15th Anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill
Fifteen years ago tomorrow, at four minutes past midnight on March 24, 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez, loaded with 54 million gallons of North Slope crude oil, ran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound. Sadly, we in Washington State have still not completely learned the lessons of this disaster. Even now, the centerpiece of the state's oil spill prevention program--a rescue tug at Neah Bay--is only funded to work 200 days per year.
After the Exxon Valdez ran aground, 11 million gallons of spilled oil stretched about 470 miles from Prince William Sound to the southern Kodiak Archipelago and Alaska Peninsula. In Prince William Sound, about 452 miles of shoreline was oiled. In the Kenai Peninsula-Kodiak region, more than 1,000 miles of shoreline were oiled.
The Exxon Valdez suffered damage of about $25 million; $3.4 million in oil was lost; and Exxon spent over $2.1 billion for clean-up activities and reimbursements up through 1991.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the probable cause of the grounding was crew fatigue and excessive workload, Captain Joseph Hazelwood's impairment from alcohol, and lack of an effective vessel traffic safety system. After the disaster, Prince William Sound required tanker escorts, stand-by rescue tugs, and restrictions on vessel transits when the weather got too rough.
One simple lesson of the Exxon Valdez was that it took only one human's error to devastate an ecosystem.
The other lesson is that prevention is a lot cheaper than cleanup. Puget Sound and the Northwest Straits are among the busiest shipping lanes in the world. Our four huge refineries receive tanker-loads of Alaskan oil hundreds of times every year. And cargo ships of all kinds -- accounting for thousands of trips in Puget Sound -- each carry enough fuel to devastate Puget Sound should a spill occur.
People For Puget Sound has worked tirelessly to prevent oil spills since their founding in 1991. Thanks to their efforts and the efforts of others, a rescue tug is now stationed at Neah Bay 200+ days a year (as of Spring 2004), ready to go to the aid of ships that lose power or steering or need help for other reasons. In six years, the tug has been dispatched more than 20 times.
In response to the December 30th, 2003 Point Wells spill, People For Puget Sound worked with the legislature to pass a bill requiring "pre-booming" during fueling operations and other actions to implement a "zero spills" strategy.
It's unfortunate that progress is made only AFTER spills occur. But that is why everyone in Washington must remember the lessons of the Exxon Valdez.