
Chapter 6
1989: Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
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THE REPORTED STORY
The New York Times Abstract:
A tanker filled to capacity with crude oil ran aground and ruptured yesterday
25 miles from the southern end of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, spewing her cargo
into water rich in marine life. (Shabecoff, 1989)
THE BACK STORY
T
HE TRANS-ALASKA PIPELINE SYSTEM
After oil was discovered in Prudhoe Bay on the northern coast of
Alaska in 1968, the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company was formed by the
owner companies: BP Exploration, ARCO, Exxon, Mobil, Amerada Hess,
Phillips, and Union. Alyeska determined that the most economic method
of transporting oil from Prudhoe Bay to the U ...