The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill: 27 Years Later Sachin Nair, Biologist, Ph.D. Anchorage, Alaska-- On March 24, 1989, the oil freighter Exxon Valdez entered Alaska's Prince William Sound, a sound off the Gulf of Alaska, after leaving the Valdez Marine Terminal filled with crude oil. At exactly 12:04 am, the oil tanker crashed into a reef, piercing the hull open and releasing 11 million gallons, 41 639 530 liters, of oil into the surrounding marine environment. Emergency responses by the oil company, Exxon, and the Alyeska Pipeline Company were very insufficient to contain much of the spill, while soon after, a storm blew in, spreading the oil vastly across 11,000 square miles of ocean water. Eventually, more than 1,000 miles of coastline were polluted, and hundreds of thousands of animals were killed. Exxon ended up …show more content…
Despite the possibility of a spill, Exxon allowed Captain Joseph Hazelwood, a known alcoholic, to command its oil tanker through these icy waters in order to be bound for Long Beach, California. For almost three years before the spill, Exxon officials overlooked repeated reports of Hazelwood’s addiction and failed to implement its substance abuse policies. In fact, Hazelwood was permitted to continue to operate the supertanker even with the fact his driver’s license had been suspended for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence. On the evening of March 23, 1989, Hazelwood visited two local bars and consumed somewhere between 15 to 27 ounces of alcohol before boarding the ship. Although he was the only officer on board qualified to navigate through Prince William Sound, in his drunken state, he gave the wheel of the ship over to a tired third mate who was not eligible to steer the tanker. Shortly soon after, as the Exxon Valdez gained speed it left the shipping lanes and struck into Bligh Reef, ripping the tankers hull open and spewing thousands of liters of oil into the fragile Alaskan