Thursday • April 13, 1995
JSJATION
The Battalion • Page 11
Exxon Valdez owners actively seek
federal subsidy to overturn ban
□ The request, which
is currently under re
view, would allow the
ship and crew to once
again enter the waters
of Alaska.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
tanker Exxon Valdez was
banned from sailing to Alaska
following the massive 1989 oil
spill. Now its owners are seeking
a federal subsidy, saying the ban
forces the ship into money-losing
foreign trade.
The subsidy request is under
review at the Maritime Adminis
tration and spokesman John N.
Swank could not say when a de
cision might be made.
The 211,000-ton tanker, now
called the SeaRiver Mediter
ranean, became infamous in
1989 when it ran aground on
Bligh Reef in Prince William
Sound, spilling 11 million gal
lons of oil. The Oil Pollution Act
of 1990 included a provision ban
ning the ship from Alaska.
SeaRiver Financial Holdings,
an Exxon Corp., subsidiary based
in Irving, Texas, which owns and
operates the vessel, says the ban
forces the ship into overseas
trade. The company wants to join
a federal subsidy program de
signed to help ships with Ameri
can crews compete with less ex
pensive foreign vessels.
“The vessel is excluded from
transporting oil from Valdez and
that’s the trade for which it was
originally built,” Art Stephen, a
SeaRiver spokesman, said. He
said the vessel is too large to op
erate in East Coast ports.
The amount of money sought
was not immediately clear be
cause the amount of a subsidy
is negotiated between the own
ers and government at the time
it is approved. The Operating
Differential Subsidy program
assists about 50 vessels with an
average annual payment of
about $3 million.
The renamed tanker has op
erated in foreign trade since
1990, primarily carrying Middle
Eastern oil to Europe. It has
completed more than 60 voyages
during that time, but SeaRiver
reported it is losing money in
that trade and faces the prospect
of continuing losses.
In 1991, Exxon agreed to make
payments totaling $900 million
through 2001 to settle state and
federal charges arising from the
environmental damage in the
Alaska oil spill. In a separate law
suit brought by Alaska residents,
a jury has ordered Exxon to pay
$5 billion in punitive damages, a
ruling that is on appeal.
The Maritime Administration
provides subsidies to American-
flagged vessels to help them
compete with foreign ships that
pay their crews less and often
have to meet less costly rules
and regulations.
The subsidies can be trans
ferred between ship operators
with permission of the govern
ment, and this is what SeaRiver
has proposed. It acquired rights
to the subsidy, which expires in
2001, from the bankrupt Equity
Carriers Inc.
Stephen said the subsidy
SeaRiver purchased covers three
vessels but the company was
seeking only the single subsidy.
Even while the decision is
pending on that move, however,
the future of maritime subsidies
in general is in question, with
bills in Congress to end the pro
gram. Hearings are expected af
ter the Easter recess.
The goal of the subsidies is to
make sure that a minimum mer
chant shipping service is main
tained under American control
and crews, particularly for use
in the event of war.
NASA scoffs at superstition,
but no more "13’ missions
□ The many coincidences that sur
rounded Apollo 13's moon mission
in 1970 are currently giving cause
for some to ponder the signifi
cance of the number "13."
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Apollo 13’s
astronauts and flight controllers scoffed at it from
the start. Superstitious about the number 13?
Bring on the black cats, they said.
Even when an oxygen tank in the spaceship ex
ploded on April 13, 1970 — 25 years ago Thursday
— and the moon mission was aborted, Apollo 13
commander Jim Lovell, his crew and NASA re
fused to believe it had anything to do with fate.
Lovell wasn’t superstitious then, and he’s
not now. But he’s not so sure about NASA.
“NASA officially claims that they’re not su
perstitious about 13,” he said. “But I dare you
to go back in the logs and look at any other
(manned) spacecraft after Apollo 13 that ever
had the number 13 in it. There is not another
— and most of them were shuttles — there’s
not one shuttle that had 13.”
NASA stopped numbering shuttle flights in
normal sequence after the ninth in 1983 be
cause launch delays were jumbling the order.
Instead, a confounding combination of num
bers and letters was used.
NASA’s 13th Pioneer space probe was called Pio
neer Venus 2 or the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe —
rarely Pioneer 13. It reached Venus in 1978 four
months after launch.
NOAA-13, a weather satellite developed by NASA for
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, fell
silent 12 days after its 1993 launch.
Hmmm, makes you wonder.
Save yourself the energy, NASA officials say.
“I’ve been with the Pioneer project and NASA
for 32 years, and I never in all my years have
heard any kind of talk about superstition,” said Pi
oneer project manager Fred Wirth. “Oh, occasion
ally somebody says, ‘You don’t want to do that
(spacecraft maneuver) on Friday the 13th.’ But it’s
kind of in a joke.”
Former NASA historian Alex Roland isn’t sur
prised the space agency assigned the number 13 to
what was supposed to be the third manned moon
landing (and the subject of a soon-to-be-released
movie starring Tom Hanks as Lovell).
“It just reflected their whole culture: This is not
about fate or chance or luck or anything. We engi
neered it, and so it’s going to work,” Roland said.
Astronaut Thomas “Ken” Mattingly, in fact,
wanted a Friday the 13th launch so the mission
patch could bear a picture of a black cat. As it
turns out, Mattingly was exposed to German
measles a week before liftoff and was bumped off
Apollo 13. Jack Swigert replaced him.
Apollo 13 was launched on Tuesday, April 11,
- ^
"Oh, occasionally somebody says /You
don't want to do that (spacecraft ma
neuver) on Friday the 13th.' But it's
kind of in a joke."
— Fred Wirth,
Pioneer project manager
1970, or 4-11-70 — 4 plus one plus one plus seven
plus zero equals 13. Launch time was 2:13 p.m. at
Kennedy Space Center, 1:13 p.m. at Mission Con
trol in Houston or 13:13 military time.
The oxygen tank on the spacecraft ruptured
when the three astronauts were 200,000 miles
from Earth, four-fifths of the way to the moon.
They used the lunar lander, with its own oxygen,
power and steering, as a lifeboat.
A few hours before reaching Earth, Lovell,
Swigert and Haise powered up the command mod
ule and jettisoned the lunar lander. They plopped
into the Pacific Ocean on Friday, April 17 — in
Italy, comparable to Friday the 13th.
Go figure.
One simply wanted to stand
and cheer.”
THE RICHMOND NEWS LEDGER
he Boys
"hoir of
Harlem
opas22
MSC OPERA & PERFORMING ARTS SOCIETY
You can see why the choir delights audiences
across the world with a repertoire ranging from classical to
modem, spiritual to jazz—^highlighted by choreography
and an unerring sense of showmanship.
April 20, 1995 8:OOp.m.
Rudder Auditorium
Tickets are on sale at the
MSC Box Office-TAMU, or charge by
phone at 845-1234
Persons with disabilities please call 845-1515 to inform us of your special needs. We request notification
• three (3) working days prior to the event to enable us to assist you to the best of our ability.
Jeff Fox worthy
You Might Be A Redneck If...Tour 95
A regular on “The Tonight Show”
Star of Showtime specials
Author of the Best Seller
“You Might Be A Redneck If...”
“The Redneck Stomp” video
seen regularly on CMT
Album on Warner Brother
Records is now Platinum
Winner of the Ace award
Saturday, April 29, 1995
8:00 p.m.
Wolf Pen Creek Amphitheater - College Station, Texas
$15.00 plus service charge.
All tickets are general admission.
Advance tickets are limited.
At these locations:
Cavender’s Boot City - College Station & Huntsville
The Wolf Pen Creek Amphitheater Box Office (day of show only) |
or charge by phone at 800-462-7979
K-
E"
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COMPUTER ROOM
Fall 1995
SAND VOLLEYBALL COURT
Tournaments
ACTIVITIES & CONTESTS
For all residents
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2 SWIMMING POOLS
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505 HARVEY RD • 693-7184
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