The Exxon Valdez Oil SpillBy: Oluseun John and Jordan Kishbaugh

Background

• March 24, 1989• Largest oil spill in US history until Deepwater Horizon• Occurred largely due to human negligence• Failure to follow safety protocols• 11,000 square miles of land and water contaminated

Events Leading to Spill

• March 23, the ship’s officers were on shore leave in Valdez.• Expected to leave port at 10:00 PM, but had to leave an hour

earlier.• Captain and officers had been drinking earlier that day.• All safety and navigation systems were tested and shown to be in

working order.

Events Leading to Spill• Ship under control of harbor

pilot, William Murphy.• Captain Hazelwood left the

bridge at 9:35 PM and did not return until 11:10.

• Murphy disembarked at 11:24, leaving Hazelwood alone on the bridge.• Company policy required

two officers present at any time.

• No lookout posted, in violation of company policy.

Fig.1 Exxon Valdez

Events Leading to Spill

• Exxon Valdez changed course outside the established shipping lanes to avoid ice.• Third Mate Gregory Cousins was the only officer on watch and had

been working for up to eighteen hours by this time.• The ship was on auto pilot and increasing speed.• Lookout sighted Bligh Reef light off the starboard bow (it should have

been off the port side).• Cousins ordered right rudder, but it was too late.

Grounding and Aftermath• Exxon Valdez struck Bligh

Reef at 12:04 AM, rupturing eight cargo tanks and two ballast tanks.

• Captain Hazelwood attempted to dislodge the ship until 1:41, against the advice of Chief Mate Kunkel

• Ultimately, 10.8 million gallons of crude oil spilled into Prince William Sound, contaminating roughly 1000 miles of beaches

Fig.2 Spill Affected Area

Cleanup Efforts• Cleanup efforts did not begin until

fourteen hours after the Exxon Valdez ran aground.

• Never completely finished, even after four summers of working.

• Techniques:• Hot water• High pressure• Mechanical (backhoes/bulldozers)• Bioremediation

• Final Cost: $2.1 Billion from Exxon Mobil Fig.3 Cleanup with high pressure

water

Impact on Animal Life• Exact death toll unknown• Best estimates: • 250,000 seabirds • 2,800 sea otters• 300 harbor seals• 250 bald eagles• 22 killer whales • Billions of salmon and

herring eggs Fig. 4 Bird covered in oil

Legal Responses

• Congressional Oil Pollution Act, 1990• Mandatory breathalyzer tests for all captains no more than one hour

before boarding a ship• Tanker pilots no longer allowed to change lanes in the Traffic

Separation Scheme (TSS).• Tankers must be accompanied by two tugboats while in Prince

William Sound.• Petroleum Industry Response Organization created.• Exxon Mobil paid $900 million in damages.

General Conclusions

• Human error played a large role in the Exxon Valdez spill.• Safety protocols were not properly followed.• Exxon Valdez spill still considered the worst in terms of

environmental damage.

Works Cited• Lessons Learned From the Exxon Valdez Spill |

Response.restoration.noaa.gov." Lessons Learned From the Exxon Valdez Spill | Response.restoration.noaa.gov. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.• "Mar. 24, 2015 - Exxon Valdez Crashes in Alaska 1989 | Troy Historic

Village." Troy Historic Village. 24 Mar. 2015. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.• "Nov 2015." Discover Magazine. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.• Project Jukebox | Digital Branch of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Oral

History Program." Project Jukebox | Digital Branch of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Oral History Program. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.• "Questions and Answers about the Spill." Oil Spill Facts. Web. 5 Oct. 2015. • Schlager, Neil. When Technology Fails: Significant Technological Disasters,

Accidents, and Failures of the Twentieth Century. Detroit: Gale Research, 1994. Print.