Exxon Valdez Oil Spill and Its Effects on Biological Resources

Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

and its effects on biological resources

Environmental Science

December 2007

It was an early morning of March 24, 1989 when the oil tanker Exxon Valdez (now repaired and renamed to Sea River Mediterranean), loaded with 53 million gallons of North Slope crude oil, hit Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska.1 Nearly eleven million gallons of oil spilled from the tanker into the waters of Prince William Sound.2 Over the next few months, the oil contaminated some 1,500 miles of shoreline in Prince William Sound, the Kenai Peninsula, lower Cook Inlet, Kodiak Archipelago, and Alaskan Peninsula; eventually reaching almost 600 miles southwest of where the spill originally occurred.3 Among the areas that were oiled were “a national forest, four national wildlife refuges, three national parks, five State parks, four State critical habitat areas, and a State game sanctuary.”4 There had been larger oil spills before and there were larger oil spills after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS). However, EVOS ranks as the largest oil spill to date in the U.S. and “is considered one of the most devastating man-made environmental disasters ever to occur at sea.”5 While there were no human lives lost due to the spill or its consequences, the EVOS was a true disaster for the animal and plant life in the region.6 Many species were harmed or killed directly by the spill, the subsequent cleaning efforts or human intervention. In a lot of cases the marine and avian life of the impacted area showed various symptoms caused by the spill only years later.

ExxonMobil spent $2.2 billion on clean-up and over $1 billion in various penalties and settlements. Exxon paid immediately after the spill around $300 million to app. 11,000 Alaskans and businesses that were directly affected. 7 A new government body was created (the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council) to oversee the $900 million civil settlement fund and to monitor recovery of the affected...