EXXON OIL SPILL TECHNOLOGY ADVANCESFROM THE VALDEZ CLEANUP

摘要

The EXXON VALDEZ oil spill in 1989 wasthe largest marine oil spill in U.S. history. It triggered amassive cleanup and accelerated major changes to the U.S.Structure for combating oil spills. It also led to a number ofsuccessful new programs within Exxon and industry aimedat reducing incidents, minimizing spillage of oil worldwide,and improving the capability to respond in the event of aspill. Exxon’s response effort is widely acknowledged asthe largest peacetime industrial mobilization ever in the U.S. and possibly in the world. Exxon immediately acceptedresponsibility and committed resources and personnel toclean up the environment affected by the spillThe VALDEZ spill is the most studied ever. The cleanupinvolved the use of technology not previously applied tolarge spills. Many of these applications are now the subjectof ongoing international research programs aimed atimproving the ability to respond. This paper, written byseveral Exxon scientists who conducted technical studies insupport of the cleanup, summarizes many of the technicallearnings and advances that came out of the spill, andsubsequent research studies with emphasis on how theseapply to today's spills. This paper discusses only theresponse and cleanup. Exxon also initiated a number ofprograms to mitigate impacts on people, communities andwildlife affected by the spill.