Today in History

March 24, 1989

The Exxon Valdeze Oil Spill

On March 24, 1989, Captain Joseph Hazelwood grounded his boat. Unfortunately, his boat was a 30,000 ton oil tanker filled with 53,094,510 gallons of oil, of which 10.8 million gallons spilled into Prince William Sound. The resulting oil spill ranks as one of the most disasterous environmental catastrophes of record.

The short and long term results of the spill remain uncertain. Thousands of fish, birds (250,000 - 500,000) and mammals (1000+ sea otters alone) died within weeks of exposure to the oil or immediate secondary effects. Thousands of jobs dependent on the fishing and wildife industry were lost. Best guessed estimates are that the ecology will require some 30 years to recover.

The 1994 court case awarded $287 million in actual damages and $5 billion in punative damages, less than a single year's profit for Exxon.

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