Exxon Valdez - Historical Development
On March 24, 1989 an oil tanker bound for Long Beach, California—the Exxon Valdez—struck the Bligh Reef located at Prince William Sound (PWS) in the state of Alaska. The result of this event caused upwards to 38 million gallons of crude oil to spill into Prince William Sound and eventually spreading out to 11,000 square miles of ocean as well as 1,300 miles of coastline (Newton, Dillingham, & Choly, 2006). Through a later investigation it was learned that the ship’s captain had not been at the control of the ship due to the previous night spent drinking; the Exxon Shipping Company failed in its supervision as well as a failure to provide a rested crew sufficient in numbers to operate the ship; a failure of the ship’s third mate to appropriately maneuver the ship, which may have been due to an excessive workload or fatigue; and a failure on the part of the Exxon Shipping Company to maintain the ship’s Raytheon Collision Avoidance System (RACAS), which would have warned ship’s crew of an eminent collision (Newton, et al., 2006).
As noted by Peterson, et al. (2003) the consequences of the spill were largely predictable and based upon lessons learned from previous oil spills, “Because marine mammals and seabirds require routine contact with the sea surface, these taxa experience high risk from floating oil” (p. 2082). However, the ecological damage inflicted upon animal life within PWS was no less than devastating. Approximately 250,000 seabird deaths were recorded only days after the spill occurred; over 300 harbor seals were reported to have succumbed from toxic fumes that lead to stress, disorientation and brain lesions; and macroalgae and benthic invertebrates were reported to have suffered extremely high mortality rates (Peterson, et al., 2003). Efforts related to the cleanup also had a deleterious impact of animal life, as it was reported that the pressurized wash-water used after the spill had the effect of displacing and smothering animal lives up and down the beachheads as well as in the water (Peterson, et al., 2003). In effect, the devastation that had occurred as a result of the oil spill was catastrophic.
Long Term Effects Impact
The long-term impact of the spill shows that oil persists in sedimentary refuges both in the ocean as well as along the coast of PWS. Researchers continue to find biomarkers in fish, otters and sea ducks (Peterson, et al., 2003). Prior testing of exposure to the high level of toxicity animal life would be forced to exist in did not account for long-range consequences, however it came as no surprise that years after the spill the chronic exposure to chemicals, including hydrocarbons, resulted in the devastation of incubating pink salmon as well as other fish specimens (Peterson, et al., 2003). It was anticipated that the sea otter population would rebound at an annual rate of 10 percent, however the actual rate of recovery has been recorded as being no more than 4 percent. It is suspected that their tradition choice of nutrition, the clam Protothaca staminea, cannot metabolize the elevated levels of contaminates leading scientists to guess that sea otters have either suffered from starvation or have gone elsewhere (Peterson, et al., 2003).
According to the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, as of 2014 not all species of wildlife were recorded during the time of the spill cleanup. As a result only 10 species of birds were identified when approximately 90 carcasses of various other species had also been found (Status of injured resources & services, 2014). While the Trustee Council reports that species such as Bald Eagles, clams and common loons have recovered as per clean up objectives, and that designated wilderness areas, intertidal communities and certain pods of killer whales continue to recover, species such as the marbled murrelet, pacific herring and pigeon guillemot, and other pods of killer whale, are not recovering. As the PWS economy also relies on tourism for the population’s wellbeing, it too has suffered from the devastation and still continues on the path of recovery (Status of injured resources & services, 2014).
Stakeholders Involvement
So many parties had an involvement in the Exxon Valdez disaster but who were the people that were mainly involved and wanted to make a difference? The first company that was involved was Exxon Mobile Company, this company is the company that was responsible for the oil in the ship that caused the spill. The second party that was involved are the local venders and the fishermen, they lost money and merchandize because of the spill. Next we have the clean-up crew and the coast guards they were directly involved because they were part of fixing the problem and trying to make it better for the environment. Last but not least we have the environmentalist they were involved because they were looking after the environment and seeing what effects the oil had on the animals and the environment.
Perspectives of Stakeholders Now that we know who was involved we need to know what was in it for them, what was the motive behind their involvement. The Exxon Mobile company involvement was a financial motive they were going to gain money from the oil that was spilled but instead lost money attempting to help with the clean-up. The local venders and the fishermen had a financial motive as well they needed the resources that was given from fish to sell and make money for their families and to pay their bills. The involvement that the coast guards and clean-up crews were societal, they were trying to do what was best for the society the clean-up crews also had a scientific motive they wanted to see what effects it had on the waters and the animals that lived in that environment. Last but the environmentalist had a pure scientific motive they wanted to see what the oil did to the species and waters to try to save the environment and also to try and predict the outcome of the spill to see what long lasting effects the incident had on the environment.
Environmental Theories and Ethical Positions

Responsibilities of Stakeholders

Possible Solutions The neglect of personnel that manned the ship was the main mistake of Exxon Valdez and the reason that caused a huge oil spill. The best solution to this issue is to have had enough staffing and sufficient training for the workers. Stressing the importance of the items on the ship and what could possibly happen if the ship did wreck may have changed the way that the captain viewed his job responsibilities. For instance, fishermen in Alaska that work on boats have a high risk of fatality because of the conditions they work in, so they are trained sufficiently to ensure the safety of themselves and others around them. The right amount of hours worked and the right amount of staffing could have also made a difference, although we do not know of any knowledge to how long the captain of the ship had been working and if he fell asleep due to the amount of hours he was working, we can understand that if someone else had been in the control room with him there would have been another person to either keep the captain awake or have the knowledge to drive the ship as well. The blame should not have fallen on one worker, because of the lack of staffing and lack of training. That is why the company of Exxon Valdez was one of the biggest stakeholders in trying to help clean up the oil spill. Exxon Valdez’s personnel and the way the company was ran was the reason for the oil spill, but there are several other ways that oil spills and chemical reactions can be avoided in the future. CAMEO, the computer Aided Management of Emergency Operations is designed to make safe and effective responses to any chemical incidents that may occur. The CAMEO software can manage data, access chemical property and response information, estimate zones with hazardous chemicals, map threat zones and locations of the biggest possible areas. Within CAMEO, there are four major components that can either work alone to help locate these areas or work together to define more information about the areas that can possibly be an issue; CAMEOfm, CAMEO Chemicals, ALOHA, and MARPLOT. CAMEOfm is in charge of locating chemicals in the community and chemical inventories. CAMEO chemicals create chemical datashets that show where health hazards for the air and water. ALOHA threat zone plots predict any areas that can be a toxic cloud. Last but not least is the MARPLOT any area that a person wants to specifically track themselves would use so that they can map their own area. Knowing and being aware of possible areas and spills well aware of time can definitely make a difference so that we can take action first hand and prevent these possible chemical spills.
Conclusion