Researchers now suspect that much of the most costly clean-up in history, the summers spent scrubbing individual beach stones and 'rehabilitating' otters, did little, if anything, to restore Prince William Sound—and may have hurt. . . .It did make humans feel better, however, and it did make a handful of the displaced fishermen and women who chartered their boats for cleanup for thousands of dollars a day into "spillionaires."

Spills tend to erode whatever gains the industry may achieve in the public's eye, and can cost many thousands of dollars to clean up. A poor public image, and the perception that no claim against the industry is unreasonable, can turn successful claimants against the industry into "spillionaires."

It is a strange legacy that Joe Hazelwood has left Valdez.

He is both congratulated and condemned. There are a few who want to string him up. Others want to pay his legal bills.

Hazelwood brought riches to many people on the Prince William Sound. "Spillionaires," they call themselves.