Exxon Valdez

Exxon Valdez

March 24, 1989

Location: Prince William Sound, Alaska

Description

The US tanker with a crew of 20 and loaded with nearly 1.3 million barrels of Alaskan crude oil grounded on Bligh Reef near Valdez, Alaska. 11 million gallons of oil spilled from 8 ruptured cargo tanks, resulting in the worst spill in US history and caused an environmental catastrophe, impacting 11,000 square miles of ocean and 1,500 miles of coastline and dozens of species of animals. Costs of clean-up and settlements were estimated at more than $3.3 billion. Over 11,000 people involved in clean-up at the height of efforts in 1989.

Although there have been larger oil tanker spills, the remote location and unique habitat of Prince William Sound makes this one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters ever to occur at sea.

Cause

•	Due to presence of ice in the traffic lanes, the crew Master ordered a course change then left the bridge shortly afterwards and gave orders to the third mate to make further course adjustments later.

•	The third mate was left alone on the bridge with the helmsman, in which case course corrections were overlooked primarily due to human error, and the tanker grounded on Bligh Reef.

Primary Contributors

•	Focused on human factors

•	Federal regulations and company laws were breached. The master was the only officer on board to have a Federal pilot license for the area, and Federal regulations required such a pilot to be on the bridge in these waters.

•	NTSB concluded that the crew master had been impaired by alcohol that night which contributed to him making several inadequate decisions.

•	Exxon was aware of but did not adequately monitor him after a rehabilitation period.

Impacts / Lessons Learned

•	In response to the spill, the United States Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA)

•	Phase in for all tankers entering US waters to have double hulls. (would have reduced Valdez spill by 60%)

•	NTSB concluded that safeguards on the Valdez had been compromised because of reduce manning level and made several recommendations to both Exxon and the Coast Guard for having underestimated workloads and crew fatigue when reducing manning levels on tankers.

•	The first Coast Guard personnel to arrive did not have adequate equipment or knowledge to conduct immediate assessments such as toxicology tests, which led to delays.

Additional Notes

The cause of the incident was investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, which identified the four following factors as contributing to the grounding of the vessel:

•	The third mate failed to properly maneuver the vessel, possibly due to fatigue, excessive workload and the fact that the radar was inoperable from the time they left port.[25]

•	The master failed to provide navigation watch, possibly due to impairment under the influence of alcohol or the fact that he was sleeping it off below.[25]

•	Exxon Shipping Company failed to supervise the master and provide a rested and sufficient crew for the Exxon Valdez.[25]

•	The United States Coast Guard failed to provide an effective vessel traffic system.[4] In response to the spill, the United States Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA). The legislation included a clause that prohibits any vessel that, after March 22, 1989, has caused an oil spill of more than one million U.S. gallons (3,800 m³) in any marine area, from operating in Prince William Sound.[28]

The Exxon Valdez also triggered major improvements in oil spill prevention and response planning.

1.	The U.S. Coast Guard now monitors fully-laden tankers via satellite as they pass through Valdez Narrows, cruise by Bligh Island, and exit Prince William Sound at Hinchinbrook Entrance. In 1989, the Coast Guard watched the tankers only through Valdez Narrows and Valdez Arm.

2.	Two escort vessels accompany each tanker while passing through the entire Sound. They not only watch over the tankers, but are capable of assisting them in the event of an emergency, such as a loss of power or loss of rudder control. Fifteen years ago, there was only one escort vessel through Valdez Narrows.

3.	Specially trained marine pilots, with considerable experience in Prince William Sound, board tankers from their new pilot station at Bligh Reef and are aboard the ship for 25 miles out of the 70-mile transit through the Sound. Weather criteria for safe navigation are firmly established.

4.	Congress enacted legislation requiring that all tankers in Prince William Sound be double-hulled by the year 2015. It is estimated that if the Exxon Valdez had had a double-hull structure, the amount of the spill would have been reduced by more than half. There are presently three double-hulled and twelve double-bottomed tankers moving oil through Prince William Sound. Two more Endeavor class tankers are under construction by ConocoPhillips, their expected induction into service is 2004 and 2005.

5.	Contingency planning for oil spills in Prince William Sound must now include a scenario for a spill of 12.6 million gallons. Drills are held in the Sound each year.

6.	The combined ability of skimming systems to remove oil from the water is now 10 times greater than it was in 1989, with equipment in place capable of recovering over 300,000 barrels of oil in 72 hours.

7.	Even if oil could have been skimmed up in 1989, there was no place to put the oil-water mix. Today, seven barges are available with a capacity to hold 818,000 barrels of recovered oil.

8.	There are now 40 miles of containment boom in Prince William Sound, seven times the amount available at the time of the Exxon Valdez spill.

9.	Dispersants are now stockpiled for use and systems are in place to apply them from helicopters, airplanes, and boats.

Further Reading

•	Alaska Fisheries Science Center, NOAA. The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill: How Much Oil Remains?

•	Alaska Oil Spill Commission. 1990. Spill, the wreck of the Exxon Valdez: implications for safe transportation of oil (Final report). Juneau, AK.

•	National Transportation Safety Board. 1990. Marine Accident Report: Grounding of the U.S. Tankship Exxon Valdez: on Bligh Reef, Prince William Sound, near Valdez, Alaska, March 24, 1989. Washington, D.C.: NTSB. NTSB/MAR-90/04. 255 p.

•	Peterson, Charles H., Stanley D. Rice, Jeffrey W. Short, Daniel Esler, James L. Bodkin, Brenda E. Ballachey, David B. Irons. 2003. Long-Term Ecosystem Response to the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. Science 302: 2082-2086.