Big Bill for a Big Spill

Amoco may have to pay $2 billion in damages

When the supertanker Amoco Cadiz lost control of its rudder and ran aground off the Brittany coast of France on the night of March 16, 1978, the result was history's biggest oil-tanker spill as well as the most costly maritime accident ever. The $15 million ship and its $24 million cargo of Middle Eastern crude were lost in the icy waters. In addition, the 68 million gal. of oil created a slick 18 miles wide and 80 miles long and polluted 130 miles of the scenic French coast, raising the cries of environmentalists around the world. Last week a federal district judge in Chicago ruled that Standard Oil Co. (Indiana), better known as Amoco, and two subsidiaries that operated the tanker are liable for most of the damages caused by the spill. Their eventual bill could reach nearly $2 billion.

The ruling by Judge Frank J. McGarr came in a lawsuit filed four years ago by nearly 100 claimants, including 76 Brittany communities, hotel owners and fishermen. Said one lawyer: "This is an incredible international can of worms. Not only are facts in dispute, but you're dealing with French, American, Spanish, Liberian, West German, and Bermudian entities." The judge found that Amoco had been negligent "with respect to the design, operation, maintenance, repair and crew training" of the tanker. He also blamed the ship's Spanish builder, Astilleros Espanoles, for the design and construction of the faulty steering gear.

The four-month trial was the first major case conducted under an international treaty that sets civil liability for oil-pollution damage. Forty nations signed the agreement after the 1967 Torrey Canyon oil spill off the British coast. Under the treaty, Amoco would have had to pay no more than $17 million. But Judge McGarr ruled that a ship owner can be liable for a much higher amount if negligence is involved. The actual level of Amoco's damages will be determined at a separate hearing that will begin on May 31, but the company's lawyers optimistically believe they will not exceed $150 million.

In Paris, French Environment Secretary Huguette Bouchardeau welcomed the decision. Said she: "There will be reparation for the damage suffered by the Bretons, local communities and by France. That is justice." Declared Charles Josselin, a Socialist Party official from the Cotes du Nord region, one of the most heavily damaged areas: "We now know that the guilty parties will pay. Those who are really responsible have been convicted."

The spill resulted in damages and cleanup expenses that cost the French as much as $95 million. Local communities suffered losses of an additional $30 million. About 6,000 volunteers, aided by French soldiers, skimmed, scooped and sucked up 25,000 tons of crude from beaches, rocks and harbor floors. Nonetheless, some 10,000 shore birds died from the effects of the spill, and some 5,000 tons of contaminated oysters had to be destroyed in 1978.

By now, most evidence of the accident has disappeared. The coastline is clean and the shore birds have returned. Production of marketable oysters resumed in 1981. Scientists say that natural processes such as waves and tides dispersed much of the pollutant and that bacteria broke down some of the crude. An estimated 18,000 tons of oil deposited on the sea floor have all but vanished. After last week's decision, however, it may take Amoco a lot longer to recover.