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In March 1989, the Exxon Valdez apilled 11 million gallons of oil into the wates of Prince William Sound, Alaska-the largest oil spill in U.S. history and perhapst the most devastating ever. Our one-hour story has three acts: Act One, unfolding dramatically as a moment of crisis, reconstructs how and why the tanker hit the rocks of Bligh Reef, and reveals the ways in whcih not nly Captain Hazelwood, but Exxon itself, was culpable. Act Two looks at tha aftermath of the spill: the disastrous, P.R. - Motivated clean-up effort mounted by Exxon and the Coast Guard that my have caused more ahrm than good, and probes the controversy surrounding the oil spill's role in the collapse of commerical fishing i the Sound five years later. Act Three begins with an account of the civil trial underway in Alaska at the time of broadcast in whcih fishermen and other Alaska resident were trying to recover from Exxon billions of dollars for damages relatig to the spill, and then goes on to talke a lovger view of oil tanker safety and oil spill prevention issues tha affec the entire U.S. coastline today.