EXXON VALDEZ OIL SPILL?

why do people drill for oil if it harms the environment?


How does it harm the environment?


How long does the damage last?


What different methods did they try to clean up and contain the oil?


EXXON VALDEZ OIL SPILL?
If you ask different people, you will get different answers. Some pretend that the best would have been to leave the shores of Alaska with the oil pollution. After all, crude oil is a natural product that goes away by itself; mostly eaten by bacterias that feed on hydrocarbon.





But the shore was cleaned mostly by water power jets. That removed not only the oil but also all types of organisms that take many years to come back in that polar environment. Some suggested that more damaged was done by cleaning than by the oil spill.





It was sad to see the bird life and sea mammals dying as it did, though. But the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 was enforced to prevent further such disasters. One of the major change is the demand for double hull vessels. Today, no single hulls tanker can enter the US waters. Should a double hull vessel tear its bottom as the Exxon Valdez did, not a drop of oil should be spilled.





Another factor that was ignored in the incident is that there was no Vessel Traffic Surveillance (VTS) service in those waterways. I happen to work for Norcontrol (today, Kongsberg Maritime) in Norway, the company that made the first such system in the world. It gathers radar data from different courses into a control center; pretty much like it does for aviation. Had Valdez such a control center, the officer of the watch would have been warned long before the ship came at rest of the shoals and punctured the hull with the terrible result.





Incidentally, I read that the law suit between Exxon and the Alaskan plaintifs is not yet settled.EXXON VALDEZ OIL SPILL?
Three methods were tried in the effort to clean up the spill:





Burning


Mechanical Cleanup


Chemical Dispersants