Xon Valdez

br Exxon Valdez Exxon Valdez

The Exxon-Valdez oil-spill disaster resonated with important issues such as : the economic nature of legal systems , the safety and health of individuals as opposed to the power of corporations , and the debate as to whether human cleanup efforts or the natural processing of toxins by the earth provided a better remedy for environmental disasters . It is possible that the exposed vulnerabilities of the legal system to the power of pure economic concerns is of a much more lasting and profound consideration than the ambiguous , if verifiable , impact

on the Alaskan coastline itself . At the very least , in purely environmental terms , the disaster should remind all of us that "constant vigilance over safety is required even with familiar technologies and routines (Lerbinger 1997 ,

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The background of the disaster is one of human tragedy and human comedy . The Exxon Valdez departed from the Trans Alaska Pipeline terminal at 9 :12 PM . Captain Hazelwood was a known alcoholic and was so intoxicated at the time of the disaster that a review board concluded that a "non-alcoholic would have passed out (270 F . 3d , at 1236 ) from the blood-alcohol level evidenced in the Captain at the time of the spill . However , the Captian was not alone in is dereliction of duty as further inquiry uncovered a host of human errors , human delinquencies and human unpreparedness contributed to the disaster "Drinking , exhaustion of depleted crews , unqualified pilots on the bridge , violations of basic sailing rules , lax Coast Guard monitoring and a blind reliance on new technology all figured in the grounding on March 24 of the Exxon Valdez , the inquiry has shown (Egan The Exxon-Valdez oil spill disaster quickly became the stuff of legend In part , the raising of the disaster to an archetypal level in the public consciousness was due to its enormity : over ten-million gallons of crude oil and thousands of miles of impacted coastline . In another respect , the disaster seemed to draw the public 's imagination because the devastation was visible in the immediate cleanup efforts and in the evident destruction of the birds , fish , and other wildlife that were involved with and impacted by the spill . As moving and profoundly memorable as the images of oil-covered birds and dead sea-life proved to be , the actual environmental impact of the disaster has proven to be much more difficult to elucidate in any sanguine fashion . this is due partly to the ambiguity inherent in natural , global processes that are not fully understood by science , and partly due to the massive legal and public-relations activity engaged in by Exxon-Mobile with the aim of "muddying " the initially clear-cut image of the disaster as a man-made nightmare which wrought permanent devastating effects on the Alaskan coastline

It cannot be overstated that the fact of the spill and its continuing impact were as profound on a legal plane as on a purely environmental level . The story of the spill is a story which has a great many tellers Most significant for...