The Nation : Alcohol Tests Begin for Tanker Captains

Mandatory alcohol testing for all oil tanker captains started in Alaska. From now on, all tanker captains and every officer sailing a tanker out of Alaska “have to take a breath test to leave the dock,” said Tom Brennan, spokesman for Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., which operates the trans-Alaska pipeline and the Valdez oil terminal. Alcohol tests are administered within one hour of each tanker departure and any skipper who refuses a breath test or flunks it will be refused access to his ship, according to the rules imposed by the oil industry under orders from the state of Alaska. Another new state rule requires Alyeska to have a large oil skimming vessel ready to respond to any spill near Valdez or in Prince William Sound. Alyeska hired the Soviet Union’s oil skimmer and dredge, the Vaidogubsky, to stand guard in a $15,000-per-day contract until July 31, Brennan said. All this comes in the wake of the March 24 wreck of the tanker Exxon Valdez, which spilled more than 11 million gallons of oil.