History+Detectives+nv

= **THE EXXON-VALDEZ OIL SPILL** =

My sad, historical picture is about the Exxon-Valdez oil spill, it was the biggest oil spill in the U.S. oceans. It spilled 10.9 million gallon of crude oil into Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound and affected 1,100 miles of coast of Alaska. It has been said that the captain was drunk when sailing the tanker. “The captain was seen in a local bar, admitted to having some alcoholic drinks, and a blood test showed alcohol in his blood even several hours after the accident.” On March 24, 1989 the tanker Exxon-Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The tanker took a detour to avoid ice, but the detour wasn’t in its shipping lane. Within six hours of it being aground it spilled 10.9 million gallons of the 53 million it was carrying. Eight of eleven of the tanks were damaged. Over 1,100 miles of Alaska’s non-continuous coastline were impacted by this major oil spill. “The national Transportation Safety Board investigated the accident and determined five probable causes of the grounding”, the five possibilities were 1). The third mate didn’t maneuver the vessel correctly, 2). The master failed to prepare a proper navigation, 3). Exxon failed to supervise the master and didn’t get a sufficient crew for the Valdez, 4). The U.S. Coast Guard failed to provide an effective vessel traffic system, or 5). Effective escorts were lacking. Most say this was the worst oil spill because of the lives lost, cleanup efforts , and the settlement . These are some of the more important parts. The lives lost were not as bad as they could have been but, just let me explain. “No human lives were lost as a direct result of the disaster though four deaths were associated with the cleanup efforts.” So only four human lives were lost, as far as we know, but many animal lives were lost. Around 35,000 bird carcasses were found alone and 1,000 sea otters too. That’s not including the ones that sunk. Alaska lost many animals to the oil spill. For example, chronic exposures for years after the spill to oil persisting in sedimentary refuges were evident from biomarkers in fish, sea otters, and sea ducks intimately associated with sediments for egg laying or foraging. The chronic exposures lead to more mortality. The clean up deaths are mourned just as much as the animal’s deaths. “Clean up operations continued during the summer months of 1990 and 1991. By 1990, surface oil, where it existed, had become significantly weathered. Sub-surface oil, on the other hand, was in many cases much less weathered and still in a liquid state.” The clean up happened mostly in 1990 and 1991 in summer months and monitored in winter months. “Shoreline assessment was a prerequisite for the implementation of any beach cleanup. Assessment provided geomorphological, biological, archaeological and oiling information that was used for the development of site specific treatment strategies. Cleanup operations were scheduled around specific activities such as seal haul out activity, seal pupping, eagle nesting, fish spawning, fishing seasons, and other significant events as much as possible.” The clean up in 1989 ended in September because most thought the winter storms would clear off a lot of the oil. The clean up included 11,000 personnel, 1,400 vessels, and 85 aircrafts. The fates and effects were watched by state and federal employees. The whole cost was at least 2.1 billion dollars, Exxon paid but Alaska and the federal government didn’t get all the money until September of 2001. “ExxonMobil acknowledged that the Exxon Valdez oil spill was a tragic accident that the company deeply regrets. Exxon notes that company took immediate responsibility for the spill, cleaned it up, and voluntarily compensated those who claimed direct damages.” The settlement resolved various criminal charges against Exxon as well as civil claims brought by the federal and state government for recovery of natural resource damages resulting for the oil spill. The settlement was between the three parties the state of Alaska, the US government and Exxon oil. Not only did Exxon get charged but also Alyeska Pipelines Service Company. Exxon was suggested the fine of 150 million dollars, one of the biggest suggested fines, but only had to pay 125 million dollars because of their cooperation of the cleanup effort and claim of the accident. That however was only for the Criminal plea agreement. A criminal restoration was also fined to Exxon. They had to pay 100 million dollars, which was then evenly split for the state and federal government. The Civil Settlement was settled by Exxon paying 900 million dollars in a ten annual installment payments. The final payment was paid in September of 2001. The case has a thing called a “reopener window”, which is a time that the state and federal governments can claim up to an additional 100 million dollars, from September 2002 to September 2006. They never did though. All in all I thought my picture was important because of the lives lost, the cleanup, and the settlement. These also are the reasons that this is one of the largest oil spills in US waters. I wish the other oil companies would keep this oil spill in mind, but at least we learned our lesson. Since this spill we have changed how we made our tankers and made them more secured. This spill will always be known, to me at least, the nightmare of Alaska.