Community impacts resulting from the Exxon Valdez oil spill

Abstract

On 24 March 1989, the supertanker Exxon Valdez grounded on Bligh Reef spilling approximately 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska's Prince Wil liam Sound. The environmental damage has been well publicized. Less well known are the disastrous social effects produced both by the spill and by the cleanup efforts that followed it. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the social impact from the oil spill and cleanup through a discussion of three influ encing factors—the environmental damage itself, the influx of extraordinary sums of money, and the operational style of the cleanup entities.