First photojournalist at Exxon spill revisits Cordova victims

JOY LANDALUCE

February 29, 2008 at 8:56AM AKST

Photojournalist Rob Stapleton, in town on assignment for the Los Angeles Times, recalls the fateful day nearly 19 years ago.

"I was the first photojournalist on the ruptured Exxon Valdez," said Stapleton, then working for the Associated Press, who captured an iconic image of the crippled tanker being towed off the reef. "It was amazing even on day two, and there was no action, no oil spill containment and no plan."

Following the March 24, 1989, grounding of the oil tanker on Bligh Reef, Stapleton chartered a floatplane to the listing Exxon Valdez and climbed onboard the deck of the ship.

He returned this month to photograph fishermen who had been interviewed for a story scheduled to appear in the Los Angeles Times.

Stapleton swapped Exxon Valdez oil spill stories with the Cordova fishermen as he photographed them.

Stapleton lives in Anchorage and works for the Alaska Journal of Commerce. A California native who moved to Alaska in 1975, he has worked at several Alaska newspapers, including the Anchorage Daily News and The Arctic Sounder.

"I remember the smell, and going to the bow and looking over the railing at a hole the size of a Volkswagen Bug in the hull," he said. "There was water and oil still spilling out of the hole."

Stapleton was also the only photographer to capture an image of Capt. Joseph Hazelwood later, when he ended up in Valdez.

"I knew what he looked like as I tried to shoot photographs of him on the bridge that first day, and he kept ducking me as Gov. Steve Cowper was questioning him," Stapleton said. "I recognized him when he left the U.S. Coast Guard office in Valdez, and that image was used in all the major publications all over the world."

Stapleton spent 13 weeks in Valdez and the Prince William Sound photographing the oil spill and surrounding activities for the Associated Press and a picture agency in New York that sold his work to Newsweek and Time Magazine.

This was not Stapleton’s first visit to Cordova. He visited a Cordova town meeting after the spill. Those images were part of a follow-up article in Newsweek.

"I remember many things about the spill, but the response to oil company officials and state DEC officials at that meeting were particularly vivid to me," Stapleton said. "Folks quietly holding up signs, when you could tell they were busting at the seams to scream, "Liar" to Alyeska officials. It was pretty strong stuff."

Cordova fisherman Mark King, who was interviewed by the Los Angeles Times, had agreed to one last interview in hopes of raising public awareness regarding Exxon’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals award of $2.5 billion in punitive damages.

In March 1989, King’s seiner, the Noble Hunter, tried single-handedly to keep a boom around the grounded supertanker Exxon Valdez. A crew of seven on the 34-foot vessel fought a losing battle as the boom material continually broke apart in the turbulent sea.

King has been interviewed dozens of times since 1989.

"I have done my last interview, I am not going to speak to this again," King said. "These interviews are very emotionally draining."

Cory Blake and Mike Maxwell also are bracing for the Supreme Court hearing. Neither fisherman was planning to attend the hearing held on Wednesday, Feb. 27, in Washington, D.C., with at least 16 Cordovans in attendance.

Blake had gone to the nation’s capital to attend the 15th anniversary events and give testimony and found it to be an educational experience.

"I had no idea that there are so many sick oil recovery workers," Blake said. "There were numerous testimonies to address the health of the workers."

Alaska Native carver and fisherman Mike Webber was heading to Washington to testify and display the "shame pole" he created. The Chugach Corp. made a large donation to ship the shame pole into Washington. It also donated an air ticket and lodging for Webber.

"I will not have a hard time explaining the ‘shame pole’ but I am not a great public speaker," Webber said.

Stapleton said it was somewhat of a deja vu experience to be back in Cordova shooting another Exxon Valdez assignment.

"It was a honor, and a pleasure to be able to do this assignment of Cordova fishermen, after all these years," Stapleton said.

"I hope the Supreme Court rules in favor of the Cordova fishermen, although we all know that no amount of money will bring back the lifestyle that was stolen by an accident that Alaskans were told would never happen."

Joy Landaluce can be reached at (907) 424-7181.

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