Exxon Knew Hazelwood Was Unfit, U.S. Says : Oil spill: Detailed court documents allege the company was aware the Valdez had crew problems, but did nothing.

New court documents allege that fired Exxon Valdez Capt. Joseph Hazelwood “regularly hosted drinking parties” on Exxon tankers before the disastrous Alaska oil spill and that Exxon had evidence showing that the skipper and helmsman were unfit for duty when the tanker smashed into Bligh Reef last year.

The Justice Department filed 300 pages of documents in its criminal case against Exxon just as U.S. District Court closed late Thursday, and prosecutors in the environmental crimes section later released the 2-inch stack of papers filed to substantiate the criminal charges against the oil giant.

Defense lawyers are seeking dismissal of a five-count indictment charging the Exxon Corp. and its subsidiary, Exxon Shipping Co., with violating the Clean Water Act, the Refuse Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Ports and Waterways Safety Act and the Dangerous Cargo Act by spilling 11 million gallons of oil, killing tens of thousands of wild animals in March, 1989.

Justice Department lawyers provided the most detail yet, alleging that Exxon knew it had serious crew problems but did nothing to rectify them and guarantee the safe shipment of oil.

The Justice Department said that in 1985, Exxon became aware that Hazelwood had been routinely commanding tankers in a drunken state since 1982, and that four years before the spill Hazelwood was determined suffering from episodic alcohol abuse and dysthymia, a mental disorder characterized by depression, mood disturbances, poor concentration, difficulty in making decisions and impaired job functioning.

Nineteen months before the spill, according to court documents, the Exxon legal department became aware “of allegations that Hazelwood had regularly hosted drinking parties aboard ships; that Hazelwood threw empty Jack Daniels whiskey bottles overboard; that it was a bad joke in the fleet that it’s Capt. Hazelwood and his chief mate Jack Daniels that run the ship; and that on one occasion, while leaving Valdez, he went below to his room for a drink and left the third mate to navigate the ship out.”

The Exxon Valdez crashed into Bligh Reef after Hazelwood, who admitted spending at least several hours in Valdez bars, sailed the loaded tanker out of Valdez on a detour around icebergs and turned command over to an unlicensed third mate and then retired to his cabin.