The Exxon Valdez controversy resurfaces

More than 20 years after one of the most infamous anthropogenic environmental disasters, ExxonMobil is still feeling the effects of the disaster that many refer to as Exxon Valdez and that the company views as one of the lowest points in its 125 years.

On March 24, 1989, the supertanker Exxon Valdez struck Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The tanker spilled 10.8 million gallons of crude oil in the sea, contaminating the water and harming the environment. Televisions were filled with images of baby birds and seals covered in oil, and Exxon was eviscerated by the media for something that in perspective was not as large as some would like to believe. Twenty years later the company is still not able to live it down.

One of the reasons that this incident was such a disaster was the remote location of the tanker. It was difficult to reach, and it ended up taking three years to clean up the area. One of the results of the spill was the instatement of the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) in 1990. It was passed in August of that year, and it improved the prevention and response to oil spills. It set up a system of precautions that resulted in penalties if not adhered to by the government, the oil companies, and the area committees. One of the most significant impacts was the creation of the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. The fund pays for cleaning up an oil spill if the party that caused the spill is unknown or refuses to pay. The money for the fund is taken out of a fee that was placed on both imported and exported oil.

After going through the US Supreme Court, Exxon’s sentence was reduced from a payment of US $5 billion in 1996 to $2.5 billion in 2006 to $507.5 last year, and it is now beginning the payment. But a federal appeals court has decided that not only must the company pay the $507 million, it must also pay interest for that money, adding another $480 million and nearly doubling the total. Along with those payments the company must also pay $70 million in court payments, raising the payment back into the billion dollar amount.

The Exxon Valdez spill was small compared to other spills that have happened around the world, the largest being around 400 billion gallons of oil spilt. But for some reason, this spill has remained in the minds of the public. . There are pictures in textbooks, movies and documentaries, and even commercials. One moment altered the company’s reputation, branding it with the disaster, changing the environment of the Prince William Sound, and impacting future oil spills.