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but back then, he thought the "valdez" was a bless. >> i was out of a job. i had no choices on that. because i was behind on my house payments. and no health insurance. >> reporter: for six weeks, he worked on a ship that super heated seawater, to pressure wash "exxon's" oil off the rock. it was an oily, smelly mist permeating the ship when he worked 16-hour days. that is when the cough began. >> nobody ever checked with us. nobody. they never did a follow-up on it. they never asked if there were any consequences of it. they could have cared less. i'll serious. there was no follow-up. >> reporter: "exxon told us the didn't know how many became