million years!

This 6-minutes from time to finish, like “white lightning”. So there was no security “screening” except a visual the occupants of the “CAB”, there was no nothing accept peddle to the metal from start to finish as Joe and his furloughed crew were late to return, as the sailing time had been re-scheduled for an hour earlier then expected. The only way it required only 6-minutes to deliver Joe to the EXXON at 2030-hours, also a “timestamp” of record so the shoe fits the timeline, like “white lightning” because every rule in the “Book” was violated. Now this wasn’t done in a behind the scenes “fake thum out”, it was done out of “complacency”. And that is why I moved away from the “Marine Terminal” as the writing was on the “Causeway”, thinking it was better up the pipeline, boy was I mistaken.

Yes, the EXXONageddon was the result of “complacency” and the “Terminal Superintendent” that allowed a “CAB” to drive along that “causeway” should be held accountable. Sure the Berth Operator may have allowed that unescorted Yellow Taxi to drive along that “Causeway” on or about 2029-hours the day before that “Good Friday Wreck”, because someone said it was OK higher up the feeding chain. But had protocol been followed, had there been an Owner Company “Tanker Agent” or an Alyeska escort from “land ahoy” to the berth…hold that thought, not even an agent would ever receive driving privileges along that “Causeway”, it was Alyeska’s private drive for reasons of “Safety”. It was violated and if there had been an Alyeska escort to pick-up the crew at the “landing” and driven them to the gang-plank, maybe just maybe…what’s that smell and instead of hurrying the EXXON Valdez off towards destruction, at least call the cops or Coast Guard someone’s been drinking. Or how about this, that “Causeway” can be walked, the preferred travel for tanker crews returning from “furlough”. And in March, with stiff ocean breezes off of Swanpoint and average nighttime temperature giving a wind-chill of 22F, the best medicine to sober up and a wakeup call such a 5-minute walk and Joe and crew would have been logged in at 2035-hours and maybe no staggering up that gang-plank. The comforts of a “Joyride”. And anybody that worked for Alyeska, you know the contributory negligence that will forever remain on your soul, as that stain remains in the “Sound” forevermore, no matter how that “golden parachute” fits your retirement in shame - as once-upon-a-time Alyeska was the “Best of the Best” and sank to be the “Best of the Beast”, its own self-inflicted “hard aground”. I challenge any authority, any entity, any individual to second guess this assessment, that the fuse for this disaster rests its case in a measly 6-minutes, more then enough time to have stopped the disaster as once a tanker is full throttle ahead, there is no stopping that momentum and that is when we get woken up with “I think I’s fetched up hard aground”. SIX FUCKING MINUTES, that is wherein the “complacency” rests its case, and there is but for a single person to blame, the “Valdez Marine Superintendent” that was AWOL during a fixation that a cab driver is in a hurry is justified and ruined it for a whole lot of dedicated workers that once upon a time so proud to be an Alyeskan! The proof is in the pudding that the vestal virgins missed the opportunity to bring to justice at least the “root cause” that allowed this shipwreck, they even went on record to discover that “The cab was permitted to proceed to the dock without delay”. There ain’t no dock, just a “Restricted Causeway” that was breached, either by permission…that’s it I rest my case!