Exxon Valdez oil spill State of Alaska's "Exxon Valdez" Oil Spill Trustee Council, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and environmental groups such as Greenpeace and the Sierra Club. Multiple factors have been identified as contributing to the incident: Captain Joseph Hazelwood, who was widely reported to have been drinking heavily that night, was not at the controls when the ship struck the reef. However, as the senior officer, he was in command of the ship even though he was asleep in his bunk. In light of the other findings, investigative reporter Greg Palast stated in 2008, "Forget the drunken skipper fable. As to
Exxon Valdez steel were removed and replaced that July, totaling US$30 million of repairs to the tanker. Its single-hull design remained unaltered. The Exxon Valdez spill occurred under President George H. W. Bush, whose EPA Administrator William K. Reilly played a significant role in mobilizing presidential support for action to contain and clean up the spill. Litigation was filed on behalf of 38,000 litigants. In 1994, a jury awarded plaintiffs US $287 million in compensatory damages and US $5 billion in punitive damages. Exxon appealed and the Ninth Circuit Court reduced the punitive damages to US $2.5 billion. Exxon then appealed the