The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in the Prince William Sound,Alaska,on March 24,1989. Exxon Valdez,an oil supertanker owned by Exxon Shipping Company bound for Long Beach,California struck Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef,6 mi (9.7 km) west of Tatitlek,Alaska at 12:04 a.m. and spilled 10.8 million US gallons (260,000 bbl) of crude oil over the next few days.
Valdez is a city in the Chugach Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. According to the 2020 US Census,the population of the city is 3,985,up from 3,976 in 2010. It is the third most populated city in Alaska's Unorganized Borough.
The Exxon Valdez was an oil tanker that gained notoriety after running aground in Prince William Sound,spilling its cargo of crude oil into the sea. On 24 March 1989,while owned by the former Exxon Shipping Company,captained by Joseph Hazelwood and First Mate James Kunkel,and bound for Long Beach,California,the vessel ran aground on the Bligh Reef,resulting in the second largest oil spill in United States history. The size of the spill is estimated to have been 40,900 to 120,000 m3. In 1989,the Exxon Valdez oil spill was listed as the 54th-largest spill in history.
The Alyeska consortium refers to the major oil companies that own and operate the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) through the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is an oil transportation system spanning Alaska,including the trans-Alaska crude-oil pipeline,11 pump stations,several hundred miles of feeder pipelines,and the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is one of the world's largest pipeline systems. The core pipeline itself,which is commonly called the Alaska pipeline,trans-Alaska pipeline,or Alyeska pipeline,,is an 800-mile (1,287 km) long,48-inch (1.22 m) diameter pipeline that conveys oil from Prudhoe Bay,on Alaska's North Slope,south to Valdez,on the shores of Prince William Sound in southcentral Alaska. The crude oil pipeline is privately owned by the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.
The James W. Dalton Highway,usually referred to as the Dalton Highway,is a 414-mile (666 km) road in Alaska. It begins at the Elliott Highway,north of Fairbanks,and ends at Deadhorse near the Arctic Ocean and the Prudhoe Bay Oil Fields. Once called the North Slope Haul Road,it was built as a supply road to support the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System in 1974. It is named after James Dalton,a lifelong Alaskan and an engineer who supervised construction of the Distant Early Warning Line in Alaska and,as an expert in Arctic engineering,served as a consultant in early oil exploration in northern Alaska. It is also the subject of the second episode of America's Toughest Jobs and the first episode of the BBC's World's Most Dangerous Roads.
The history of Alaska dates back to the Upper Paleolithic period,when foraging groups crossed the Bering land bridge into what is now western Alaska. At the time of European contact by the Russian explorers,the area was populated by Alaska Native groups. The name "Alaska" derives from the Aleut word Alaxsxaq,meaning "mainland".
Crowley,legally Crowley Maritime Corporation,is based in Jacksonville,Florida. Founded in 1892,Crowley is primarily a family- and employee-owned vessel management,owner,and supply chain logistics services company,providing services globally. As of July 2016,Crowley was ranked as the 13th largest private company in Florida,employing approximately 5,300 people worldwide with revenues of $2.2 billion. It provides its services using a fleet of more than 300 vessels,consisting of RO-RO vessels,LO-LO vessels,tankers,Articulated Tug-Barges (ATBs),tugs and barges. Crowley's land-based facilities and equipment include terminals,warehouses,tank farms,and specialized vehicles.
David W. Márquez is an American lawyer and politician,and the former attorney general of the state of Alaska. He is the Senior VP and COO of NANA Development Corporation,an Alaska native corporation,owned by the Iñupiaq people of northwest Alaska.
Brigham A. McCown is a former member of the U.S. Senior Executive Service at the United States Department of Transportation. He served as chief executive of (2020-2022) the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company which designed,built,operates,and maintains the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. Following retirement from federal service,he worked as an attorney,consultant,and was a Clinical Professor at Miami University.
Prudhoe Bay Oil Field is a large oil field on Alaska's North Slope. It is the largest oil field in North America,covering 213,543 acres (86,418 ha) and originally contained approximately 25 billion barrels (4.0×109 m3) of oil. The amount of recoverable oil in the field is more than double that of the next largest field in the United States by acreage (the East Texas Oil Field),while the largest by reserves is the Permian Basin (North America). The field was operated by BP;partners were ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips until August 2019;when BP sold all its Alaska assets to Hilcorp.
The Prudhoe Bay oil spill was an oil spill that was discovered on March 2,2006 at a pipeline owned by BP Exploration,Alaska (BPXA) in western Prudhoe Bay,Alaska. Initial estimates of the five-day leak said that up to 267,000 US gallons (6,400 bbl) were spilled over 1.9 acres (7,700 m2),making it the largest oil spill on Alaska's north slope to date. Alaska's unified command ratified the volume of crude oil spilled as 212,252 US gallons (5,053.6 bbl) in March 2008. The spill originated from a 0.25-inch (0.64 cm) hole in a 34-inch (86 cm) diameter pipeline. The pipeline was decommissioned and later replaced with a 20-inch (51 cm) diameter pipeline with its own pipeline inspection gauge (pig) launch and recovery sites for easier inspection.
The construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System included over 800 miles (1,300 km) of oil pipeline,12 pump stations,and a new tanker port. Built largely on permafrost during 1975–77 between Prudhoe Bay and Valdez,Alaska,the $8 billion effort required tens of thousands of people,often working in extreme temperatures and conditions,the invention of specialized construction techniques,and the construction of a new road,the Dalton Highway.
International Bird Rescue is a nonprofit organization that rehabilitates injured aquatic birds,most notably seabirds affected by oil spills. Founded by Alice Berkner and members of the Ecology Action,including veterinarian James Michael Harris,D.V.M. in 1971 and based in Cordelia,California,the group has developed scientifically-based bird rehabilitation techniques and has led oiled wildlife rescue efforts in more than 200 oil spills worldwide,including the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound,Alaska,and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico,where International Bird Rescue co-managed oiled bird rehabilitation efforts in four states with Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research.
The Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council is an independent non-profit organization based in Anchorage and Valdez,Alaska,whose mission is to promote the environmentally-safe operation of the Alyeska Pipeline's Valdez Marine Terminal and associated oil tankers,and to inform the public of those activities.
The 2013 Mayflower oil spill occurred on March 29,2013,when the Pegasus Pipeline,owned by ExxonMobil and carrying Canadian Wabasca heavy crude from the Athabasca oil sands,ruptured in Mayflower,Arkansas,about 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Little Rock releasing about 3,190 barrels of oil. Approximately 3,190 barrels of oil and water mix was recovered. Twenty-two homes were evacuated. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classified the leak as a major spill.
Galbraith Lake is a lake located in the North Slope Borough of Alaska,United States. The surrounding area is uninhabited except for seasonal residents.
Walter Bruce "Walt" Parker was an American civil servant,policy adviser,transportation adviser,academic and local politician. Parker's career focused on the development of natural resources,transportation and infrastructure in Alaska from the 1940s to the 2000s. In 1989,Alaska Governor Steve Cowper appointed Parker as the chairman of the Alaska Oil Spill Commission,which investigated the Exxon Valdez oil spill. He is credited with making important contributions to the fields of transportation,telecommunications,education,land use and urban planning within the state of Alaska. Parker was inducted into the Alaska Conservation Hall of Fame by the Alaska Conservation Foundation in 2002 for his contributions to state conservation.
The Refugio oil spill on May 19,2015,contaminated one of the most biologically diverse areas of the West Coast of the United States with 142,800 U.S. gallons of crude oil. The corroded pipeline that caused the spill closed indefinitely,resulting in financial impacts to the county estimated as high as $74 million as it and a related pipeline remained out of service for three years. The cost of the cleanup was estimated by the company to be $96 million with overall expenses including expected legal claims and potential settlements to be around $257 million.
John Eric Havelock was the Attorney General of Alaska from 1971-1973,a champion of individual privacy and Native American resource and subsistence rights. Born in Toronto,Canada,Havelock moved to the United States and attended first boarding school,then Harvard University for an undergraduate degree and a Juris Doctor degree before moving to Alaska. After working for the Alaska Department of Law,Havelock worked as staff at the White House before his appointment as Attorney General of Alaska in 1970.
