Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Name: Hemant Sultania
Roll Number: C060
Subject: Environmental Management

DETERIORATING NATURAL RESOURCES

Resource degradation refers to the depletion, and deterioration of resources like water, air, land, ecosystems, wildlife, etc. According to United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, environmental degradation or resource deterioration is ‘the reduction in the capacity of the environment to meet social and ecological objectives, and needs’. In this regard, there is a need to understand the importance of resource preservation. While the drive to meet the demands of the many, in terms of power, energy, and resources, leads to improvement in the living standards of those across the globe, one needs to know the limits where …show more content…
Considered to be one of the most devastating human-made disasters, Prince William’s Sound’s remote location made it even more difficult for the US administration to execute their damage control plans. The region serves as a habitat for salmon, sea otters, seals, seabirds among others, and the oil spill eventually covered over 1300 miles of coastline, and 11000 square miles of ocean.
Clean-Up and Environmental Impact
Trial explosions were conducted so as to burn the oil in the region, which led to many health problems for a neighbouring native village, due to the downwind of the fumes. Dispersants such as Corexit 9580 were formulated in response to the oil spill for shore clean-up operations on Smith, Disk and Eleanor Islands in 1989, and they were extremely effective. However, the wider use of Corexit wasn’t permitted due to government concerns about the toxicity of the dispersant. The idea of dumping chemicals on hundreds of miles of coastlines, that had just been oiled seemed too risky to landowners, fishing groups, and conservations groups, and also because other alternatives were …show more content…
As of 2010, there were an estimated 23,000 US gallons, of oil still in Alaska’s sand, reducing at a rate lower than 4% per year. As of 2014, some species seem to have returned to pre-spill numbers, like sea otters, however, concerns still remain for Orcas, that scientists fear might not share the same fate as sea otters. Scientists estimate over 16000 tonnes of oil still remains along the coastlines.
Litigation Costs
An Anchorage jury awarded $287 million for damages and $5 billion for punitive damages. The punitive damages were, later on, revised to $4 billion after hearing the pleas of Exxon. However, when Exxon again tried to plead with respect to the damages, the judge revised the damages to $4.5 billion (with interest). On January, 2006, Exxon appealed again, and successfully managed to have the damages revised to $2.5 billion.
In 2008, they appealed to the Supreme Court, and their actions were found to be ‘worse than negligence, but less than malicious’, and the Court reduced the damages to around 500 million USD. As of December 15, 2009, Exxon paid all owed $507.5 million punitive damages, including lawsuit costs, plus interest, which were further distributed to thousands of

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