Pollution: The Price of Disaster

The vast oil slick that floated ashore in Cornwall and Brittany after the supertanker Torrey Canyon sank in 1967 killed thousands of sea birds and marine animals and polluted miles of beaches. This ecological disaster has now also exacted its toll from the operator of the tanker, Union Oil Co. of California, and its Liberian owner, the Barracuda Tanker Corp. Last week the companies announced that they had agreed to pay $7.2 million in damages for their responsibility in the accident.

Soon after the Torrey Canyon sank, both Britain and France filed claims amounting to more than $15 million against...

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