The Washington Monthly's monthly journalism award.

• Position: 10 MILES SQUARE - Brief Article

Eric Nalder Seattle Post-Intelligencer March 22-25, 2005

While investigating an unreported Puget Sound oil spill by a tanker for energy giant ConocoPhillips in early 2004, the Post-Intelligencer discovered a regulatory regime that had withered away, tanker operators who were flouting the rules and a climate of performance that threatens a repeat of the 1994 Exxon Valdez disaster. Nalder also exposes a continuing culture of alcohol abuse among ship workers and captains in the Pacific Northwest, and warns that tanker operators are playing fast and loose with the regulations set up to try to prevent another Valdez.

The Monthly Journalism Award is presented each month to one or more newspaper, magazine, radio, or television stories (or series of...