The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Oil covered everything: beaches, animals, plants, bottoms of boats. Approximately 205.8 million gallons of oil leaked into the ocean and toward the Louisiana shoreline. To put the amount in perspective, that oil could be used to drive a Toyota Prius around the earth 184,181 times (Repanich). All of this pollution and destruction because of one singular company: British Petroleum. Needless to say, the image of BP was tarnished because of this. What can a company do to come back from such a serious setback? This was the question that was faced by the company in 2010 (when the spill occurred), and is still being wrestled with today. By analyzing BP’s “Commitment to the Gulf” ad campaign, the brand’s desired identity is made very apparent. When it comes to oil, nearly all consumers are involved. However, BP does take specific steps in order to narrow down a target audience when it comes to advertising its product. Despite the hardships faced by BP stemming from the spill, consumers still have an addiction to oil. BP, the fourth largest oil company in the world (“Biggest Oil”), has such a firm hold on consumer society that it is a necessity in today’s consumer landscape. By pushing the brand’s identity to its target audience, BP used branding to overcome a severe controversy and rebuild the image it hoped to convey to consumers.

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico occurred because “oil from the well shot up and out of the drill column under high pressure, extended on the drilling rig and exploded (wikipedia)”. The rig set on fire and later sank. BP, Transocean, along with government agency employer, all worked hard to avoid further spread of the oil.

The oil spill created long term problems for the living organisms that inhabit the Gulf of Mexico. The oil covered the feathers of birds, making them unable to float at the surface. The oil killed some of the deep sea coral as far as seven miles away from the site. Mammals ingested the oil, which resulted in some of the mammals having internal bleeding and ulcers. This has also lead to an increase in sea turtles stranding, sick dolphins, and a decrease in population of many marine animals. This disaster stuck during the breeding season for many species of wildlife. “The oil’s toxicity may have hit egg and larval organisms immediately”, which could have wiping out those age classes. Population dips and cascading food web has occurred due to

One of the most recognized disasters regarding hazardous chemicals is the wreck of the infamous Exxon Valdez. After the oil tanker ran aground on Bligh reef in the spring of 1989, millions of liters of crude oil leaked into the Prince William Sound, off the coast of Northern Alaska causing millions of the native wildlife to die. Thankfully, it didn’t seep into the open ocean but the oil harmed not only the local Alaskan wildlife it also harmed the reputation and honesty of big oil corporations such as the Exxon shipping company, the livelihoods of thousands of the local fishermen and the water quality of the Prince William Sound. The Exxon Valdez

Initial government response to the disaster proved challenging due to the remote location of Prince William Sound. As a result, this led to a slow and inadequate clean up of oil in the Alaskan waters. The oil clean up took approximately four years, until the clean up efforts were eventually called off by the

This presentation features the Exxon Valdez oil spill, which significantly affected the environment in and around Valdez, Alaska. In this connection, Group D will explore: the background information of Prince William Sound, the oil business in Valdez and the event of the oil spill. Next, the team defines the problems – that is, the effects of the spill – what damage did it cause. After, we will diagnose the issues – meaning that the group intends to pinpoint the root causes of the problems. The next step is to substantiate that the stated causes are linked to the issues; to accomplish the aforesaid, the response time and level of preparedness will be analysed. In order to mitigate similar incidents, the team explores action plans that have

The purpose of this research paper was to investigate the news media’s depiction of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. The coverage provided by the newspapers was compared to that of scientific journals to access their validity and insight. The reactions the coverage evoked on the public were also studied. The paper specifically addressed the media’s portrayal of the oil company versus that of environmental groups. It was found that the news media did not include the benefits the oil company had had on the people and economy of Alaska. It was also found that up until 1989, many Alaskans were opposed to environmental groups. Next, the paper followed the role the media played on the public’s emotions and subsequent government

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill occurred on April 20, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. This oil spill was the largest spill in history in front of the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989. This oil spill released about 4.9 million barrels of oil into the ocean. This spill not only wreck havoc on the marine life but also the economic players that depended on ocean such as fisherman, tourism, and offshore drilling located along the gulf coast. Along will the spill the oil rig which was named Deepwater Horizon also went up in flames. This proved that the issue went far beyond just an oil rig that blew a line. Since this oil spill had drastic impacts all along the coast, BP which was the most liable for this incident faced criminal charges based on what happened. BP which knew the risks of deep ocean drilling failed to take the necessary safety procedures to reduce the risks of such incident occurring, thus was the reasoning behind placing most of the fault on them and not the other companies. The lack of regulatory oversight led to the issues and cost-cutting procedures opened the rig up to possible malfunctions like the one that occurred. During the spill into the gulf, BP sealed the well with cement which seemed to stop a majority of the oil from escaping the well. BP also recognized that the well was “dead” which was proven wrong when scientists still could conclude was leaking minor amounts of oil into the ocean. This spill not only proved to be harmful to the environment but also

Dept. of the Interior, Kenai Fjords National Park. (2009). 20 Years Later… The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. Seward, Alaska: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Gill, Duane A., J. Steven Picou, and Liesel A. Ritchie. "The Exxon Valdez and BP oil spills: a

Lutra canadenis, river otter, in the Prince William Sound, Alaska encountered major effects for the Exxon Valdez oil spill (Duffy et al. 1994). Lutra canadenis consume marine fish and marine invertebrates which makes them unique from freshwater otters and inshore otters (Bowyer et al. 1995). L. canadenis are terrific species to display pollution effects on mammals (Duffy et al. 1994). It was noted by, Duffy et al. that river otters in the areas located in the oil spill had a decrease in body weight and the levels of haptoglobin in the blood was elevated. Duffy et al. discovered that the river otters in the areas affected by the oil had a higher level of haptoglobin, aspartate aminotransferase, and interleukin which indicated that there was

In this century, there are nothing new about human corruption of the earth. However, in this article said that today, scientists has investigated the effects of Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 on Alaskan communities and ecosystems for embryonic salmon and herring. Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska shows that the spill may had much greater impacts on spawning fish than previously recognized because of crude oil can develop hidden heart defects that adjustment for their later survival.

USDC (2012) reports that on April 20, 2010 examinations of the world concentrated on an oil platform in the Gulf, around 50 miles off the Louisiana coastline. The mobile drilling unit Deepwater Horizon, which was being made used to drill an experimental well for BP Exploration and Production, Inc. (BP), violently blew up, ignited and at some point sank, tragically eliminating 11 employees. However that was just the start of the catastrophe. Oil and various other compounds from the rig and the well started streaming unabated around one mile below the area. Preliminary efforts to cap the wells were not successful, and for 87 days oil ejected unmonitored and uncontrolled into the Gulf. Oil soon enough covered a huge location of hundreds of square miles, and held by the tides and currents reached the coastline, contaminating beaches, bays, estuaries and marshes from the Florida panhandle to west of the Mississippi River delta. At the height of the spill, around 37 % of the open water in the Gulf was closed to fishing.

“One of the last best places on earth”-Holleman, Marybeth. The water was innocently untouched before the Exxon Valdez oil tanker struck Prince William Sound’s Bligh Reef. As oil spillage only grew cleanup began to take place right away. The recovery was a long process due to lack of efforts. In addition, discussions formed at the scene questioning if this was a crime, an accident, or a felony (Lewis, G). Although the Exxon Valdez oil spill was one of the most devastating environmental disasters, the response to the following oil spills didn’t significantly improve.

The BP oil spill was one of the worst oil spills to ever happen in the US. There are many factors that caused this horrible spill to happen; to be exact there were eight failures of the oilrig that caused this disaster. The first failure was the cement at the bottom of the borehole was not sealed properly. This caused the oil and gas to start leaking into the pipe leading to the surface of the rig. The second failure was that the valve leading to the surface was sealed improperly with cement. In addition, there were two mechanical valves, which failed to stop the leak of gas and oil. The crew was also to blame because they did pressure tests, which they did not read properly. This made the crew believe the oil well was under control when it was not. The crew also did not spot the leak before the explosion; there was an increase in pressure inside the well fifty minutes before the explosion but the crew did not interpret it as a leak. Next, about eight minutes before the rig exploded, mud and gas began to come out onto the floor of the rig. The crew tried to stop this by activating the blowout preventer, which is at the top of the well, however this caused the blowout preventer to malfunction. The rig had side vents that were suppose to release this mud and gas, but instead it was diverted to a device that separates only small amounts of mud and gas. This device quickly became overwhelmed and flammable gas was sent all over the rig. The alarm on the rig should have sounded