ity of theExxon Valdezspill, which was the largest in
U.S. history. The magnitude of the spill and its po-
tential impact overwhelmed existing systems. Thus,
the response to the environmental disaster was poorly
coordinated, slow, and incomplete. The immediate
response was also hampered by poor weather condi-
tions. After a few days, the winds had carried the spill
forty miles away from Bligh Reef to the south and
southwest. Eventually, the spill reached distant loca-
tions on Kodiak Island and the Kenai Peninsula of
Alaska. Block Island, Smith Island, Cordova, and
Green Island were all severely affected by the spill, as
the city of Valdez quickly became the center of pri-
mary response activities.
Impact The need to clean up the oil spill and to
mitigate its effects on the environment as effectively
as possible presented a problem that had few simple
solutions. Many different methods were used in at-
tempts to cleanse the affected seas and shorelines of
oil. Primary among the methods used to clean sea
water were burning the oil, using dispersants to
break up the oil, using ship-towed booms to corral
oil, and skimming oil-contaminated water off the
ocean’s surface by mechanical means. Shoreline
and beach clean-up efforts employed hot water un-
der pressure, chemical cleaners, mechanical clean-
ing devices such as front-end loaders, manual efforts,
and bioremediation, which attempted to use mi-
crobes to devour the oil. Even with extensive private
and public efforts, however, the region sustained sig-
nificant environmental damage, damage that lasted
into the twenty-first century.
Numerous investigations were conducted to de-
termine responsibility both for the spill and for the
problems that occurred afterward. The responsibil-
ity of Exxon and Captain Hazelwood were later de-
termined by the courts. Hazelwood had been wit-
nessed drinking alcohol in Valdez before the ship
departed. He was later criminally convicted for the348 Exxon Valdezoil spill The Eighties in America
A tugboat guides the crippledExxon Valdezthrough the Prince William Sound after the tanker was extricated from Bligh Reef on April 5,
1989, nearly two weeks after it ran aground.(AP/Wide World Photos)