High Seas: 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...

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