Archive for October, 2006

The Exxon Valdez oil spill: America's Second Worst Environmental Disaster

Oil spills are instances where an oil tanker, pipeline, or well leaks oil into the ocean. There are several ways for oil spills to occur such as a tanker running aground, terrorism, or a simple equipment breakdown. The Exxon Valdez 1989 oil spill disaster happened along the south coast of Alaska on March 23, 1989, and was the largest of all oil spills from a single vessel in the US History.

Cause of Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

On the day of the infamous Exxon Valdez oil spill, March 23, 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez deviated from its normal shipping course in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The Exxon Valdez changed its course to avoid icebergs, but instead the Exxon Valdez encountered shallow land, specifically the Bligh Reef. Hitting the Bligh Reef was the cause of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and forever destroyed countless species of ocean life.

All types of Ocean life was exposed to 37,000 tons (10.9 million gallons) of Alaska North Slope crude oil that day.

The Exxon Valdez was carrying about 180,000 tons of crude oil, which thankfully did not all get spilled. The Exxon Valdez oil spill accounted for approximately 20% of the total crude oil carried. Sadly, the damage was horrendous anyway. Many types of ocean life were greatly affected. Approximately 3,000 sea otters and 250,000 sea birds were killed by the oil spill. Among other ocean life affected by the Exxon Valdez disaster were seals, bald eagles, killer whales, the entire Herring population, and even salmon. While the Salmon, eagles, and whales eventually returned, the Herring never did.

Other oil spills in the world have been even larger than the Exxon Valdez oil spill

While the Exxon Valdez oil spill disaster was the largest oil spill by an American vessel, the amount of oil spilled is considered an average amount of oil spill when compared to other oil spills in the world. There were other oil spills that were much larger and in many cases the oil tankers were completely lost, taking a full hull of Oil with them to the bottom of the ocean to be slowly released over time. Examples of these larger oil spills are:

• Ixtoc 1 oil spill off the coast of Mexico in 1978 where the oil wellhead leaked about 400 Million gallons of oil
• Amoco Cadiz, where the oil spill of approximately 69 million gallons happened off Brittany, France in 1979
• Torrey Canyon, where the oil spill of approximately 38 million gallons was let out off the English coast in 1967.