Exxon Valdez
The accident
On 24 March 1989, the American oil tanker the Exxon Valdez, which
had just loaded 180,000 tonnes of crude oil at Valdez oil terminal,
moved away from the shipping lane to avoid meeting with drifting
ice blocks. The captain ordered the helm holder to switch to automatic
pilot. Less than 30 minutes later, the ship ran aground at speed
of 12 knots on Bligh Reef, situated some 10 m deep in Prince William
Strait, an important fishing area.
The grounding damaged 11 of the 18 tanks and caused 38,500 tonnes
of crude oil to be spilled. More than 7,000 km2 of oil slicks
polluted 800 km of coasts (2,000 km including all the
small islands and inlets).
The city of Valdez had already been traumatised 25 years earlier
by a devastating earthquake. The whole city was entirely rebuilt
and became, in 1976, a major crude oil port.
This
spill of 38,500 tonnes of crude oil made the Exxon Valdez the vessel
responsible for the largest oil spill that the US had ever experienced.
This
spill was a huge shock for the United States and the Exxon company,
who had never imagined such a disaster possible.
In the top left-hand corner the Exxon Valdez.
On the whole photo, the oil slick coming from this oil tanker.
(Source: Cedre)
Response
During
1989, 11,000 people were employed by Exxon to clean up the damage
as quickly and efficiently as possible. Tens of thousands of volunteers
and unprecedented means were made available (1,400 ships, 85 helicopters
and 1,100 people) to save sea birds and mammals and to clean the
shore one beach after another.
In
1990, 1,100 people continued clean-up operations. This workforce
was costly; Exxon paid each worker 1,000 dollars per week.
Bioremediation,
the acceleration or promotion of natural breakdown processes by
micro-organisms, was used. The reduction in the amount of oil covering
the surfaces treated was three times more quickly. This technique
is therefore recommended for clean-up.
Shoreline clean-up during the Exxon Valdez pollution (Source: Cedre)
Exxon's expenses
By 1st June 1989, 3 months after the oil tanker grounded, the expenses
incurred by Exxon had reached 135 million Dollars. They had increased
to 300 million Dollars by 1st July 1989 and by early 2006 had reached
almost 2.5 billion Dollars.
These
expenses were not in vain, as 3 years on, 500 of the 800 km of oiled
coastline had been cleaned. Despite this progress, residual pollution
regularly continued to affect certain species and the consequences
of the 1989 incident on wildlife were undoubtedly considerably higher
than indicated by the initial report, which made reference to 250,000
seabirds, 2,800 otters and 300 seals directly affected by the oil
from the Exxon Valdez.
Consequences
of the disaster
This disaster resulted in the "double hull" amendment
of 6 March 1992 being promulgated and voted in for all vessels built
after 6 July 1996 (MARPOL convention, rule 13F).
Legal
proceedings were initiated against Exxon by the American Civil Service,
several associations and individuals. Exxon in turn took action
against its insurers.
Name: Exxon Valdez
Date: 24 March 1989
Location: USA
Accident area: Prince William Sound, Alaska
Cause of spill: grounding
Quantity transported: 180,000 tonnes
Type of pollutant: Crude oil
Quantity spilled: 38,500 tonnes
Ship type: oil tanker
Date built: 1986
Length: 300.85 m
Width: 50.65 m
Flag: American
In the court cases, many accusations were made against the Exxon
Valdez captain, such as alcohol consumption before embarking the
ship, insufficient supervision of the crew, automatic pilot engaged
too soon and dangerous attempts to leave the place where the ship
ran aground.
In 1991, an agreement between the Federal Government of Alaska and
Exxon established a total bill of 1.15 billion Dollars divided as
follows: a criminal plea agreement of 150 million Dollars, criminal
restitution of 100 million Dollars for the repair of damage caused
by the spill and a civil settlement to the value of 900 million
Dollars paid by Exxon’s civil liability. In 2004, after numerous
legal strategies, Exxon was condemned to pay 4.5 billion Dollars
of punitive damages. The company appealed on this sentence.
The vessel's name was changed before continuing to navigate outside
of US waters.
Ten years after the disaster, the mortality rate of certain species
or eggs still remained abnormally high, although no link with the
shipwrecking of the Exxon Valdez could be clearly confirmed by experts.
The process of affected populations regaining their natural balance
may have been delayed by the persistence of pockets of fresh oil
buried in the sediments.
Links
Last update: May 2011