Question

When and where did the Exxon Valdez oil spill occur? How large was the tanker? How much oil did it carry? What is the use of these types of tankers? What were the causes of the spilling? What species have been affected? Describe the water quality now approximately 25 yrs after the spill. What new rules or regulations have been put into place to help prevent such a spill from happening again? What methods were in used at the time of the sill? What methods are used now? Don't forget the references used!!! WIKIPEDIA IS NOT A SCIENTIFIC ENCYCLOPEDIA!!!

Answer 1

The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989. The Exxon Valdez, first launched in 1986, was a giant oil tanker that stretched 987 feet in length. The tanker was carrying 53 million gallons of oil. On the midnight of March 24th, the Exxon Valdez ran into Bligh Reef, the impact of the collision tore open the ship’s hull, spilling 10.8 million gallons of oil into the sound.

The Exxon Valdez disaster dramatically impacted wildlife. It killed an estimated 250,000 sea birds, 3,000 otters, 300 seals, 250 bald eagles, and 22 killer whales. The oil spill also may have played a role in the collapse of salmon and herring fisheries in Prince William Sound in the early 1990s. Fishermen went bankrupt, and the economies of small shoreline towns, including Valdez and Cordova, suffered in the following years. Some studies estimated the total economic loss from the Exxon Valdez oil spill to be as much as $2.8 billion. The spill had killed an estimated 40 percent of all sea otters living in the Sound. The sea otter population didn’t recover to its pre-spill levels until 2014, twenty-five years after the spill.

About 40 to 45% of the oil mass grounded in 1989 on 787 km of Prince William Sound (PWS) beaches; another 7 to 11% was transported to contaminate 1203 km of Gulf of Alaska (GOA) shoreline. About 2% remained on intertidal PWS beaches after 3.5 years. Recent studies by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) [Short et al., 2004; Short et al.,2006] estimated that between 60 and 100 tons of subsurface oil persists in many initially-polluted beaches along PWS.

In the wake of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the U.S. Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 increased penalties for companies responsible for oil spills and required that all oil tankers in United States waters have a double hull.

In the months after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Exxon employees, federal responders, and more than 11,000 Alaska residents worked to clean up the oil spill. Exxon paid about $2 billion in cleanup costs and $1.8 billion for habitat restoration and personal damages related to the spill. Cleanup workers skimmed oil from the water’s surface, sprayed oil dispersant chemicals in the water and onshore, washed oiled beaches with hot water and rescued and cleaned animals trapped in the oil.

Sources:-

1. Lessons from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill disaster in Alaska
2. Exxon Valdez laid to rest; Nature.
3. The never-ending history of life on a rock; NOAA.
4. Economic impacts of the spill; Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council.
5. Exxon Valdez oil spill documentay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJYVHsnc__A