Petroleum News article points to another culprit in 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill

Greening of Oil’s sister publication, Petroleum News, ran an article in its July 18 edition that points to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation under the Cowper administration in 1989 as being the chief reason the 11-million-gallon oil spill by the Exxon Valdez tanker was so devastating to Prince William Sound’s environment and wildlife.

It is a story that has not been adequately told, mainly because Exxon’s people on the ground in Alaska at the time were not allowed to talk to the press.

Petroleum News finally convinced one of them to go on the record.

He would not allow his name to be used in the article, but since he retired from Exxon he has proven a reliable source of accurate information for Petroleum News while working for other oil companies doing business in Alaska.

More importantly, his statements in the Petroleum News article were corroborated by a number of other reports on the 1989 oil spill, including, but not limited to, Art Davidson’s book “The Wake of the Exxon Valdez,” and “A Case Study of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill of 1989,” a paper written by Phyllis A. Leber of the Department of Chemistry at Franklin and Marshall College.

The Petroleum News article, written by freelance journalist Steve Sutherlin, is ultimately destined for a history of Exxon Mobil in Alaska that Petroleum News’ special publications division expects to release in the fall.

Sutherlin, a former Petroleum News reporter, is under contract with the Alaska-based weekly newspaper to report on the 1989 oil spill for that historical publication. He is looking for people who were onsite during the first three days of the oil spill to corroborate or contest his main source, the unnamed former Exxon employee.

Sutherlin can be reached at stevepna@hotmail.com

You can read the article on Greening of Oil’s website.