Exxon Valdez Disaster Good Friday

¶ … Exxon Valdez Disaster

Good Friday was turning out to be a bad day for the Prince William Sound in Alaska. In 1965, the day was marked by a major earthquake. (Valdez, 2007). In 1989, something even worse happened -- the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran over the Bligh reef, tearing large holes in its oil storage tanks and spilling nearly eleven million gallons of crude oil into the Sound (Streissguth & Chandler, 2003; Valdez, 2007). This was and still is the largest oil spill in North American history, and cleanup efforts on some of the areas most affected by the spill continue to this day (Valdez, 2007). The effect on wildlife in the area was huge, with over 30,000 dead sea birds recovered in the first few months, who dies as a direct result of the spill, and an additional 7,000 dying off in the months following the spill from undetermined but most likely indirect causes related to the spill, such as a diminishing of the food supply and destruction of habitat (Piatt et al., 1990). The cost of the spill, both environmentally and financially in terms of clean up, was too enormous to accurately calculate.

The cost of the oil lost was also huge to Exxon, though the company never really faltered. In fact, though the company did begin immediate efforts to clean up the spill, some believe that they did not act quickly enough, or that the ensuing cleanup project did not reach a large enough scale to fully minimize the damage done (Streissguth & Chandler, 2003). It is also believed by many that adequate precautions were not taken to prevent the spill from occurring, and there is very likely some truth to this statement. According to the official version of events, Joseph Hazelwood, captain of the Exxon Valdez, left the ship in command of Gregory Cousins shortly before midnight on. Hazelwood insists that he instructed Cousins to set a course that would steer them around the Bligh Reef before leaving the bridge, but Cousins did not follow that order. Instead, he believed from the charts he had studied that it would be possible to steer safely through the sharp rocks of the reef, shortening the time and distance of the trip (Streissguth & Chandler, 2003). Just after midnight, the ship struck the reef, and the disaster began. Soon thereafter, accusations began flying. Hazelwood had a history of drunk driving (of his car), and admitted to having several drinks between six and eight hours before the incident, and prosecution in his trial attempted to prove that he was drunk when the accident occurred. Instead, he was found guilty only of a misdemeanor charge, fined $50,000 and ordered to complete one thousand hours of community service, despite his claim to complete innocence (Streissguth & Chandler, 2003).