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Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Port Valdez is a free port where the southern

terminus of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. Many tankers go to this port and it handles more than 1.5 million barrels of crude oil. Port small boat harbor is an economic resource for the community. The harbor stimulates tourism and maritime industries. At Prince William Sound there are facilities measuring incoming oil, two loading berths and a power plant. It is inhabited by salmon, sea otters, seals and sea birds.

The state of Alaska or the federal government was not prepared to deal with an oil spill. Since neither the state nor federal government had an idea how to deal with the problem, they did not have proper ways of dealing with the problem. They did not have adequate equipment, personnel to handle major spills, or knowledge to remove the oil.

On March 24, 1989, the most devastating human caused disaster occurred. An oil tanker belonging to Exxon named Exxon Valdez was carrying about 53 million gallons of crude oil. The captain of the tanker changed before the accident occurred. When Captain Hazelwood took charge and ran aground on Blight Reef. This accident released 11 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Alaska. The oil could not be isolated and moved down Alaska, approximately traveling 1,300 miles. This is quite a disaster because it affected a lot of marine life. There were many dead bird, sea otters, harbor seals, bald eagles, and killer whales found, but there is no clear death toll of animals because their carcasses would sink. The oil spill would also affected the people living in the community. Those who relied on fishing for their income were unable to fish and tourism in the area decreased.

There were many safety precautions to avoid tanker crashes like the Raytheon Collision Avoidance System radar, which indicates an impending collision. Those in the oil industry promised to install state-of-the-art iceberg monitoring equipment but they never did. Exxon Valdez was sailing sailing outside the normal sea land, which then would have avoided small icebergs in the area. The crew was over worked and they would work 12-14 hour shift.The coast guard tanker inspection was not done to Exxon Valdez.

The Exxon Valdez oil spill is still not fully cleaned up, even after 25 years. Exxon set up a program to compensate oil spill victims. The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council was established to develop research, restoration and habitat conservation plans for the areas affected by the oil spill. Those who survey the land, still find oil that is almost as toxic as the first few weeks after the spill. The spill cleanup had 10,000 workers, 1,000 boats, and about 100 airplanes and helicopters. They were named Exxon’s army, navy and air force. It took more than four summers of cleanup efforts before it was called off. Even after 25 years, there is an estimated 16,000-25,000 gallons remain on the beaches and extend up to 450 miles. Many techniques were used to clean the shore, such as hot water, high-pressure cold-water treatment, mechanical clean up, and solvents and chemical agents.

Exxon has spent up to $4.3 billion in cleanup costs, legal damages, settlements and fines. In a class-action lawsuit, Exxon was to pay $507 million plus interest, which was reduced from the initial amount of $5 billion.

In 1990, the U.S. Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. This act would improve the nation’s ability to prevent and respond to oil spills by establishing provisions. This would expand the government’s capacity to provide money and necessary resources to tackle to oil spills. Alaska also took matters into their own hands by requiring two tugboats to accompany every loaded tanker from Valdez out through Prince William Sound to Hinchinbrook Entrance. Congress as well took matters into their own hand by requiring all tankers to be double-hulled by 2015.