these tankers are as big as the exxon valdez, they're as tall as the skyscrapers in san francisco. so think of the trans-america building turned on its side with a steering wheel on it. these ships are as wide as ten lanes of freeway. when you put on the brakes, it takes five miles before they stop. not only that, but there's 12 inches between the bottom of the ship and the bottom of the bay. so if you hit something with a full tanker and it breaks open, in the exxon valdez spill in 1989, 1,300 miles of alaskan coastline were blackened. we all remember the horrible pictures of the otters and everything. it's about 1,300 miles from san diego to seattle. that's how much was destroyed. so can you imagine in san francisco bay, which is small, if one of these breaks open, same amount of oil, it would coat the entire peninsula, the south bay, destroy the wildlife refuges. it would take years of killing thousands of salmon, sea lions, herrens, for that oil to get out because the tidal action is to weak. even though this oil tanker was empty, it's a big deal when an oil tanker hits anythin

as a person that really delved into the -- read the transcript from the exxon valdez incident. did you see any parallels in i did a little best. i covered valdez as a reporter. i was young then. i did cover deep water horizon, and your scrippage of valdez and exxon's response it to, i did see some -- almost seemed like bp took page out of their playbook. did you see that at all as you were seeing the coverage of bp? >> guest: definitely parallels. a couple -- you could probably list even more than come to my mine. but a few that come to mind are in the decade up to valdez there were warning signs that exxon was not operating in a consistent manner in a way that would give you the reassurance that subject to catastrophic accident could not take place. in the decade before the valdez exxon cut 80,000 out of 180,000 employees. they re-organized their entire safety department, entire environmental department, and obviously the fact that a tanker captain with a drinking problem, who had dui arrests, was still in this job, making more than $100,000 a year in 1,989-dollar h dollars, th

john: that was better than the exxon valdez is. >> you have other factors. a different location and issues of people being drunk and a negligent. they did not say anything. john: i don't blame them. the media is hostile to business. >> not talking. they say we don't know what you do. >> we may be in trouble. >> but other people make the story for you. john: then fraser seitel will call me an idiot but public relations is silence grants the point*. now exxon has epilogues and talk to the enemy. that is you and? to loosen edges -- is a much more communicative person because they learned valdes was terrible for their reputation. john: now they pay for commercials to say to go to the gulf of mexico. >> florida beaches. >> mississippian outdoors. >> louisiana seafood is delicious. >> come to the gulf. >> this is brought to you by bp. john: this works? i cannot believe that. >> pr stands for performance recognition. the key is action. are they cleaning the gulf? then they communicate. john: your book how puerto rico trump's marketing. >> people don't believe comme

really protocol of it we felt for a long time i think that you could you could happen both and the exxon valdez spill definitely tied a lot of essential and something different about that and we've been really concerned about drilling in the arctic ocean in the beaufort in check she sees that i'm i'm an environmentalist and some people like to call that card when i say forgot to say go to drill ambar first because it's on land you can clean it up on land if you have to drill drill there first but it's first started people people are really torn because there's a lot of jobs and a lot of industry here that is based on the petroleum energy industry clearly but having seen how shell operates and how ludicrous it is that they would even be out you know in the start we had hundred mile an hour storm coming in and they left a target which is far out on the aleutian chain and the suspect. what they're suspected of many alaskans are is that i'm january first whatever boat whatever vessel is sitting at a harbor has to undergo that it has to pay a tax to the borough or to the town that it's into the harb

john: that was better than the exxon valdez is. >> you have other factors. a different location and issues of people being drunk and a negligent. they did not say anything. john: i don't blame them. the media is hostile to business. >> not talking. they say we don't know what you do. >> we may be in trouble. >> but other people make the story for you. john: then fraser seitel will call me an idiot but public relations is silence grants the point*. now exxon has epilogues and talk to the enemy. that is you and? to loosen edges -- is a much more communicative person because they learned valdes was terrible for their reputation. john: now they pay for commercials to say to go to the gulf of mexico. >> florida beaches. >> mississippian outdoors. >> louisiana seafood is delicious. >> come to the gulf. >> this is brought to you by bp. john: this works? i cannot believe that. >> pr stands for performance recognition. the key is action. are they cleaning the gulf? then they communicate. john: your book how puerto rico trump's marketing. >> people don't believe comme

as a person that really jumped into -- and a you read a lot of the transcripts from the exxon valdez incident, did you see any parallels? i did a little bit. as a reporter i did not cover valdez. i was young then. i did cover the border horizon. in your description and the response to my did see -- it almost seems like bp took a page and other playbook. the you see that all? you are seeing the coverage. >> definitely. there were definitely parallels. of listed more than it comes to my mind, but the few that come to mind. in the decade running up there were warning signs that exxon was not operating in a consistent manner in a way that would give you the highest possible reassurance that such a catastrophic accident could not take place. in fact, in the decade before the valdez exxon cut 80,000 out of the 180,000 employees. they reorganize their entire state department, entire environmental department. obviously the fact that the tanker captain with a drinking problem to head the arrests was still in his job making more than a hundred thousand dollars a year in $1,989, that's not t

this is like captain hazelwood running the exxon valdez into the ground and saying does any one mindhile i leave the ship for a while. the answer is by all means captain. i will buy the first drink on dry land. also in los angeles big hit and run problem. or 50 percent of the actors are hit and runs? what's going on? >> 50 percent, so all of you people that are living somewhere where there are same people living amongst you, image if 50 percent of just the traffic accidents were hit and run. just about 10 percent net. it's about 10 percent nationally. we are at 50 percent. by the way that was as of 09. so we could be over that today. >> so 50 percent of all traffic accidents? the people who caused them zoom away they don't stop? 50 percent. why do you think that is? >> well, they flee. there's a couple of reasons. >> one is half of the people who live in los angeles are here illegally. if you hang around people want to see proof of insurance or id you can get into trouble. image if you were in bulgaria and you were there illegally and you had no paperwork and you banged into the back

. >> look at "exxon valdez," look at the gulf of mexico, look at all the different things.hey said nothing would happen. you know, anything can happen. >> shell says it won't begin actually extracting oil for at least a dece, not with exploratory rigs like the cullic, but with cutting edge super structures built to withstand the harshest conditions. the kulluk is not filled with oil for sale, but officials say the now grounded kulluk does have about 150,000 gallons of fuel on board, mostly diesel, for operating machinery. the officials say no sheen has been seen, suggesting the kulluk has not leaked fuel. but eskimo activist carolyn canon, one of shell's toughest critics, says she fears there will be a diesel spill from the kulluk that could harm sea and wildlife. >> it's a scary thought, because people rely on that food. >>> happening now, breaking news. the senate's fiscal cliff fix is facing an uncertain future in the house, exposing a riff between republican leaders. we're watching world markets for reaction this hour. will all the uncertainty sends stocks into a nosedi

. >> exxon valdez compared bp, talk about going back, they hated the press, as they should because theand oil companies especially. so they just said, we're not going to talk to you. you're the enemy. and that really hurt exxon. >> steve: we'll be watching stossel tonight on fox business. thank you. >> brian: what is bad is good. >> steve: tonight at 9:00 o'clock. straight ahead on our show on this thursday, a.j. mccarron's girlfriend, the real winner of the college bowl game on monday night. now she might be trading in the bikini for the board room. can you say celebrity apprentice? >> gretchen: naomi judd is here. is her daughter ashley about to jump into politics? we'll find out. there she is. >> steve: here come the judds eat good fats. avoid bad. don't go over 2000... 1200 calories a day. carbs are bad. carbs are good. the story keeps changing. so i'm not listening... to anyone but myself. i know better nutrition when i see it: great grains. great grains cereal starts whole and stays whole. see the seam? more processed flakes look nothing like naturalrains. you can't argue with nu