Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, 1989
The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill is considered one of the most destructive human-caused environmental disasters, considering both of its the long-term and short-term impacts. In the early morning of March 24, 1989, the oil tanker, loaded with nearly 54 million gallons of oil, had been traveling to Long Beach, California. Seemingly out of nowhere, it suddenly struck the Bligh Reef in the Prince William Sound region of Alaska. The impact, tearing apart the hull of the vessel, caused almost 11 million gallons of the oil to escape into the water (1). Initial response to the leak had been little to none, and soon after the crash, a storm blew in, only spreading the oil more widely throughout the waterbody. Over the course of only hours, there were more than a thousand miles of polluted coastline and a countless number of animal species that were killed from the toxins that suddenly infected their ecosystem (1).
Seabirds are creatures that people often tend to look past, but we don’t realize how these mammals are detrimentally affected by our pollution. Following the oil spill, 250,000 birds found themselves trapped in the thick black murk that sat in the water. They weren’t strong enough to pull themselves from the sticky mixture that coated their wings, leading to their eventual drowning (1). Some 2,800 sea otters were killed following the spill, the bodies found in the future months were covered completely in oil. Close to 300 harbor seals, 250 bald eagles, at least 22 killer whales, and billions of salmon and herring eggs died because of the pollution (2). Marine biologists came from around the country to help these animals. A documentary that looks at this tragedy entitled, ‘Exxon Valdez oil spill harmed wildlife’, presents one of the key doctors that had just recently published a study on cleaning oil from sea otters in California that had been directly impacted by oil pollution. Terri Williams explains how this situation was a test for everything she had taken away from her study (3). The first sea otter that was brought in to the care facility didn’t arrive until seven days after the accident. Researchers believed the animal to be in decent condition, and that once they cleaned the oil from the fur, cooling down its body and providing him with fluids to combat the dehydration, he would be okay. But this first otter died soon after being cared for. Series of autopsies on animals with cases similar to this one revealed that the problems the creatures were experiencing were far more complicated than what the biologists had been anticipating. There were signs that the neither the lungs nor livers weren’t functioning properly, and that there were ulcers forming in the stomachs. For animals suffering from these conditions, there was little the marine biologists could do — it was an inevitable death (3).
Within days the oil had spread far past the coast where the crash had occurred. There was no way to contain it, and many people were stunned that the leakage had happened in the first place. 24 hours later, the Alaska Regional Response Team was brought together to come up with the most efficient way to clean up the oil, and soon after the team was activated (2). Exxon itself also stepped in to take responsibility for the cleanup process, hiring people to help clean the shorelines that were soaked with oil. In a matter of days there were several teams on the scene to assist in the cleanup. There was a group effort that strove to save the sensitive areas that had been polluted in the early process. Seal pupping locations and fish hatcheries were categorized with highest importance, and special cleaning techniques were approved (2). But despite the hurried steps taken to isolate these important zones, the resources necessary to help in the wildlife rescue itself was slow. Reports detail that the shipping company spent over $3.8 billion on cleanup operations, as well as were responsible for compensating around 11,000 fishermen and others that were affected by the oil disaster (2). In 1994, Exxon had to pay a total of $507.5 million in punitive damages to Alaska (2). Even today, you can still find traces of oil on the beaches of Alaska. The National Park Service that now monitors these areas feels that it would be too disruptive to the ecosystem to try to remove the remaining oil.
We now are asking one question: how has this region recovered from the oil spill? There are still lasting impacts that you can find in the ecosystem today, but there have been steps taken to help continue efforts to clean the area. In May of 1997, Alaskan Secretary Bruce Babbit signed an agreement to purchase 31,190 acres of privately-owned land within the boundaries of Kenai Fjords National Park (4). The organized Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trust and the criminal restitution fund paid over $15 million for the acreage within the park, as well as 2,280 acres within Alaska Maritime Wildlife Refuge (4). This seems like a large chunk of money to be investing in land, and we might think that instead these funds should be going towards further cleaning the oil from the water that is still impacting marine life. But what the leading cleanup groups determined was that it was significantly more effective to benefit recovery by purchasing land than in was to continue investing millions of dollars to cleaning up the animals and the oil from the polluted regions. Their reasoning for this is because, by now considering this purchased land ‘publicly owned’, it ensures that the wild areas stay wild, which allows for a faster recovery (4). But even though there have been definite improvements, we can’t ignore the lasting impacts. There is still oil present on many beaches, and in some where there is deeply penetrated oil, it will leach into the ocean4. The toxic subsurface of the oil and the persisting chronic exposure is still affecting the fish and wildlife, which then indirectly impacts human life as we consume some of these species (4). The beaches that once were heavily vegetated now struggle to maintain plant cover because of the attempts to clean away the oil (4). This oil pollution was one of the most horrible events to happen. Today, we should be grateful for all of the work put in to reducing the damage of the Exxon Valdez accident — without this immediate response, the impacts would have been significantly worse. I think the best thing that any of us can take away from this event is the importance of understanding the effects that oil has on our environment and wildlife, and the ways that we can advocate for a cleaner energy source, one that is not oil and therefore does not put so many natural ecosystems at stake. This pollution has made permanent etchings on the Alaskan beaches and is a reminder of how important it is to care for and manage such natural areas — because without them, our world would be an unfamiliar place.
Bibliography
Mambra, S. The Complete Story of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill https://www.marineinsight.com/maritime-history/the-complete-story-of-the-exxon-valdez-oil-spill/ (accessed Nov 7, 2018). 1
Exxon Valdez Spill Profile https://www.epa.gov/emergency-response/exxon-valdez-spill-profile (accessed Nov 7, 2018). 2
CNN. Exxon Valdez oil spill harmed wildlife https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVm1pB3iJOw (accessed Nov 7, 2018). 3
20 Years Later … Exxon Valdez Oil Spill; National Park Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Kenai Fjords National Park: Seward, AK, 2009. 4
