Oil Spills
It was 9:12 p.m. on March 23,1989, when the Exxon Valdez ship, carrying more than 53 million gallons of crude oil, left for Long Beach, California. It was the beginning of one of the worlds worst oil spills ever. The captain and the attendants had little concern when leaving the trans-Alaska pipeline terminal in Valdez. It was just another routine trip, ships had safely transited through the area more than 8,700 times in the 12 years since the oil began flowing through that pipeline. As the ship approached the shipping lanes they encountered several icebergs. The captain Joe Halzwood, who had consumed a few alcoholic beverages, was anxious to arrive and ordered a helsman to attempt to go around the icebergs. He then proceeded to bed instead of surveying the attempt to go through the icebergs. The ship did not manage to make it into the shipping lanes, instead it ran aground on Bligh Reef, rupturing 8 if its 11 cargo tanks and spewing more than 11 million gallons of crude oil into the Prince William Sounds, causing one of the biggest environmental disasters in the United States. The spill spawned some major clean-up attempts. A massive clean-up spanning four summers took place. Involving over 10,
Swaths of oil are still buried just beneath the surface run across the beaches. Though we've clued into the problems surrounding oil spills we haven't completely been able to avoid them. The Exxon accident could have been avoided if the captain had used a little more common sense in navigating his ship, as well as countless other oil spills around the world. The oil gets on their fur and they must use tons of energy to cope with it. It also led to the passing of the federal Oil Pollution act, which seeks to diminish the environmental consequences of spills, and prompted essential changes in industry safety standards and emergency-response planning. Despite all of the negative effects caused by this spill, some positives have surfaced. Prince William Sound is home to an abundance of wildlife, birds , salmons, whales, sea otters and bald eagles are all animals that called it home. Common loons, harbor seals, harlequin ducks and Pacific herring are all animals that have never recovered in the ecosystem. The effects of the spill are still lingering today. Animals like Sea Otters survived but are greatly affected by the oil that they stir up while searching for clams buried underground. Prince William Sound is also a semi-contained body of water. Which I think is due to in large part our own incompetence. It spawned general legislation on the transportation of oil overseas. Meaning that the oil had nowhere to go. It also made us aware of the potential danger such an activity poses.
Common topics in this essay:
William Sound,
Sea Otters,
Beach California,
William Sounds,
Oil Pollution,
Joe Halzwood,
Bligh Reef,
Exxon Valdez,
oil spills,
Valdez Spill,
Prince William,
prince william,
prince william sound,
spills world,
body water,
william sound,
attempt icebergs,
gallons crude,
shipping lanes,
crude oil,
sea otters,
gallons crude oil,
|
Acceptance Essays
