Period+9+-+Exxon-Valdez

**Exxon-Valdez Oil Spill**              ** DETAILS: ** The Exxon Valdez, an oil shipping vessel, ran ashore near Prince William Sound, Alaska on March 24, 1989. It dumped 10.8 million gallons of oil spanning 12,400 square kilometers of land. The area surrounding this accident was especially sensitive, and it was damaged due to the spill. The ecosystem of this area was home to a vast amount of organisms ranging from sea otters to salmon and seabirds, all of which were displaced from their natural habitats. The spill was further complicated due to the remote location of the spill, which made it difficult to access for cleanup. Cleanup was attempted by burning the oil, mechanical cleanup and chemical cleanup with detergents that were eventually harmful to the environment.



 **CAUSES:**  This accident happened because the Exxon Valdez ran ashore onto the Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The third mate on the vessel failed to operate and steer the ship correctly, and the ship master was said to be intoxicated, leading to his failure to keep a navigational watch for the ship. The ship was navigating outside of the regular shipping lanes to bypass ice, although it was unable to bypass the shallow ground. The accident is also said to be attributed to the Exxon Shipping Company in failing to provide a well-rested and competent crew for the vessel. <span style="COLOR: #2e05c2; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Impact, Charcoal, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 130%; COLOR: #171111; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">           <span style="COLOR: #2e05c2; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Impact, Charcoal, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 130%; COLOR: #171111; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">

**LAWS AND POLICIES:** To prevent future accidents from happening and to increase the response time should such an event occur again, several regulations/ideas were enacted. The U.S. Coast Guard monitors ships by satellite as they travel the area of the previous spill, and two ships escort each oil tanker through the Sound to aid in resolving any problems it may face. At the time of the Exxon-Valdez spill, there was only one escort ship total. Marine pilots ride on the ships as they pass through the Sound for twenty-five of the seventy miles. Congress also passed a law requiring all oil tankers to have a double hull by 2015 to reduce the rate that the oil is able to leak out at if an accident were to occur. Emergency planning for the cleanup of oil spills must now include responses for a 12.6 million gallon oil spill. There is now a length of containment boom 40 miles long to keep the oil secluded to one area should a spill occur, and a supply of oil dispersants is kept on hand and ready to be used in the event of a spill.

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215471/oil_spills.htm
 * Sources:** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill

**Comments:** -Overall, this site is really good and to the point! The only possible improvement would be maybe you can elaborate more on the clean-up of the spill, and the amount of money they used to clean-up, maybe this will show how drastic the spill was and how important it was to the government to clean it up.

-You could have talked about what action was taken to ensure that the company and other companies wouldn't make the same mistakes. It would have been nice to know the penalties Exxon-Valdez faced. The pictures helped with describing what happened.