On the evening of March 23, 1989, Exxon Valdez left the port of
Valdez, Alaska , bound for Long Beach, California , with 53 million
gallons of Prudhoe Bay crude oil onboard. In fact, the radar was not working for
more than a year before the oil spill accident. handing over the vessel’s helm to the sleep-
deprived Third Mate, who was also not professionally qualified to take control of the vessel.
At four minutes after midnight on March 24, the ship struck Bligh Reef,
a well-known navigation hazard in Alaska’s Prince William Sound.
The impact of the collision tore open the ship’s hull, causing some 11
million gallons of crude oil to spill into the water.
At the time, it was the largest single oil spill in U.S. waters. Initial
attempts to contain the oil failed, and in the months that followed, the
oil slick spread, eventually covering about 1,300 miles of coastline.
Investigators later learned that Joseph Hazelwood, the captain
of Exxon Valdez, had been drinking at the time and had allowed an
unlicensed third mate to steer the massive ship. In March 1990,
Hazelwood was acquitted of felony charges. He was convicted of a
single charge of misdemeanor negligence, fined $50,000, and ordered
to perform 1,000 hours of community service.
Oil Spill Cleanup
In the months after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Exxon employees,
federal responders and more than 11,000 Alaska residents worked to
clean up the oil spill.
$2 billion in cleanup costs and $1.8 billion for habitat restoration and
personal damages related to the spill. Some reports estimated the total
economic loss from the Exxon Valdez oil spill to be as much as $2.8
billion. Skimmers, which collect water and then remove oil from the surface, were
deployed over 24 hours after the spill. The skimmers got clogged with oil and kelp, so this
was ineffective. Dispersants, which are chemicals that breakdown oil, were released into the
water.
Method: Cleanup workers skimmed oil from the water’s surface,
sprayed oil dispersant chemicals in the water and on shore, washed
oiled beaches with hot water and rescued and cleaned animals
trapped in oil. They later found that aggressive washing with high-
pressure, hot water hoses was effective in removing oil, but did even
more ecological damage by killing the remaining plants and animals in
the process.
Environmental And Economic Impacts
The Exxon Valdez disaster dramatically changed all of that, taking a
major toll on wildlife. Fishermen went bankrupt, and the economies of
small shoreline towns, including Valdez and Cordova, suffered in the
following years.
The sea otter population didn’t recover to its pre-spill levels until 2014,
twenty-five years after the spill.
Oil Pollution Act of 1990
the U.S. Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, which
President George H.W. Bush signed into law that year.
The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 increased penalties for companies
responsible for oil spills and required that all oil tankers in United
States waters have a double hull.
Exxon Valdez was a single-hulled tanker; a double-hull design, by
making it less likely that a collision would have spilled oil, might have
prevented the Exxon Valdez disaster.
Reports also said the accident occurred as the ship took a route which was not prescribed
under the normal shipping route. Because of this violation by the Exxon Valdez, owner
Exxon Mobil charted out a clause which spoke about the strict following of the prescribed
shipping routes and lanes so as to avoid any further marine accident of a magnitude like the
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill.
The ship was renamed once more after the collision, becoming
the Oriental Nicety. The Oriental Nicety was sold for scrap to an
Indian company and dismantled in 2012.
https://www.idfa.nl/en/film/12418e35-c7b1-4b60-9baa-a15c0f82eee5/oil-spill-the-exxon-valdez-oil-
disaster/docs-for-sale?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlPvxoZzp5wIVQhyPCh2RTAtyEAAYASAAEgKoLfD_BwE
