Oil Spills

The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill: the Harm That Followed
Almost 14,000 oil spills are reported each year. The Exxon Valdez oil spill is one these reported and also one of the world’s most known. It was not the largest spill, but it had the most detrimental environmental effects known today. The Exxon Valdez spill is also the most expensive spills to date. The spill occurred in Prince William Sound of Alaska. This is a large commercial fishing industry, plus it is home to migratory birds, sea otters, and many other marine mammals. The Exxon Valdez spill sadly could have been prevented. Because of the negligence of the captain of the Exxon Valdez, the tanker struck a reef with detrimental effects.
The Exxon Valdez tanker was loaded with 40 million gallons (952,000 barrels) of oil in Valdez from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. The captain of the ship, Captain Joseph Hazelwood, came on board after having drinks with a friend at the port. Once the ship was filled they wasted no time and began their journey to the refineries in Long Beach, California after dark on the evening of March 23, 1989.
When the captain boarded the ship, he knew many things about the ship. For example, when the 987 foot long ship is fully loaded it rides fiv

The costs of oil spills depend greatly on many different factors. The type of oil, the location of the spill, and the characteristics of the affected area, generally are the most important technical factors. Looking at oil spills in the past, it is evident that there is no linear relationship between spill cost and the size of the tanker. In the case of the Exxon Valdez, cleanup costs alone in the region were $2.5 billion. The total cost of the spill, (including fines, penalties, and claims settlements) are estimated to be $9.5 billion. (Itopf.com)

The next day, after Alyeska unsuccessfully contained the spill, they turned the responsibility over to Exxon. Of course they spent the second day of the spill going though the same problems: assembling crews, ships, airplanes, helicopters and surveying the spill. Exxon also began hiring hundreds of local Alaskans to help with the cleanup.

As of March 19, 2001, impacts from the spill still remain. Deeply penetrated oil continues to visibly leach from a few beaches, in some areas intertidal animals are still contaminated by oil, some rocky areas that were stripped of heavy plant cover from high pressure, hot-water cleaning are still barren, and rich clam beds that suffered have still not repopulated to their previous levels. Prince William Sound has made a remarkable recovery from a severe injury, but it remains an ecosystem in transition. (NOAA.com).

The effects on wildlife were suddenly apparent. Seabirds were dying by the thousands and sea otters were dying quickly in the black muck. A special rescue center was made, but it was only big enough for a few sea otters at a time. Because of its size, in the end only 357 otters were treated and rescued. Tiny baby salmon were also currently at risk at a hatchery at inlets near the oil spill. Booms were quickly put in place to protect the inlets where the hatcheries were located.

The Coast Guard then notified Alyeska of the spill. Alyeska is a large group consisting of large corporations such as Arco, British Petroleum and Exxon. These were the companies who first began to explore the possibility of drilling and transporting Alaskan crude oil to the lower United States for refining. Alyeska had 50 workers who made up the spill-readiness team for such disasters. Horribly, their ship was on land for repairs, and their equipment was stored away where the ship lay in dry dock.

It took nearly two years for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to report the dramatic numbers of animals that were effected from the 1989 spill. They reported that the spill had been even worse than they had admitted earlier. Their report told that as many as 580,000 birds had died, with more at risk in the future from oil that remains in the environment. In addition, 144 bald eagles were dead, 22 whales were missing, 5,500 sea otters had died of exposure, and the tidal zones along 1,244 miles of shore were still polluted to a water depth of at least 300 feet.

By morning of the next day, 250,000 barrels had spilled from the tanker. T