On March 24 1989, the Exxon Valdez was departing from Valdez and heading south through [Prince William Sound]? with a full load of oil. Captain Hazelwood radioed to the Coast Guard station that he would be changing course in order to avoid some growlers, small iceburg?s which had drifted into the sound from the [Columbia Glacier]?. The captain received permission to move into the northbound lane. Before retiring to his cabin, Captain Hazelwood instructed his third mate Gregory Cousins to steer the vessel back into the southbound lane once it passed Busby Island. Although Cousins did give the instructions to the helmsman to steer the vessel to the right, the vessel was not turning sharply enough and at 12:04 a.m. the vessel hit Bligh Reef. It is not known whether Cousins gave the orders too late, the helmsman did not follow instructions properly, or if something was wrong with the steering system of the vessel. More than 11 million gallons of crude oil were spilled.
The spill was the largest in U.S. history, and its remote location (accessible only by helicopter? and boat) made government and industry response efforts difficult and tested existing plans for dealing with such an event. The region was habitat for salmon?, [sea otter]?s, seals, and sea birds.
A trial burn was conducted during the early stages of the spill, in a region of the spill isolated from the rest by a fire-resistant boom. The test was relatively successful, but because of unfavorable weather no additional burning was attempted in this cleanup effort. Mechanical cleanup was started shortly afterward using booms and skimmers, but the skimmers were not readily available during the first 24 hours following the spill and thick oil and kelp? tended to clog the equipment. Transferring oil from temporary storage vessels into more permanent containers was also difficult because of the oil's weight and thickness. In addition, a trial application of dispersants was performed. The use of dispersants proved to be controversial. Less than 4,000 gallons of dispersant were available in Valdez, Alaska, and no application equipment or aircraft. A private company applied dispersants on March 24 with a helicopter and dispersant bucket. Because there was not enough wave action to mix the dispersant with the oil in the water, their use was discontinued.
In the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez incident Congress passed the [Oil Pollution Act of 1990]?. Exxon spent some 2 billion dollars cleaning up the spill with 11,000 workers, and a further 1 billion to settle civil and criminal charges related to the case.
The long-term effects of the oil spill have been studied. Thousands of animals perished immediately, but even as soon as a year later, one had to look carefully on most beaches to find any evidence of the spill. (Need information here on studies done of animal populations after the spill!) One very clear and definite impact of the spill is that the Prince William Sound economy boomed with the huge amount of money flowing into it from Exxon coffers.
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