Oil Spills and the Exxon Valdez oil spill

Oil spills are instances where an oil tanker leaks oil into the ocean. There are several ways for oil spills to occur such as equipment breakdown. The Exxon Valdez 1989 oil spill disaster in Alaska on March 23, 1989 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 world famous Exxon Valdez oil spill, March 23, 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez deviated from its shipping course in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The Exxon Valdez changed its course to avoid iceburgs, but instead the Exxon Valdez encountered shallow land or Bligh Reef. Hitting the Bligh Reef was the cause of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. 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 that day. The Exxon Valdez oil spill accounted for approximately 20% of the total crude oil carried. Many ocean life was 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, and salmon.

Other oil spills in the world are much larger than the Exxon Valdez oil spill

While the Exxon Valdez oil spill disaster was the largest oil spill by a one vessel, the amount of oil spill is considered an average large 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 lost. Examples of these larger oil spills are:

• Ixtoc 1 oil spill off the coast of Mexico in 1978 where the oil tanker leaked about 400 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.