Minutes before supertanker "Exxon Valdez" ran aground on Bligh Reef, before rocks ripped a huge hole in her hull and a geyser of crude oil darkened the pristine waters of Alaska's Prince William Sound, the ship's lookout burst through the chart room door. "That light, sir, it's still on the starboard side. It should be to port, sir." Her frantic words were merely the last in a litany of futile warnings.

"Red Light to Starboard" documents an event that stunned the world-- recounting how futile warnings, regional and national history, as well as failed governmental and public policy...